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HISTORY
The
Windfields neighbourhood is located on the former site of Windfields Farm, after
which this neighbourhood is named. Windfields Farm was the former estate of E.P.
Taylor the legendary Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Windfields
Farm was founded in 1937. It was Taylor's wife Winnifred who
came up with the "Windfields" name while the couple were out
walking on their property during a windy autumn day. In its
heyday Windfields Farm was famous as one of the top thoroughbred
racing stables in North America. Its stable of horses included
Northern Dancer, the first Canadian horse to win the Kentucky
Derby.
In 1963,
an increasingly private E.P. Taylor moved his main residence
to Lyford Cay in the Bahamas. In 1968, he sold most of his Windfields
estate to developers. At the same time he donated thirty acres
of land for what is now Windfields Park.
E.P. Taylor's
Windfields mansion located at 2489 Bayview Avenue, was also gifted to the city
by the Taylor family in 1968. This Colonial Revival style mansion is now the home
of the Canadian Centre for Advanced Film Studies, which opened its doors in 1988.
E.P. Taylor passed away at his home in Lyford Cay in 1989.
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