[4] The following year, it merged with St. Mary's Lesser Seminary under the unified control of the Basilian Fathers, whose establishment in Canada began with Bishop Armand-François-Marie de Charbonnel.

The Basilians received a large estate in 1853 from John Elmsley, son of the Chief Justice of Upper Canada and a prominent philanthropist.

Ever since this time St Michael's has been a bastion for higher education and a beacon for the Irish-Canadian community in Toronto and southern Ontario, with others coming from all over the rest of Canada to attend the dominantly Irish school.

[citation needed] By withdrawing its financial support in 1868, the provincial government encouraged denominational colleges to seek closer relations with secular institutions.

[citation needed] As the 20th century began, professional education expanded beyond the traditional fields of theology, law and medicine.

Graduate training based on the German-inspired American model of specialized course work and the completion of a research thesis was introduced.

Ten years later, Pope Pius XII signed a papal charter creating the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.

[citation needed] Throughout much of its history, St. Michael's benefited from a common practice whereby staff and faculty who were members of religious orders would donate their salaries back to the college.

This source of income gradually disappeared as new faculty members were hired with mainly secular backgrounds, compelling the college to seek new revenue.

[8] Subsequent campaigns and land sales allowed the college to gradually increase its endowment, expand its academic programs and construct new residence buildings.

[citation needed] The oldest buildings of St. Michael's College were constructed on the original Clover Hill estate donated by John Elmsley, and were designed by noted Scottish architect William Hay.

With subsequent land acquisitions in 1890, 1920, 1926 and 1928, the college expanded from Clover Hill westward to reach Queen's Park.

In 1996, the original building was completely renovated by Carlos Ott Partnership Architects and renamed Odette Hall, and a modern religious art gallery donated by Fr.

The master plan and Collegiate Gothic complex of buildings at the western side of the college nearest to Queen's Park were built in 1935 and designed by architect Arthur William Holmes in Gothic revival style: the Pontifical Institute, More House, Fisher House, Brennan Hall (1938) and Teefy Hall (1935–1936) and extension of the East Wing, (1902–1903).

[11] Examples of early post-war architecture at the college include Carr Hall, designed by Ernest Cormier and built in 1954, housing faculty and administrative offices, classrooms and an auditorium.

The brutalist concrete building of the John M. Kelly Library was opened in 1969, at the southern portion of the college on St. Joseph Street.

The former Ontario Research Council building next to the library has been redesigned with classrooms and offices as the Muzzo Family Alumni Hall.

This street, laid out around the turn of the 20th century, is flanked by a group of five beautiful brick Victorian mansions that constituted Toronto's first subdivision.

Windle House, at the northeast corner of the street, is home to the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies.

The Ukrainian Catholic Chapel of St. Sophia, which is operated as part of the Sheptytsky Institute, is located on the lower floor of Elmsley Hall and offers daily services in the Byzantine Rite.

In addition to more than 300,000 bookform volumes, the library maintains subscriptions to almost 500 journals and magazines and has the largest suite of public computers on the east side of the University of Toronto campus.

Prior to 1954, the office of the President was referred to as the Superior, and was always occupied by one of the Basilian priests from the adjacent St Basil's parish.

The position morphed into the current Presidential role once St Michael's federated into the University of Toronto and re-organized in the 1950s, although several Basilians still held the office following.

[14] Female students also have the option to live at the single-sex Loretto College residence; although males are permitted to visit during designated guest hours.