Nathan Phillips was a popular Mayor of Toronto from 1955 to 1962.
Born in Brockville in 1892, Phillips was educated in public and high schools in Cornwall, Ontario. He practiced law in Toronto and was appointed a King’s Counsel in 1929.
Phillips served as mayor from 1955 and was dubbed “Mayor of All the People.” He is remembered for being the first Toronto mayor of the Jewish faith.
Under Philips’s direction, the City of Toronto pursued an aggressive agenda of demolishing heritage structures throughout the city in order to ‘modernize.’ Large blocks of downtown were purchased and razed. Many landmark buildings and neighbourhoods were destroyed, such as the University Avenue Armouries, the Chorley Park estate, and the General Post Office.
