Spencer and Rosa Clark Art lovers and owners of the Guild Inn

The Guild Inn Legacy: A Toronto Artistic Haven

On my walk through Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, just across from the grave of hockey legend Charlie Conacher, I discovered the family plot of Spencer and Rosa Clark—two visionaries who protected Toronto’s artistic heritage and created Canada’s only Depression-era artist colony.

Rosa purchased a stunning 16-hectare (40-acre) lakeside property perched on the Scarborough Bluffs with her inheritance. Inspired by their unconventional honeymoon at a bustling artist colony in New York State—home to over 500 artists and an inn for visitors—they set out to build something similar in Toronto.

Renaming their property the “Guild of All Arts,” they established a crafts cooperative and artist colony unlike any other in Canada. Artists and craftspeople were invited to live and work on the property, sharing their skills and creating unique works of art. In exchange for room and board, these residents crafted handmade furniture and other creations that furnished every room in the inn, making it a living gallery of Canadian craftsmanship.

Over time, as the city expanded rapidly and maintaining such a vast property became costly, Spencer and Rosa sold The Guild Inn in 1978 to the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto (now the City of Toronto). Though the inn itself closed in 1993, much of the park and its remarkable outdoor art collection remain open to the public—a testament to the enduring spirit of creativity they nurtured.

Visiting the Guild Inn park today is like stepping into a living piece of Toronto’s artistic past—a true cultural gem well worth exploring.

Rosa Clark died in 1981. She was 91. Spencer Clark died five years later in 1986. He was 82.

1888-1981 (Rosa)
1903-1986 (Spencer)