Today I visited one of the most unusual buildings I’ve ever seen. On a quiet rural road north of Toronto sits the Thomas Foster Memorial, an opulent mausoleum that is the final resting place of Thomas Foster, his wife and daughter.
Inspired by India’s Taj Mahal, the Memorial was built in the Byzantine architectural-style, with solid bronze doors and stained glass windows that are hand painted and fired. The memorial is capped with three solid copper dome roofs, with 12 stained glass leaded windows. The floors are rich coloured terrazzo and marble mosaics wrought in symbolic designs, complemented by 22k gold mosaics that shine all the way to the top dome. It cost about $250,000 to build, and was opened in 1936.
Foster was a butcher, business man, and later politician who served as Mayor of Toronto from 1925-1927 and as the Member of Parliament for the federal riding of York East from 1917-1921.
In 1893, Foster married Elizabeth MacCauley, who bore him a daughter, Ruby, their only child. Sadly, Ruby died in 1903, just short of her 10th birthday. Seventeen years later, Elizabeth also died, while Foster was serving as a Member of Parliament.
After being defeated in the municipal election in 1928, Foster retired from politics, after which he embarked on a world tour, including a stop in India to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra. It was on his return to Canada that he set forth to build a similar structure as a final resting place for Elizabeth, Ruby, and himself.
