On March 31, 1972, Campbell House moved from the intersection of Adelaide and Frederick to its present location at Queen & University.
Here is a record of that move.
All photos are by Steve Munro.
Click on a photo to launch the view in full screen mode.
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- Adelaide & Frederick looking north to original site with house on its trailer. The time is about 7 am.
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- Adelaide & Frederick looking north.
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- Attaching the cables for hauling.
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- Attaching cables.
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- Getting ready to move out onto Adelaide Street.
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- Getting ready to move.
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- Looking west on Adelaide to Frederick. Campbell House is on the move.
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- Campbell House eclipses St. James Cathedral. View looking southwest from Adelaide and Jarvis. Note that the clock on the cathedral is not showing the correct time.
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- Penumbra …
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- Total eclipse (almost).
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- Looking north through St. James park at Market Street to Adelaide. Lombard Street firehall in the background.
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- Looking northwest through St. James park. The building with the “Typewriters” sign has sported a number of different technologies over the years.
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- Looking west on Adelaide to Church Street.
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- TTC crews temporarily remove streetcar overhead wires allowing Campbell House to pass.
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- TTC crews let Campbell House pass Church Street.
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- Looking north on Toronto Street to Adelaide with the Seventh Post Office on the left.
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- Looking north on Yonge Street to Adelaide.
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- Campbell House on Adelaide just west of Yonge.
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- Looking west on Adelaide from Yonge toward Bay.
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- Campbell House crosses Bay Street. The time is 10:18 am according to the City Hall clock.
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- Looking northeast on Adelaide at the Concourse Building.
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- Looking southeast to York and Adelaide. Campbell House is just west of York Street.
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- Looking southeast to York and Adelaide.
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- On Adelaide between York and University. The time is 11:30 am (clock outside of TD bank on the corner).
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- Turning north of University from Adelaide.
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- Northbound on University at Adelaide.
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- At the south side of Richmond Street. (Overhead views taken from the roof of 200 University Ave.)
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- About to cross Queen Street northbound on University.
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- North of Queen at University beside the South African War Memorial.
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- TTC crews have reconnected the streetcar overhead wiring, and service resumes. Osgoode Hall renovations in progress.
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- Turning west into the permanent site from University Avenue. The time is 3:45 pm (City Hall clock).
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- Sitting astride the west sidewalk at the permanent site. The time is 4:57 pm. Campbell House stayed at this location overnight.
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- April 1, 1972: Lowering Campbell House into its new foundation (east view).
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- Not quite on the new foundation.
Steve Munro 
Wow Marty, I mean Steve! Thanks for recording it on your Kodak film back then.
Steve: Kodachrome 25 in those days!
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I came back to my house on April Fools that year to find it gone. Now I know where it went! Thanks.
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Why was the house moved? According to Wikipedia, the house was given up for free to anyone who could move it to expand a parking lot? The new lot had to be purchased and so why not purchase the original site?
Does anyone here have pictures of the Gibson House move? Another topic worth having an article on. It may not have been Gibson house that was moved but another one I forget the name of. Which houses in Toronto (besides Campbell House) have been moved?
Steve: Actually, the “new lot” was the front lawn of the Canada Life building, and it was donated. Historically, the building was the home of Ontario’s (Upper Canada’s) sixth Chief Justice, and the new sits is appropriately across the street from Osgoode Hall.
The old site was in a rather drab part of Toronto at the time, totally unlike what is there today, and the house is much more prominently displayed at Queen and University. The parking lot now did stand vacant for many years, but the area is unrecognizable from what it was over 40 years ago.
I don’t believe that Gibson House was moved. You may be thinking of Dempsey’s store that originally stood on the northwest corner of Yonge & Sheppard. My Campbell House photo gallery exists because I happened to follow and photograph the entire move back in 1972, and I posted the article as a counterpoint to the Metrolinx move of the Kodak building in Mount Dennis.
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