Nathan Phillips | |
|---|---|
 Phillips wearing the chain of office in 1959 | |
| 52nd Mayor of Toronto | |
| In office 1955–1962 | |
| Preceded by | Leslie Saunders |
| Succeeded by | Donald D. Summerville |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1892-11-07)7 November 1892 Brockville, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | 7 January 1976(1976-01-07) (aged 83) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Resting place | Holy Blossom Memorial Park |
| Party | Conservative Party of Canada (1920s–1942) Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (1942–1976) |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Nathan PhillipsQC (7 November 1892 – 7 January 1976) was aCanadian politician who served as the 53rdmayor of Toronto from 1955 to 1962. A lawyer by training, Phillips was first elected toToronto City Council in 1926. He is the city's firstJewish mayor, ending an unbroken string ofProtestant mayors.
Born inBrockville, Ontario, the son of Jacob Phillips and Mary (nee Rosenbloom),[1] he was educated in public and high schools inCornwall, Ontario.[2] In 1908, he articled with the Cornwall lawyer,Robert Smith, who later would be named to theSupreme Court of Canada.[2] He graduated fromOsgoode Hall Law School in 1913, but at 20-years-old, he was too young to becalled to the bar.[3] He was called to theOntario Bar in 1914 when he attained theage of majority, at age 21.[3] He practised law in Toronto and was appointed aKing's Counsel in 1929, and was thought to be the youngest person in theBritish Empire at the time to have that honour.[4]
He married Esther Lyons (1893–1983) on 7 March 1917.[1] They had three children: Lewis; Madeline; and Howard.[3] On Mother's Day, 12 May 1929,[5] a motorist struck and killed Lewis while he was posting a letter in a mailbox for his father near their Lauder Avenue home.[6] The funeral was the next day, as isJewish custom, but was held at the family's 26 Lauder Avenue home for immediate family members only.[7] In 1949, Howard along with Nathan, became the first-ever son and father duo to sit as alderman at the same time on theCity of Toronto council.[8] Howard represented Ward 3, while Nathan represented Ward 4.[8]
Phillips was a member of theConservative Party having been involved in founding theOntario Conservative Party's youth wing and then having run as the Conservative candidate inSpadina in the1935 federal election. He placed second. Later, Phillips also ran unsuccessfully inSt. Andrew riding during the1937 and1948 provincial elections.[9]
Phillips was first elected toToronto City Council in 1924 as an alderman for Ward 4.[3] It was the start of a 36-year career in municipal politics.
He was elected mayor in 1955.[10] Until his election, all mayors had beenProtestant and every mayor since the appointment ofThomas David Morrison in 1836 had been a member of theOrange Order, which dominated the city's political and business establishment. Phillips became mayor by defeating the incumbent MayorLeslie Howard Saunders, an Orangeman who had stoked controversy with his sectarian comments about the importance of theBattle of the Boyne. Phillips's victory marked a turning point in Toronto history and its transformation from a Protestant, staunchly British and conservative city to a modern multicultural metropolis.
On 23 March 1959 Phillips welcomed the exiledKing Peter II of Yugoslavia on an official tour to City Hall but forgot about the Serbian Orthodox Bishop from the Diocese of Chicago that he left waiting in the council chambers.[11] He was supposed to take the Bishop on a tour as well, and caused an incident as the Bishop felt slighted.[11]
Under Phillips's direction, the City of Toronto pursued an aggressive agenda of demolishing heritage structures throughout the city in order to 'modernize.' Large blocks of downtown were purchased and razed and many landmark buildings and neighbourhoods were destroyed such as theUniversity Avenue Armouries, theChorley Park estate, the General Post Office (built in 1873 in theSecond Empire style, and the most expensive federal building ever constructed in Canada), Toronto's original Jewish community (calledthe Ward) aroundOld City Hall, and Toronto's Old Chinatown. Old City Hall itself narrowly escaped being demolished andFort York survived a council vote to be moved toCoronation Park after the Toronto Historical Association rallied public support.
Nathan Phillips is best remembered as the driving force behind the construction of Toronto'sNew City Hall and the selection of a strikingavant-garde design byFinnish architectViljo Revell.
Phillips served five terms as mayor before being defeated in the1962 Toronto municipal election byDonald Dean Summerville.
On 10 October 1961, while still the sitting mayor, Toronto City Council named the future civic square at New City HallNathan Phillips Square in his honour.[12] Before a crowd of 500, on his 69th birthday, he broke the ceremonial first sod and hit a button that detonated some explosives to signal the start of construction on the new square and City Hall.[13] When mayorPhil Givens opened the square's skating rink on 29 November 1964, Phillips was there at the ceremony and practicing his photography hobby as well.[14]In November 2005, a proposal by a city councillor to sell the naming rights to Nathan Phillips Square unleashed opposition from many Torontonians, including Phillips's grandchildren.[15] The proposal was withdrawn.[16]
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