Friends House

Specialties

Friends House is a 100-​year-​old Georgian mansion in Toronto’s Annex. It is the home of the Toronto Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

Its main purpose is to serve the needs of the Toronto Quaker community. It is also available as an affordable rental space for non-​profit organizations.

History

Established in 1881.

Toronto Monthly Meeting began meeting in Toronto in 1881, and met in a succession of places — on Berkeley, Sackville, Carlton and Maitland Streets before purchasing the house at 60 Lowther in 1949.

Friends House was built in 1906 for Miller Lash, a wealthy and prominent businessman, by Dancy Bros at a cost of about $ 20,000. After Miller Lash’s death, his widow Clarice Evelyn Brodie Lash sold the house to Lillian Clarke. During this period, it was the lodging of a number of distinguished Torontonians, among them the Rt. Rev. William Charles White (1876 – 1960) and prominent athlete Zerada Slack. In the 1940s, Lillian Clarke sold the house to Murray Simmons, who used it briefly to lodge The Magazine Digest Publishing Company, until it was finally sold to Toronto Monthly Meeting in 1949.