Scanned Fire Insurance Plan

The Map & Data Library's collection of fire insurance plans and atlases provides a wealth of information about the history of Toronto's built environment. These maps go back as far as 1880 and show details such as streets & railroads, property boundaries and addresses, and building outlines with business names and other notes. These maps are incredibly valuable for historical research, but they're also just really cool to dive into and explore. Take, for example, this map from 1880 showing what was then the harbourfront (drag the slider to compare the map to an image of today's Toronto).

This city has changed a lot!! A significant amount of lakefilling was done during the 20th century, using demolition materials needing disposal after urban renewal projects. From the Gardiner, to Ontario Place, to the Leslie Street Spit, Toronto has expanded into Lake Ontario. For a more in-depth analysis of this phenomenon, see the book chapter Demolishing the city, constructing the shoreline (Creba & Hutton, 2021).

All of the out of copyright fire insurance plans and atlases in the Map & Data Library collection can be consulted online:

Additional in-copyright fire insurance plans can be consulted in person at the Map & Data Library, contact us for details.

Map of the month: Toronto Fire Insurance Plans