BROWN, Arthur Page (1859-1896) of New York City was commissioned by Toronto real estate developer Simeon H. Janes to design 'Benvenuto', a sumptuous hilltop mansion overlooking the city on a site near Avenue Road and Edmund Avenue, TORONTO, ONT. Begun in 1888 and '.....patterned after a French chateau', the residence took more than two years to complete (Toronto World, 21 April 1888, 2; and 25 Oct. 1889, 3, descrip.; Architecture & Building [New York], ix, 6 Oct. 1888, plate illus.; Eric Arthur, Toronto - No Mean City, 1964, 190-93, illus. & descrip., but incorrectly credited to Stanford White of New York City). After Brown left for San Francisco in late 1888, the mansion was completed by Stratton & Ellingwood of New York City, and it was Francis L. Ellingwood who '.....devoted practically of his time to the supervision ' in Toronto of overseeing the completion of this palatial residence (Toronto Sunday Star, 25 May 1912, 23).
Extensively altered in 1914 by Darling & Pearson, the house remained a landmark in the city until 1932 when it was demolished (W. Dendy, Lost Toronto, 1978, 182-4, illus. & descrip.). Only the stone retaining walls in Kingston limestone which surround the site on Avenue Road have survived, together with the ornamental iron entrance gates which were moved to No. 42 Burton Road in Forest Hill.
Brown was born on 19 October 1859 and educated at Cornell University. He trained in the office of McKim, Mead & White in New York and opened an office there in 1885. In late 1888 he moved to San Francisco and remained there for the duration of his career. His best known works include Clio Hall, Whig Hall and the Art Museum at Princeton University (1887-92), and the California State Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In October 1895 Brown sustained serious injuries when thrown from a horse-drawn carriage and never recovered. He died at Burlingame, Calif. on 21 January 1896 (obit. San Francisco Call, 22 Jan. 1896, 5; American Architect & Building News, li, 8 Feb. 1896, 57-8; biog. H. Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects, 1956, 79; biog. MacMillan Encyclopedia of Architects, 1982, i, 292-3)