Queen's Wharf Lighthouse#Fleet Loop

The lighthouse, which projected a red light, was designed by the architect Kivas Tully, and along with a second, larger white light lighthouse, marked the entrance to the Toronto Harbour from 1861. The two lights were lined up to guide ships into Toronto Harbour, which had a narrow and shallow (14 feet (4.3 metres) deep) channel over bedrock and shallow sandbars. The building is a bare frame structure and was never meant to be used as a dwelling by a lighthouse keeper, who stayed in a nearby cottage.{{cite web |url=http://unknowntoronto.blogspot.com/2009/06/queens-wharf-lighthouse.html |title=Unknown Toronto: Queen's Wharf Lighthouse |access-date=July 4, 2009}} The harbour master's residence was also nearby.{{cite news |work=The Globe |title=Buildings Reminiscent of Early Toronto |date=August 15, 1925 |page=13 |first=J. H. |last=Boyd}}

The shifting in direction of the deep water channel to Toronto Harbour necessitated the moving of the red light lighthouse in 1885.{{cite news |work=The Globe |title=Toronto Harbour: Improvements and Alterations at the Queen's Wharf Change in the Range Lights a New Crib and Pier Prevent Further Damage |date=April 21, 1885 |page=6}} Both lighthouses became redundant when a new western channel to the harbour was opened with a pair of new range lights (a short tower on concrete base and a taller skeletal tower){{Cite web|url=https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=1064|title=Queen's Wharf Lighthouse}} and were deactivated in 1912. The new range lights were destroyed by fire in 1918. By 1925, the Queen's Wharf Lighthouse was surrounded by new lands filling in the area around the Queen's Wharf, 1,400 feet (430 metres) from the water.{{cite news |work=The Globe |title=Small, Ancient Lighthouse, Once Right on Waterfront Now Stands Far Inland: Recalls Days When Queen's Wharf Was Busy With Traffic of Great Lakes, and Steamboat Began to Displace Sailing Vessel Rests as Curiosity beside Boulevard |date=August 15, 1925 |page=13 |first=J. H. |last=Boyd}} The other lighthouse was demolished but the Toronto Harbour Commission moved the remaining lighthouse to its present Fleet Street location in 1929.{{cite news |work=The Globe |title=Ancient Lighthouse Guided 300,000 Ships; Now Cars Skirt Base: Beacon Built in 1861 Moved to Point of Gore Formed by Fleet Street end Boulevard Drive--Commemorates Pioneer Shipping, Marks Development of Toronto Harbor and Recalls Many Thrilling Tales of Shipwreck and Rescue |date=November 27, 1929 |page=9}} The new location was on the northern approach to the old western channel. Its ownership was transferred to the City of Toronto.

The lighthouse currently sits at the eastern edge of the Gore park about one block north from the current shoreline and is contained within a small Toronto Transit Commission streetcar loop.{{cite web |url=http://www.rudyalicelighthouse.net/OntLts/QueenWrf/QueenWrf.htm |title=Queen's Wharf a/k/a Fleet Street Light |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509081404/http://www.rudyalicelighthouse.net/OntLts/QueenWrf/QueenWrf.htm |archive-date=May 9, 2008 |website=www.rudyalicelighthouse.net }} The building was listed in the Toronto Heritage Register on June 20, 1973.{{cite web |url=http://secure.toronto.ca/HeritagePreservation/details.do?folderRsn=2435079&propertyRsn=578942 |title=651 Fleet St. |author= |website=City of Toronto Heritage Register |publisher=City of Toronto |access-date=July 24, 2017 }} The Historical Board of Toronto did some restoration of the lighthouse in 1988. The light is no longer functional.

{{Infobox station

| name = Fleet Loop

| style = TTC

| image = Fleet lighthouse loop wide clip.jpg

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| line = {{rail-interchange|toronto|streetcar|509}} {{color box|white|511}}

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| opened = 1931

| closed =

| rebuilt = 1982

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| operator = TTC

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Fleet Loop is a turning loop, encircling the lighthouse, used for short turning the 509 Harbourfront and 511 Bathurst streetcar routes of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). The lands are leased from Exhibition Place on a renewable ten-year term.{{cite web |url=http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/2000/agendas/council/cc/cc000607/adm13rpt/cl013.pdf |title= Renewal of Lease Agreement with TTC for Fleet Loop |author=Dianne Young, Interim General Manager |date=April 7, 2000 |work=City Council report |publisher=Board of Governors of Exhibition Place |quote=This report recommends the renewal of the current Lease to the TTC of the lands known as the Fleet Street Streetcar Loop for a ten (10) year term, with an option for a further renewal of up to ten (10) years. |access-date=August 25, 2014}}

When the loop first opened on June 22, 1931 it could only turn westbound streetcars back east. The loop was rebuilt in 1982 and reconfigured so that streetcars on Fleet Street could enter and exit in both directions, allowing them to return to the Exhibition Loop or loop-the-loop.{{cite web |url=http://transit.toronto.on.ca/streetcar/4155.shtml |title=Exhibition Loop and Fleet Loop |author=James Bow |publisher=Transit Toronto |access-date=August 25, 2014}} Passengers cannot access vehicles here and must board streetcars at a stop just east of the loop.

• List of oldest buildings and structures in Toronto
• Fort York Neighbourhood

{{Reflist}}

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• Crompton, Samuel Willard & Michael J. Rhein. The Ultimate Book of Lighthouses (2002) {{ISBN|1-59223-102-0}}; {{ISBN|978-1-59223-102-7}}.
• Jones, Ray, & Roberts, Bruce (Photographer). Eastern Great Lakes Lighthouses (Lighthouse Series) (Paperback) (Old Saybrook, CN: The Globe Pequot Press) p. 69. {{ISBN|1-56440-899-X}}.
• Jones, Ray.The Lighthouse Encyclopedia, The Definitive Reference (Globe Pequot, January 1, 2004, 1st ed.) {{ISBN|0-7627-2735-7}}; {{ISBN|978-0-7627-2735-3}}.
• Oleszewski, Wes. Great Lakes Lighthouses, American and Canadian: A Comprehensive Directory/Guide to Great Lakes Lighthouses, (Gwinn, Michigan: Avery Color Studios, Inc., 1998) {{ISBN|0-932212-98-0}}.
• Penrose, Laurie & Penrose, Bill T., (1994-05) A Traveler's Guide to 100 Eastern Great Lakes: Lighthouses (Paperback), Friede Publications, 125 pages {{ISBN|0-923756-09-4}}, p. 82.
• Wright, Larry and Wright, Patricia. Great Lakes Lighthouses Encyclopedia Hardback (Erin: Boston Mills Press, 2006) {{ISBN|1-55046-399-3}}

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{{Commons category|Fleet Street Lighthouse}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Fleet Loop}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304112444/http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=1064 Friends of Lighthouses]

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{{Lighthouses of Canada}}

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Category:Lighthouses completed in 1861

Category:Buildings and structures in Toronto

Category:Lighthouses in Ontario

Category:1861 establishments in Canada West