ROAD BUILDING king James Franceschini (left) with his brother.
FRONT VIEW of Myrtle Villa that sat on five-acres of lakefront in the Lake Shore Blvd. W. and Royal York Rd. area. From City archive.
Franceschini’s backyard stretching to the lake with horse track, pool, elaborate trees and walkway.
Mimico road-builder James Franceschini arrived in Canada at the age of 15 in 1906 with no money, could not speak English and had no place to stay.
He was helped by a Toronto cop who found the teen a place to sleep that first night in this city. The young man found a job the very next day.
Franceschini, who would work hard and overcome many struggles, became a self-made millionaire in less than 10-years in Canada.
The entrepreneur in 1912 founded and built Dufferin Construction, Canada’s largest road construction company, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2012.
As soon as he made his first millions, he lost the fortune due to a bad contract and a decline in construction due to World War 1. He had his steam shovel, horses and equipment repossessed.
No one to be kept down. He embarked on a series of small contracts with the City of Toronto, which included clearing snow and repairing roads. He also worked excavating the foundation for General Motors Canada assembly plant in Oshawa.
By 1917, Dufferin Construction won the first provincial highway construction tender to grade the Rouge Hill portion of Kingston Road, known as Highway 2.
Franceschini, and his wife, Annie, had a daughter Myrtle in 1921, and a few years later went shopping for a mansion to join their friends on the prime Mimico lakefront.
They purchased a grand manor home named ‘Ormscliffe,’ described as a California-style bungalow and renamed the estate “Myrtle Villa” after their daughter.
He made headlines in the 1930’s when a gang of extortioners threatened to kidnap his daughter and fired a shot through the window of his home.
Their Lake Shore Blvd. and Royal York Rd. area mansion stood on five-acres of prime lakefront property. A house was built for his brother Leonard and row housing for staff. Franceschini purchased land and constructed an equestrian centre for his prized Hackney horses.
The couple were devoted to charitable work, and in 1930 they hosted the Shiners’ North American Convention in Toronto, with a reception at Myrtle Villa.
In the 1930s, Dufferin was flying high. The company was building major highways for all levels of the Ontario government. Then suddenly the boss was thrown in jail.
In the 1940s, Franceschini’s company was building minesweepers for the Canadian Navy, when he was arrested on suspicion of engaging in “Fascist activities.”
He was detained for a year in an internment camp and was released to receive medical treatment. A public inquiry determined his complete innocence. Now in ill health and semi-retired, the businessman moved into a new home in Mount Tremblant, where he lived until his death in September 1960.
Myrtle Villa was sold in 1959 to Amedeo and Lawrence Longo, brothers who developed the Amedeo Garden Court Apartments on the property. They retained and repurposed most of the existing buildings and garden features, while new apartments were constructed among the estate buildings.