The Granite Club (founded as the Toronto Granite Curling Club) is a private social and athletic club in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada. Founded in 1875, it has a long history of sports competition. It is located at 2350 Bayview Avenue, north of

midtown Toronto Midtown is one of four central business districts outside the city's downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located in the north of Old Toronto, its borders are roughly defined by St. Clair Avenue to the south and Eglinton Avenue or Lawr ...

History

The Granite Club was founded in 1875 on St. Mary's Street in downtown Toronto. It was initially a curling club. It provided a curling rink and a skating rink as facilities. After only five years on St. Mary's Street, expansion was needed in order to improve existing facilities and to accommodate the growing membership. In 1880, the club moved to 471 Church Street, where it added

lawn bowling Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

. By 1885, the membership had reached 447 members. Later in the 1880s, the club's members formed and sponsored an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

team, considered the first or one of the first organized ice hockey teams in Toronto. The

Toronto Granites The Toronto Granites were an amateur senior ice hockey team from Toronto, Ontario. The Granites were Allan Cup champions in 1922 and 1923. They were chosen to represent Canada at the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France. The Granites won the se ...

ice hockey club would last into the 1900s and produce Canadian amateur champion and Olympic champion teams. In the 1920s, the club organized competitive

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are m ...

at the club. Over time, singles champions such as Kurt Browning,

Patrick Chan Patrick Lewis Wai–Kuan Chan (born December 31, 1990) is a Canadian former competitive figure skater. He is a 2018 Olympic gold medallist in the team event, 2014 Olympic silver medallist in the men's and team events, a three–time World ch ...

and Barbara Ann Scott, have trained at the club. The pairs champions of

Barbara Underhill Barbara Ann Underhill (born June 24, 1963) is a Canadian former pair skater. With partner Paul Martini, she is the 1984 World champion, the 1979–1983 Canadian national champion, and the 1978 World Junior champion. They represented Canada a ...

and

Paul Martini Paul Lloyd Martini (born November 2, 1960 in Weston, Ontario) is a Canadian former pair skater. With partner Barbara Underhill, he is the 1979–1983 Canadian national champion, the 1984 World champion, and the 1978 World Junior champion. They ...

also trained at the club. In 1925, a piece of land on St. Clair Avenue West, near Yonge Street, was purchased to accommodate a growing membership, the changing face of recreational activities and conversion from a gentlemen's to a family club. The St. Clair location housed seven badminton courts, several five-pin bowling lanes, a swimming pool and two squash courts in addition to curling, skating, lawn bowling and tennis. The fourth club home was opened in 1972 on a 22-acre site on Bayview Avenue north of Lawrence Avenue in the Bridle Path district, bordering on the Don Valley. Alterations and additions to the new building have continued and the acquisition of adjacent properties to the north have both expanded the club's developable land and established the ability to add floor space to the clubhouse. In 1994, five new tennis courts were added to the property to the north. In 2006, the club added one tennis court and introduced a state-of-the-art aquatics complex with a retractable roof. In 2012, the club broke ground on its most significant capital project since moving to Bayview. The "Shiftingravity" expansion has expanded fitness offerings, a new children's area and activity centre, a consolidated pro shop and 200 additional parking spaces. The location on Church Street is now the site of Barbara Hall Park, and the 1906 clubhouse is now a community centre, " The 519". The north wall of the curling rink building on the south side of Monteith Street was partially retained, in use as a park fence. When the club moved in 1972, the St. Clair club was demolished, its front entrance becoming part of the

Guild Park and Gardens Guild Park and Gardens is a public park in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The park was formerly the site of an artist colony and is notable for its collection of relics saved from the demolition of buildings primarily in d ...

collection.

Facilities

The Granite Club has facilities for: * aquatics *

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns slidi ...

* fitness *

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

(indoor range) *

ice skating Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be per ...

* pickleball *

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

* restaurant dining and meetings * salon,

barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave men's and boys' hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a "barbershop" or a "barber's". Barbershops are also places of social interaction and publi ...

shop and spa services *

sports equipment Sports equipment, sporting equipment, also called sporting goods, are the tools, materials, apparel, and gear used to compete in a sport and varies depending on the sport. The equipment ranges from balls, nets, and protective gear like helmets. ...

and clothing *

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

s and special events, as well as an art collection.

References

External links

{{Commons category, The Granite Club
Official website
Figure skating clubs in Canada 1875 establishments in Ontario Curling clubs in Canada Sports clubs established in 1875 Clubs and societies based in Toronto Multi-sport clubs in Canada