jewish home

There has been a Jewish presence on Duke Street since the mid-1800s. This is best known through the Shaare Shalom synagogue of the United Congregation of Israel, built after the older Sephardic and Askenazi synagogues were destroyed in a major city fire of 1882. But before the synagogue, a Hebrew Benevolent Society home for Jewish persons in need of care had been established at 37 Duke Street, near the corner of Barry Street and operated there for nearly a century.

At the time, this was a settled residential area of the city and in 1863, the Society acquired two lots of land for £200 and set out to raise funds for building. A December 1864 bazaar raised nearly £1,000 facilitating the laying of the foundation stone and consecration of the facility in the following year. Originally known as the Hebrew Alms House, it was renamed the Jewish Home in 1911 and in 1925, was amalgamated with the United Congregation of Israelites. By the late 1930s, the home’s population expanded from the elderly to also include families facing hard times. They lived in apartments within the facility, which was run by a resident matron.

Jennifer Lim, born Jennifer Campbell remembered that her mother was able to move her family of seven children into a comfortable apartment in the home, after she fell on hard times. The support enabled her to get on her feet, and in the meantime, the children attended schools in the community, and the family walked up Duke Street to synagogue every Saturday morning.

As the area became overwhelmingly commercial, members of the Jewish community sought to find an alternative location and in 1956, the property was acquired by the Royal Bank of Canada and the Home moved uptown.