Hidden behind buildings, the last of Mimico's opulent lakefront estates is still standing
CBC
Walking through a stone and wrought iron gate on Lakeshore Boulevard West, James McCreath steps back in time.
Hidden inside a complex of mid-rise brick apartment buildings, he can still make out the key features of Myrtle Villa, his grandfather's expansive lakefront property.
"It was a fabulous place," McCreath told CBC Toronto as he walked between the buildings, pointing out where the greenhouse, stables, and swimming pool once stood.
"I can remember riding in the horse ring, I can remember running around the gardens... it was beautiful and lush."
Though much of the estate is gone today, the main house, some gardens and fountains, and the garage — now a convenience store — are still standing.
Together, they represent the last remaining evidence of what was once a string of luxury residences along Lake Ontario in the Mimico neighbourhood.
McCreath's grandfather was James Franceschini, an Italian immigrant who founded Dufferin Construction and bought the Mimico property in 1925.
Naming it Myrtle Villa after his only child — McCreath's mother — Franceschini made the estate an opulent hub for entertaining, complete with a dance floor on the edge of the lake.
"He would have bands play, and entertainers, so it was really an event when you came here," McCreath said.
But despite the fortune he built up through his business, Franceschini's life wasn't easy, McCreath continued.
Moving to Canada at 15, Franceschini felt pressure to be accepted by the English-speaking business community in Toronto, and caused "quite a stir" when he married McCreath's grandmother, Annie Pinkham.
When the Second World War broke out, despite re-tooling his businesses to help with the war effort, Franceschini became one of 600 Italian-Canadians placed in internment camps by the Canadian government. None were ever convicted of committing any crimes against Canada.
"He ended up in [an internment camp in] Petawawa, Ont. for a year, and he developed cancer there, so he was let out on humanitarian grounds," said McCreath.
But Franceschini remained upbeat, he said, and would jokingly refer to the experience as his "year in college."
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