Massey Hall

An Enduring Legacy

David McPherson

• Publisher: Dundurn Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781459745018
• Topic: Medien & darstellende Kunst
• Subtopic: Musikgeschichte & -kritik

The fascinating story of Canada's most revered concert hall and the myriad artists who have graced its stage. Known for its intimacy and sense of occasion, a night at Toronto's Massey Hall is magical for both audiences and performers. For many musicians, playing the hall is the surest sign that they have made it. Looking out over the crowd, performers often comment that they feel they have joined history as they stand on the stage where Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, and so many other legends have stood. Based on scores of interviews and meticulous research, Massey Hall chronicles not only the historical and musical moments of the past 127 years, but also the community of artists and supporters that has built up around the hall. Covering both emerging artists such as Shakura S'Aida and William Prince and musical giants from Herbie Hancock to the Tragically Hip, this full-colour book is a celebration of music, community, and our shared cultural heritage.

Massey Hall's interior basked in sunlight during the early 1900s.

CHAPTER 1

The House That Hart Built

During the late 1800s, churches dominated the Toronto skyline. The tallest structure was the newly constructed seven-storey Beard Building located at 163 King Street East. Public transit was in its infancy, and most residents navigated the city on horse-drawn streetcars, or by foot or bicycle. Electricity arrived in Toronto in the 1880s and the tracks for the electric streetcar were just starting to be laid throughout the city. The population of Toronto was exploding, jumping from 86,400 in 1881 to 181,200 by the time Massey Hall opened in 1894. Queen’s Park and the Ontario legislature had opened the previous year (1893). The Gooderham and Worts distillery was in full operation and was the world’s largest whisky distillery. The same year Massey Hall opened, the Toronto Mail and the Toronto Empire merged to create the Mail and Empire, which later became the Globe and Mail. The Evening Star, the precursor to the Toronto Star, was also just a few months old. This is the life and times industrialist Hart Massey experienced.

From the 1870s to the 1890s, Toronto was a city of churches, and the Metropolitan Methodist Church (known today as the Metropolitan United Church) was where Hart Massey and his family worshipped.

Since churches dominated the cityscape, and Massey was a devout Methodist, it’s not surprising these religious pillars became the architectural inspiration for the design of his proposed music hall.

On a cool autumn evening in 1892, Hart Almerrin Massey, in the course of an after-dinner conversation, asked a matter-of-fact question of his guest and good friend Frederick Torrington, the organist of the Metropolitan Methodist Church. “Torrington, what do you think of the corner of Shuter and Victoria as a site for a music hall?” The pair was together at Massey’s mansion, Euclid Hall, at the corner of Jarvis and Wellesley streets (a building that still stands today as the Keg Mansion). Torrington was likely surprised but intrigued by this proposition and was highly supportive.

At the time, Toronto did not have a large public hall for mass meetings or music festivals, which were usually held in one of the city’s arenas or churches. One of the only venues for large-scale events was St. Lawrence Hall, which had opened in 1850. Named for Canada’s patron saint, the hall was for many years the centre of cultural and political life in Toronto, hosting balls, receptions, concerts, exhibitions, lectures, and performances by the Toronto Vocal Music Society and the Toronto Philharmonic Society. But by the 1870s, with a growing population, the thousand-seat venue was proving insufficient for larger gatherings.

As a philanthropist, Massey felt the city deserved a grander place, one that could host up to three thousand people and “which shall be of the greatest benefit to the greatest number of the citizens of Toronto.”¹

The securing of property rights and the first plans for the building, which was to be named the Massey Music Hall, were a family secret. Hart Massey had purchased the parcel of land at Shuter and Victoria streets, and Torrington was the first person outside his inner circle to hear of Massey’s grand plans for a building that would be “for the people.” Hart’s vision for the new hall was to provide high-calibre entertainment at minimal cost to a broad spectrum of Toronto’s citizens.

“A place for the people” was the guiding principle of Hart Massey’s gift to the city; while this cartoon pokes fun at that notion, over the years the venue has proven it is a place for everyone.

The building would also serve as a living memorial to Hart’s eldest son, Charles, who had died in 1884 of typhoid fever at the age of thirty-six. Charles had loved music, and as a young man had been the church organist.

It wasn’t long before these private Euclid Hall conversations were shared more broadly with civic leaders, and the idea edged closer to reality. The management of and financial arrangements for Massey Hall were defined as part of a gift to the city. For the sum of one dollar, Massey and his wife, Eliza Ann Massey (née Phelps), transferred the property to his friend John J. Withrow² (a politician, businessman, and philanthropist) and two of their sons: Chester Daniel Massey and Walter Edward Hart Massey, who would serve as the first trustees. The three men were given complete control, with the right to appoint assistants, but they could not at any time mortgage or otherwise encumber the property. These terms would apply to any subsequent trustees.

Sidney Rose Badgley's architectural drawing of the hall's facade from 1893.

To Massey, the idea of expressing his philanthropy in terms of architecture was not a new one. The remodelling of a Methodist church at Newcastle (the family’s original home) and the church that the Masseys attended during their years in Cleveland, Ohio (1870–82), and alterations made to several Toronto churches already bore witness to his interest in donating to public buildings.³

Massey selected Sidney Rose Badgley, an Ontario architect who had moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1887, as the lead designer for his new music hall. Badgley was a prolific church architect at the time, especially of Methodist churches.⁴ One of the finest examples of his church design is the Pilgrim Congregational Church in Cleveland, completed in 1894, now a National Historic Site. This was the first church building in America built to function as both a church and a community-service centre.

Massey saw Badgley as “a bright, well-trained, pliable young Methodist who would cheerfully take close direction (or should we call it interference?) more readily than one of Toronto’s established architects.”⁵ Massey spent hours reviewing and revising plans for the hall. During construction, he worked closely with Badgley, personally overseeing the smallest details.

Euclid Hall, the Massey family home on Jarvis Street, still exists today as a Keg restaurant.

As author Andrea Yu writes in “Massey Hall: Past, Present and Proposed Future,”

Badgley was inspired by Methodist church architecture; he gave Massey Music Hall a U-shaped interior with a vaulted ceiling. As the “exotic” Moorish Revival style was considered popular at the time (spreading even to Hart Massey’s private mansion on nearby Jarvis Street), Badgley designed the hall’s interior similar to the Alhambra Castle in Granada, Spain, with Moorish arches, fireplaces, and horseshoe-shaped galleries. The vaulted, beamed, and decorated plaster ceilings with scalloped arches and cusps are a few examples of the hall’s Moorish design.⁶

The Deed of Indenture between Hart Massey and the City of Toronto.

On the building’s facade, Massey preferred a simple neo-classical look with Palladian arches.

On April 20, 1893, the permit for the proposed hall was issued, following approval from the city commissioner. Work on the building progressed quickly, with the nearby Don Valley Brick Works supplying all the bricks for the new building. Five months later, on September 2, six-year-old Vincent Massey — Hart’s favourite grandson — laid the cornerstone for the building. By December, three of the eightton iron trusses for the roof were already in place.

The cost of building Massey’s great hall would eventually balloon to more than $150,000, far more than the $60,000 reported in the Globe the day after the permit was granted.⁷

On June 14, 1894, a capacity crowd attended the opening concert at the new Massey Music Hall — a performance of Handel’s Messiah. An aging and ill Hart presented the keys to the building to the mayor of Toronto, Warring Kennedy, and shared his hopes for the future of the venue with the sell-out crowd:

“Massey Hall is hallowed ground. It has vibes like the old Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. It’s that kind of place. I remember the first time I stood on the edge of that stage doing sound check, I was in awe. I said to myself, ‘this must be some mistake, I don’t belong here.’”

— Murray McLauchlan, singer-songwriter

I express the hope that the trustees will have the fullest confidence of the public, and that the people of Toronto and surrounding country will give them their hearty cooperation in using the property to cultivate and promote an interest in music, education, temperance, philanthropy and religion, and in every way to make the most out of this building for the good of the people in whose midst it stands.⁸

Today, Massey’s generous gift remains a reflection of city life and an essential cultural hub. It continues to give the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people, not just from Toronto, but from across Canada.

Industrialist, philanthropist, teetotaller, Methodist, patron of the arts — these are just a few of the adjectives that can be attributed to Hart Almerrin Massey. To understand how the iconic building at 178 Victoria Street went from an idea in Hart’s head to a Canadian cultural institution, it’s important to understand the man behind the vision.

As an entrepreneur, Massey had amassed a fortune. Like many self-made millionaires, in his later years, he allocated time and money to philanthropic pursuits, financing ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword by Jann Arden
• Introduction: Massey Hall Forever
• 1 The House That Hart Built
• 2 The Early Years: Opening Night to the Great Depression
• 3 The Jazz Age and Beyond
• 4 For Folk’s Sake: The 1960s
• 5 Let There Be Rock: The 1970s
• 6 The 1980s
• 7 Canadians Take Centre Stage: The 1990s
• 8 The New Millennium
• 9 The House of Gord
• 10 Last Call at the Hall
• 11 Revitalization
• 12 Artist Development and Outreach
• 13 Legendary Leaders
• 14 A Beacon of Hope
• Acknowledgements
• Sources
• Notes
• Image Credits
• Back Cover