Heritage Toronto Century House Plaque Program
How old is your home? Are you eligible for a Century House Plaque? How can you get one of these prestigious address plaques for your house? We know these are likely the questions you dream about each night!
If your home is 100 years old or more, and there are many homes in our Playter area that meet this criterion, you can obtain one of these beautiful address plaques for your home. Sample plaques are shown below. The one time fee for the plaque is currently $250. To submit an application for a plaque, use the following link.
If you apply to Heritage Toronto for a Century House Plaque they will search and verify the age of your home. (if you do not qualify, they will let you know and return your fee). However, if you would like to do some research yourself about our area and your home, here are two helpful web links:
1. This first link will take you to various fire insurance maps (1880-1924). Enter your full address in the search box at top left corner and check the map date boxes on the opposite side. This will help you narrow down when your house was built. You will likely find a map where your home did not exist and then one when it did – a date between those two dates will be the actual date house was built so you will have a good idea if you are eligible for a century plaque. This will help you use the link below for more specific information as it narrows down in which directories you should start to search.
http://www.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=d38469bfb363441d98b21f239adfd0a3
2. Here is a link to a page on the Toronto Public Library website with the city directories for various years. Look to see when your address first appears. When a house was built/being built but not yet inhabited, it may say “vacant” for your address. Look to the following year to see if an owner is listed. If so, this indicates the year the home was first inhabited. Keep looking through various years until you find the first named inhabitant to date your home. Streets are listed in the directory alphabetically.
https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/history-genealogy/lh-digital-city-directories.jsp