The Massey Murder Book Summary

The book, The Massey Murder takes place predominantly in downtown Toronto and mentions many streets and buildings which are still present. Some of the many buildings that were mentioned in the book include Old City Hall, Osgoode Hall, the Court Street Police Station, The Adelaide Street Courthouse, and Massey Music Hall. Most of these buildings are located near Adelaide Street, Jarvis Street, Bay Street and Queen Street. During the time of the trial, times and the city were a lot different than they are now. At the time, the automobile industry was booming which is where Bert Massey was employed along with many other men and cars were related closely to the status of the owners. Owning a car meant that you had a higher status implicating that …show more content…
There were about a dozen buildings stated in the book, but some do not exist as they did then. For example, the book mentions the Adelaide Street Courthouse whose building is still standing but instead of a courthouse. in its place is an Italian restaurant called Terroni. The surrounding areas of all the buildings have changed drastically and have become more modernized. Located on Bay and King Street currently are numerous skyscrapers including the Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia and the Toronto Dominon Bank. During the Massey murder trial, the Telegram’s four storey building was the key structure that was located on the corner of the streets of King and Bay. Likewise, the famous Massey Music Hall is now neighbour to the enormous and eventful Eaton centre. The Osgoode Hall is another building that I observed while on the tour and it is very similar to what it looked like at the time of the trial. It’s a grand almost white building that has wide stairs leading up to the large metal door. It is surrounded by a huge fence and inside the fence is a lawn that has a walkway leading to the building. It was the first law school in the province and is now used as a courthouse and is comprised of two libraries. The Old City Hall is another one of the many buildings that are mentioned in the book and accommodated the municipal government, courts, and offices. Currently, it is also used as a court house where numerous cases are heard. The appearance and description of the building are quite similar to how it has been described in the book involving all the aspects that were mentioned. It is a beautiful building of Romanesque architecture, entails a giant clock tower, it consists of three sets of large doorways and has four floors. It has a grand staircase in the middle, right in front of the doors that opens up to both