Abstract

Gore Vale was an 1820 brick house situated in the area of modern day Trinity Bellwoods Park, Toronto. Initially owned by Duncan Cameron, it later was home to the influential Bickford family, and afterwards was used as an Institute for recovering alcoholics, a dormitory, a veterans' psychiatric hospital, and finally a Boy's Club, before being demolished in 1928. A multi-year project, begun in 1990, includes the excavation and mapping of the remaining foundations, an analysis of artifacts relevant to the material history of the city, and a multi-faceted study of the bricks used in the initial construction and later renovations.