The Blake House hosts corporate functions, client and team dinners, private parties and on-site ceremonies, with a private dining room for 50, a patio for 80 and 210 seats across the venue. It occupies a restored 1891 mansion at 449 Jarvis Street in Toronto, built for Edward Blake and run today as a pub and restaurant.
Seminars and company events
The house specializes in corporate and private functions rather than conference days. Its lower level can be booked as a complete private facility, which suits a client dinner, an end-of-year party or a team evening apart from the main dining room. Group menus are flexible, and the manager and Chef David Araya settle the details with the organizer before the event. In good weather a larger group can take the patio, and the full house seats 210.
Weddings and receptions
The functions page lists on-site ceremonies, and the dining rooms and patio can then host the meal or reception that follows. Anniversaries, birthdays and other celebrations use the same spaces at a smaller scale.
Rooms and capacities
The private dining room seats 50 and the patio 80, with a total of 210 seats across the venue. The lower level works as a self-contained private area. Inside, an original wood-burning fireplace and restored Victorian rooms set the tone for winter dinners, while the sunny patio carries summer receptions. The venue states that it has no wheelchair access, which matters for groups that include guests with reduced mobility.
Catering
Food comes from the in-house kitchen, which cooks Canadian classics and modern pub dishes with local ingredients. The bar pours local craft beers and wine. Group menus are built for each function.
History and setting
The architects Knox & Elliot designed the house in 1891, mixing late Victorian and Second Empire styles. Its first owner, Edward Blake, was the second premier of Ontario, leader of the federal Liberal party from 1878 to 1887 and a founder of the law firm now known as Blake, Cassels & Graydon. The Blake family kept the house until 1917, on a street that was then home to leading Toronto families such as the Cawthras, Masseys and Gooderhams. In the 1960s the building became the Celebrity Club, a private supper club, then the Red Lion Pub, and in the 1990s the cartoonist Ben Wicks occupied the second floor for many years. After an extensive renovation, it remains one of the last Victorian landmarks on Jarvis Street.
Getting there
The house stands at 449 Jarvis Street, east of Yonge Street, a short walk from Wellesley subway station on Line 1. Parking is on paid street spaces, and underground parking is available.
