"Toronto’s first public washroom, built in 1885, was located in the middle of Toronto Street, opposite the central post office building. It was supposed to be in a lane beside the Inland Revenue Office—later the Toronto Street Post Office and the headquarters of Conrad Black’s Argus Corp.—but nearby businesses balked at the idea, fearing nasty odours and unsanitary conditions. The facility was accessed via a set of stairs, protected by an ornate iron fence, that descended into a small subterranean room. In the tiled, male-only washroom there was a set of four urinals, three wooden stalls, and an attendant who offered boot cleaning and fresh towels for a small fee of about 5 cents. The Toronto Street lavatory was joined around 1905 by another, also in the middle of the street, at Queen and Spadina. A decorative light standard marked the entrance, which was a little west of the streetcar rails, just south of Queen. In 1921 the decision that put the kibosh on the city’s tentative public toilet installation scheme: a new city bylaw required every new gas station (and there were soon to be many) to include a public washroom, essentially passing the burden of relieving the public to private companies." SOURCE:http://spacing.ca/toronto/2014/07/09/happened-public-washrooms-toronto/ #torontohistory #toronto #history #oldtoronto #ontario #humbertothedon #architecturelover #toronto_insta #Torontobefore #heritage #thankyoutoronto #lovetoronto #blogto #6ixwalks #imagesoftoronto #streetsoftoronto #torontoclicks #dailyhiveto #yyzishome #imagesofcanada #canada #tohistory #torontobuildings #heritagetoronto #memoirsoftoronto #6tour #vintagetoronto #waybackwednesday #torontoarchives (at Toronto, Ontario)