Osgoode Hall: An Illustrated History

H. Graham Rawlinson is a corporate lawyer with the international law
firm Torys in Toronto. He is co-author of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most
Influential Canadians of the 20th Century.

John Honsberger and the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History have
joined forces to produce a masterpiece of legal and architectural
scholarship. But Osgoode Hall is also a beautiful book. Some 150
historic and modern images are featured throughout the text.

Starting from the premise that buildings have a profound ability to
shape human culture and achievement, Honsberger covers nearly 200 years
of history, proving that very point: the small, spare building
constructed on the edge of the wilderness far from the tiny town of York
to house the headquarters of a tiny legal profession on the remotest
edge of the British Empire evolved, generations later, into a much
modified building standing as a classical Victorian landmark in the
bustling metropolis of Toronto.

Still owned and operated by the Law Society of Upper Canada, the
building features gated grounds, stunning Venetian rotunda, and
high-ceilinged courtrooms that have witnessed the majesty and ceremony,
as well as scandals and intrigues, that have marked the history of the
legal profession in Ontario. But the book is more than a homage to a
memorable building. Honsberger, a practising lawyer for 50 years, has a
historian’s keen eye for the details, and he uses them to draw a
fascinating picture of the evolving profession. He also situates the
Osgoode Hall story in the broader architectural history of the country.
In short, the book is a rare achievement: informative, highly literate,
and accessible. Both author and publisher are to be congratulated.