Accession Number

2009-6-1

Material Format

textual record

graphic material

Physical Description

1 folder of textual records

1 photograph: b&w ; 25 x 20 cm

Date

1923, 1932, 1960

Scope and Content

Accession consists of the naturalization certificate of Harold Kaplan, a souvenir program from his stag party, and an original photograph of New Year's Eve 1959–1960 at the Primrose Club.

Administrative History

Harold Solomon Kaplan (1895–1973) was a Toronto-based architect who, in partnership with Abraham Sprachman in the firm Kaplan & Sprachman, was well-known for the design of art deco and art moderne movie theatres in the 1930s and 1940s and for designing buildings for Jewish communities across Canada from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Descriptive Notes

Photograph #6561 is a copy of this original.

Related records may be found in the Harold S. Kaplan fonds 27.

Name Access

Kaplan, Harold, 1895-1973

Primrose Club (Toronto, Ont.)

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Accessions

Part Of

Benjamin Brown fonds

Jewish community building plans and drawings series

Level

File

Fonds

49

Series

1

File

9

Material Format

architectural drawing

Date

[ca.1921]

Physical Description

1 architectural drawing : pencil and hand col. pencil crayon on cardboard ; 42 x 54 cm

Admin History/Bio

Originally named the Cosmopolitan Club, the Primrose Club was as an elite Jewish men's club (women were allowed to join in later years) that was founded in 1909 by prominent members of the Jewish Community. The building housing the club was located at 41 Willcocks Street, and was originally built in the 1880s as the residence of the Campbell family. In 1921, the home was redesigned by Benjamin Brown and Robert McConnell as the new home of the Primrose Club. In 1959, it was appropriated by the University of Toronto and is currently the home of the University of Toronto Faculty Club. It was designated as a heritage building in 1980.

Scope and Content

File consists of an elevation drawing of the Primrose Club at 41 Willcocks Street.

Notes

See - http://magazine.utoronto.ca/feature/history-of-faculty-club-u-of-t/ - for a more detailed history of the building.

Name Access

Primrose Club (Toronto, Ont.)

Subjects

Clubs

Places

Willcocks Street (Toronto, Ont.)

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2463

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[ca. 1920]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

Item is a group photograph of members of the Farband group, taken in a yard. Identified are Willie Silverberg; Abi Shatz; Benny Shatz; and Mr. Frankel.

Notes

From the Seymour and Abi Shatz Collection.

Name Access

Farband

Frankel, Mr.

Shatz, Abi

Shatz, Benny

Silverberg, Willie

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1980-12-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2462

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[ca. 1920]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

Item is a group photograph of members of the Farband, taken in a yard. Identified are Joe Cash and Louis Shatz.

Notes

From the Seymour and Abi Shatz Collection.

Name Access

Farband

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1980-12-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2919

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[19--]

Physical Description

2 photographs : (1 negative)

Scope and Content

For identification, see accession record.

Notes

Photo by Schlochter.

Name Access

Farband

Subjects

Students

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1981-6-3

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2471

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[1920 or 1921]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

Item is a photograph of members of the Farband, Borochov Branch 124 at a picnic in Toronto. Pictured back row sixth from left, [?] Krackover; [?] Freedman.

Pictured middle row, second from left: Joe Cash; Willie Silverberg.

Pictured middle row, third from right: [?] Hoffman; Jack Herzog; Benny Cohen.

Pictured first row, left: Benny Shatz; [?] Frankel; [?] Manson (third from right).

Notes

From the Seymour and Abi Shatz Collection.

Name Access

Borochov

Cash, Joe

Cohen, Benny

Farband

Frankel

Freedman

Herzog, Jack

Hoffman

Krackover

Manson

Shatz, Benny

Silverberg, Willie

Subjects

Picnics

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1980-12-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2477

Material Format

graphic material

Date

25 July 1926

Physical Description

1 photograph : b&w

Notes

See items #1271 and #2453 for similar image.

Name Access

Borochov

Jewish National Workers' Alliance

Farband

Trafalgar

Subjects

Picnics

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1980-12-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2916

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[ca. 1928]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

Seated, left to right: Esther Walerstein; Bayla Lax; Alte Freiman.

Standing, left to right: Haim Noach Kirshenbaum; Yisroel Starr; E. Chaikes (teacher); Yosef Lubek; Shlomo Zuker.

Notes

Half-tone photograph from newspaper.

Original photo by Schlachter.

Name Access

Chaikes, E.

Farband

Freiman, Alte

Kirshenbaum, Haim Noach

Lax, Bayla

Lubek, Yosef

Starr, Yisroel

Walerstein, Esther

Zuker, Shlomo

Subjects

Students

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1981-6-3

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2468

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[ca. 1920]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

Item is a group photograph of the Ladies' auxiliary of Farband Borochov Branch 124, at a picnic in Toronto. Identified are Lillian Edelstein, Max Hoffman, Charlie Krackover; Ida Krackover; Joe Cash; [?] Frankel; Fanny Herzog; [?] Herzog; Willie Silverberg; [Leiblele?] Monson; Max Monson; Florence Monson; Chaika Levinsky; [Loyke?] Freedman; Penny Shatz; Mr. Freedman; Nachman Levinsky.

Notes

From the Seymour and Abi Shatz Collection.

Name Access

Borochov

Cash, Joe

Edelstein, Lillian

Farband

Frankel

Freedman, Loyke

Herzog, Fanny

Hoffman, Max

Krackover, Charlie

Krackover, Ida

Levinsky, Chaika

Levinsky, Nachman

Monson, Florence

Monson, Leiblele

Monson, Max

Shatz, Penny

Silverberg, Willie

Subjects

Picnics

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1980-12-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

1271

Material Format

graphic material

Date

25 July 1926

Physical Description

1 photograph : b&w

Scope and Content

This photograph shows a group of people at a picnic for the Borochov Branch 124.

Name Access

Farband

Borochov

Trafalgar

Jewish Organizations

Subjects

Picnics

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Physical Condition

Poor condition.

Related Material

See photo 2453 for a copy print and negative of this image.

Accession Number

1977-4-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2561

Material Format

graphic material

Date

1927

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

For identification notes, please see accession record.

Notes

Photo by Modern Studio, 452 Queen St. W., Toronto.

Name Access

Sholom Aleichem Club

Farband

Subjects

Clubs

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1981-3-7

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2538

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[ca. 1926]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Name Access

Poalei Zion

Farband

Subjects

Picnics

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Queenston (Ont.)

Accession Number

1981-2-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2914

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[ca. 1925]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

For identification notes, please see accession record.

Name Access

Farband

Poalei Zion

Subjects

Zionism

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1981-4-1

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2537

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[ca. 1926]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Name Access

Poalei Zion

Farband

Subjects

Picnics

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Queenston (Ont.)

Accession Number

1981-2-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2557

Material Format

graphic material

Date

March 1928

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Name Access

Farband

Poalei Zion

Yehoash

Subjects

Clubs

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1981-3-3

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2319

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[ca. 1940]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Name Access

Menachovsky, M.

Poalei Zion

Farband

Subjects

Anniversaries

Dinners and dining

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1980-9-1

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2562

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[1925 or 1926]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

For identification see accession record.

Notes

Photo by M. Schlochter, 452 Queen St. W., Toronto.

Name Access

Farband

Subjects

Students

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1981-3-8

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

1646

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[ca. 1921]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

This print is a reproduction of an architectural drawing of the Primrose Club in Toronto.

Name Access

Primrose Club (Toronto, Ont.)

Subjects

Architecture

Clubs

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Related Material

See fonds 49, series 1, file 9 for the original drawing.

Places

Willcocks Street (Toronto, Ont.)

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Harold S. Kaplan fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

27

Material Format

multiple media

Date

[ca.1910]-1968

Physical Description

345 architectural drawings and other material

Admin History/Bio

Harold Solomon Kaplan (1895-1973) was a Toronto-based architect who, in partnership with Abraham Sprachman in the firm Kaplan & Sprachman, was well-known for the design of Art deco and Art moderne movie theatres in the 1930s and 1940s and for designing buildings for Jewish communities across Canada from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Kaplan was born 10 Sept. 1895, in Bucharest, Romania. At the age of three, he and his widowed mother, Tillie Hohan, moved to London, England, and in 1902 they moved to Toronto where his mother subsequently married Frank Kaplan. While in his teens, Kaplan spent time in Philadelphia living with an uncle and studying draftsmanship. Upon returning to Toronto, Kaplan attended Toronto Technical School where he took courses in architecture and building construction. He also served an apprenticeship with the architect Henry Simpson. In 1919-1920, Kaplan worked for the firm of Page & Warrington, before establishing Kaplan & Sprachman with Abraham Sprachman in 1922. In 1923, he married Dorothy Spain. They had two daughters, Phyllis (Pepper) and Ruthetta (Reiss).

Kaplan & Sprachman were best known for their more than 300 movie theatre projects completed from the 1920s to the 1960s, designing and renovating theatres across Canada in progressive "modern" styles and using innovative building materials. In 1937, they were awarded the bronze medal in the Sixth Biennial Toronto Exhibition for their interiors to the Eglinton Theatre (400 Eglinton Ave. W.) in Toronto, considered to be the finest example of their Art deco design work.

Over the course of their careers, they designed many synagogues for the Jewish community, such as the Anshei Minsk and Shaarei Shomayim synagogues in Toronto, Beth Israel Synagogue, Edmonton, and Beth Israel Synagogue in Vancouver. They also designed the new Mount Sinai Hospital, the Oakdale Golf & Country Club, the Jewish Home for the Aged (Baycrest), and the Jewish Community Centres of Toronto and Hamilton. Their design for the Oakdale Golf & Country Club was chosen as a Canadian entrant in the Arts Competition of the 14th Olympic Games in London, 1948.

In addition to the projects already mentioned, Kaplan & Sprachman worked on retail stores, warehouses and factories, apartment buildings, and single family residences. Their partnership continued until 1965, when the firm of Kaplan & Sprachman was dissolved as of 30 October 1965. Kaplan continued to work as an architectural consultant for several years after this date. Harold Kaplan died 1 April 1973 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Kaplan was a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the Ontario Association of Architects, and the Province of Quebec Association of Architects. Kaplan & Sprachman's contribution to the architecture profession was recognized by the Ontario Association of Architects when both Kaplan's and Abraham Sprachman's names were entered on the Honor Roll for prominent members of the profession, established by the association in 1989.

Scope and Content

The fonds documents Kaplan's work as an architect from the 1930s to the 1960s with Kaplan & Sprachman and some of the consulting work he undertook after the dissolution of the partnership in 1965, primarily through architectural drawings and photographs. The preponderance of the materials relates to a series of renovations of Loew's Yonge Street Theatre (189 Yonge St., Toronto, now the Elgin Theatre) and the Uptown Theatre (764 Yonge St., Toronto, just South of Bloor St.) between the 1930s and 1960s, and Kaplan & Sprachman's design of the Primrose Club (Russell Hill Rd at St. Clair Ave., Toronto) in 1958-1959. There is also a large number of photographs by commercial photographers of movie theatres designed or renovated by Kaplan & Sprachman.

Project records are arranged chronologically, with sub-sub-series defined for successive projects at the same site. Some of the materials document project proposals which were not carried out (e.g., proposed renovations of the Winter Garden Theatre).

Other series in the fonds contain business correspondence and newspaper clippings concerning Kaplan & Sprachman projects, and a small amount of personal material such as family photographs, awards Kaplan received over the years for his design work and a colour photocopy of the invitation to Kaplan's stag party in 1923.

Notes

Includes: 132 photographs (131 b&w, including 8 negatives; 1 col.), 8 cm of textual records, and 1 bronze medal.

Name Access

Kaplan, Harold S., 1895-1973

Kaplan & Sprachman (Firm)

Loew's Yonge Street Theatre (Toronto, Ont.)

Primrose Club (Toronto, Ont.)

Uptown Theatre (Toronto, Ont.)

Winter Garden Theatre (Toronto, Ont.)

Physical Condition

Some of the blueprints and drawings are torn or water-damaged. All of the architectural drawings are currently stored in rolls.

Related Material

Accession 2003-7-1 contains additional photographs of buildings designed or renovated by Kaplan & Sprachman, as well as a copy of a published inventory of Kaplan & Sprachman movie theatre projects, compiled by Mandel Sprachman from Kaplan & Sprachman records

Mina Sprachman, widow of Abraham Sprachman, discusses Kaplan & Sprachman in oral history recording AC-142

Kaplan & Sprachman records can also be found in the Mandel Sprachman fonds, at the City of Toronto Archives

Creator

Kaplan, Harold S., 1895-1973

Accession Number

2003-6-1

2004-3-4

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2453

Material Format

graphic material

Date

25 July 1926

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

This photograph shows a group of people at a picnic for the Borochov Branch 124.

Name Access

Farband

Borochov

Trafalgar

Subjects

Picnics

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Related Material

See 1271 for an origianl photograph of this image.

Accession Number

1980-12-2

Source

Archival Descriptions