Finch station

Finch is a terminus station on the Yonge-University-Spadina line of the Toronto subway. It is the northernmost station in the system. It is located at 5714 Yonge Street at Finch Avenue West/East. The station was opened on March 29, 1974 by then Premier William Grenville Davis and North York mayor Mel Lastman (later mayor of the mega city of Toronto).

The station consist of a rectangle-shaped station with angled platforms. Bus routes served by Finch include:

Steeles East 53
Steeles West 60
Finch East 39
Finch West 36
Cummer 42
Yonge 97
125 Drewry

Stairs, escalators and an elevator lead down three levels to the subway. Level one is a T-shaped corridor leading to Level 2 (a plaque celebrating the station's opening is located on this level). Level two consists of connections to office towers (North American Life, Place Nouveau and condominiums on Pemberton Avenue) and the regional bus terminal. A few stores are located within the station, including Gateway Newsstand and Tim Hortons. Level three consists of a central platform with an operations tower at the south end.

Finch is also the name of a regional bus terminal north of the Finch subway station. The terminal connects to GO Transit buses, Brampton Transit, and York Region Transit.

Krystyna Sadowska's sculpture Rhythm Of Exotic Plants (1965) is located at the Mezannine level.

Nearby landmarks include:

Plaque on the North American Life building commemorating the birth place of former Canadian Prime Minister Lester B Pearson
Newtonbrook Plaza
Centerpoint Mall

The site of the station was at one the Finch's Hotel. Hotels, taverns, restaurants, and residences also occuppied the northeast corner of Finch Avenue and Yonge Street. Finch's Hotel was on Lot of 200 acres was Lot 21, Concession 1 East of Yonge. The hotel occupied only a small corner of the Lot. John Montgomery opened The Bird in Hand Hotel on the west side of Yonge about a quarter of a mile north of. John Finch then opened his hotel in the 1820s. By the 1830s, Finch closed down when Finch decided to open his own inn farther south. Finch returned later and bought the lot again and erected a two-storey frame hotel. A 1851 by-law passed allow a travelling circus to perform on the grounds. The hotel passed through various innkeepers:

Thomas Palmer 1860
John Likens 1864
James Fenley 1869
William Kirk in 1871.

Finally, it was sold in 1873 to Charles McBride, who tore it down and used the wood to build Bedford Park Hotel on his farm south of Fairlawn Avenue west side of Yonge.

References

Patricia W. Hart, Pioneering in North York (1968)
North York Historical Society Archives