The First Painter

Wychwood Park is probably my favorite park in Toronto. Old houses are randomly scattered, winding lanes flow with the landscape, almost like an olde-English village, free from the grids of urban planning.

Originally conceptualized as an “Artist Colony”, a community for painters, musicians and academics, this was the very first house in the neighborhood.

When Marmaduke Matthews came to Toronto from England, he saw the rolling ravines cascading down from Bathurst to Davenport Road with water from Taddle Creek flowing through.

The land reminded Matthews of Wychwood Forest back home in Oxfordshire, England. He decided to build his house here and simply named it, “Wychwood”.

Being a landscape painter, like his paintings, the colors of the house are natural and organic, almost like a Victorian-era architectural camouflage.

The dark green Gothic style spiky gables, light brown bricks, green floating oriel bay window and verandah, help the house blend into the surrounding woods.

Perched on a hill near Bathurst / Davenport, rumor has it that Matthews wanted to add a watchtower so he could paint with the view of Lake Ontario. After some consideration, the harmony of the building might be ruined, the idea was ditched.

Matthews would become the official landscape artist for the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Later, Matthews would cross path with fellow artist George Reid (see Post 15, Upland Cottage) and architect Eden Smith.

Together, they established Wychwood Park Corporation to control the size and scope of new houses and maintenance of the park.

This private trust has helped shape Wychwood Park to the way it is today, a villa park with Toronto’s best kept residential architectural gems.

6 Wychwood Park, photo taken in Spring 2023
Cover Photo Source (Book, Old Houses of Toronto)