Queen's Wharf Lighthouse

Queen's Wharf Lighthouse. . Now landlocked on Fleet Street, this lighthouse once stood on the Queen's Wharf. The wharf - originally known as New Pier - was built in 1833 to stimulate commercial activity in the west part of the harbour., This lighthouse, constructed in 1861 on the north side of the west extension, was the second built for the Queen's Wharf. Noted architect Kivas Tully, later architect of the Ontario Department of Public Works, designed its octagonal plan for what became, in 1911, the Toronto Harbour Commission. The Queen's Wharf Lighthouse, along with a lighthouse farther west on the pier, guided ships safely into the western harbour., Beginning in the 1880's, the area west of Queen's Wharf was filled in with lake dredging. The old channel into the harbour could not be maintained and, in 1911, the lighthouse was decommissioned. In 1929, the Toronto Harbour Commission transferred ownership of the lighthouse to the City of Toronto. The lighthouse was moved to its present site later that year., (captions) , Queen's Wharf Lighthouse, 1925. During its half-century of operation, the lighthouse led an estimated 300,000 vessels in to the harbour. City of Toronto Archives, Founds 1548, Series 383, Item 19984., Goad's Atlas, 1884, showing the octagonal lighthouse and adjacent lighthouse keeper's house (circled). City of Toronto Archives., Moving the Queen's Wharf Lighthouse, 1929. The preservation of the lighthouse was part of an initiative to beautify the lakedshore area west of the harbour. Toronto Port Authority Archives.