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# #2: U of Tea — A Gothic Take on a Familiar Campus
- URL: https://www.gothicgirlhere.ca/2-u-of-tea-a-gothic-take-on-a-familiar-campus/
- Published: 2026-09-04T15:00:47.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-04T15:01:02.000Z
- Author: Gothic Girl
- Tags: Features, Collegiate Gothic, Architecture, Gothic, Folklore, Ghost Stories, Indigenous History, Taddle Creek, Toronto, University of Toronto, Ziibiing

If you’ve ever wandered through the University of Toronto’s St. George campus, we’d forgive you for thinking the place had been around for centuries. With its stone archways, vaulted ceilings, and imposing towers, it’s hard to believe that the campus is less than 200 years old. Even [University College](https://www.uc.utoronto.ca/about-our-story-our-history?ref=gothicgirlhere.ca) — a building often compared, along with Hart House, to Hogwarts — only opened its doors in 1859\. 

So what gives? Why does a relatively young university in a relatively young city feel so old?

When architects Frederic Cumberland and William Storm designed University College, they sought inspiration from much older European architectural traditions. The resulting Romanesque Revival building drew on an eclectic mix of architectural influences, while the university campus that developed around it would increasingly embrace what the big kids call Collegiate Gothic. Hart House and the Soldiers’ Tower in particular belong to this subgenre of Gothic Revival architecture, which flourished in the early 20th century. Yes, as in 100 years ago. 

There’s nothing particularly strange about this; revival architecture was all the rage at the time, and U of T was just one of many universities across North America to borrow the architectural language of much older European institutions. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/34/69/3469192a-3c22-4e52-8e28-1b791350cd43/content/images/2026/09/University-College_Benson-Kua_Wikimedia.jpg)

University College. PC: Benson Kua via Wikimedia Commons

But architecture is art, and art is never neutral. Buildings communicate ideas whether we are conscious of them or not. Stone suggests strength and permanence, and medieval designs evoke tradition. Collegiate Gothic architecture echoed renowned institutions like Oxford and Cambridge. 

In its early days, U of T may not have possessed centuries of institutional history, but its powerful visual language could certainly place it within a tradition that did. Which raises a rather Gothic question: what stories lie hidden in the places we think we know — and which of the stories we DO know aren’t quite what they seem? 

Take the infamous [ Legend of Reznikoff and Diabolos.](https://www.uc.utoronto.ca/our-ghost-story?utm&ref=gothicgirlhere.ca) These two men, both stonemasons, were supposedly working on University College when they became bitter rivals over — you guessed it — a woman! According to the lore, Reznikoff and the mystery woman were engaged to wed, but the aptly named Diabolos convinced Reznikoff’s betrothed to run away with him instead, stealing Reznikoff’s savings in the process. When Reznikoff found out, he attacked Diabolos in the southwest corner of the unfinished building, chasing him with an axe. 

But Diabolos was clever — or, at least, very lucky. Reznikoff had him cornered, but the axe hit one of the oak doors (a mark that remains to this day) and Diabolos escaped. He hid, and when Reznikoff pursued him, he jumped him, finishing him with a dagger. As the story goes, Diabolos threw Reznikoff's body down a stairwell to conceal it, and neither he nor the lady were ever seen again. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/34/69/3469192a-3c22-4e52-8e28-1b791350cd43/content/images/2026/09/door-take-two.jpeg)

Axe Marks the Spot! PC: John Griffiths via Wikimedia Commons

A later addition to the story alleges that a skeleton with a silver mason’s belt was discovered decades later after the devastating fire of 1890\. Reznikoff’s restless spirit has reportedly wandered the building ever since. 

As far as ghost stories go, it’s a great one. There’s a betrayal, a duel of sorts, a grisly murder, and a haunting. But chances are high that the whole thing is made up. Researchers have found no documentation confirming the existence of Reznikoff or Diabolos, and the alleged discovery of a buried skeleton lacks contemporary documentation. For a man who may never have lived, Reznikoff’s memory is surprisingly hard to kill. 

And maybe memory is the point. A good ghost story gives a building a history, a legacy. It tells us that other people walked these corridors, that something happened here, and that some trace of it remains. Repeat that story for generations and it becomes attached to the place itself, taking on a life of its own. Maybe Reznikoff and Diabolos are folklore rather than documented history, but their story —[ and many other ghost stories](https://magazine.utoronto.ca/campus/history/six-extremely-spooky-stories-about-u-of-t/?ref=gothicgirlhere.ca) — has nevertheless become part of U of T’s cultural identity.

Both architecture and folklore can influence how we imagine the past. But just because they present a certain image doesn’t mean they give us the whole story. Here is where we look to the Gothic, not as a label or an excuse to go ghost hunting (as if we need one), but as a way of looking at the world.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/34/69/3469192a-3c22-4e52-8e28-1b791350cd43/content/images/2026/09/Soldier-s-Tower.jpeg)

Soldiers' Tower. PC: JJ Mokrzewski

The Gothic is suspicious of apparently settled histories. Its castles and landscapes often come with shady inheritances or families full of secrets. There is a sense of something *else* lingering just outside the narrative; the information we’re given at the beginning of a Gothic tale is never the version we possess by the end. 

But what would happen if we approached real landscapes with the same curiosity?

Long before University College formally opened its doors, the land now occupied by the St. George campus already had a long history of its own. U of T stands on the traditional territories of Indigenous Peoples, including the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Their longstanding and continuing relationships to the land did not disappear with the building of the colonial City of Toronto. 

Many of us know this from land acknowledgements, but did you know that traces of these much longer histories are still visible in the landscape itself?

[Taddle Creek](https://www.utoronto.ca/news/indigenous-landscape-project-u-t-s-st-george-campus-bring-history-culture-and-learning-hart?utm&ref=gothicgirlhere.ca), a stream that flowed from around Bathurst and St. Clair all the way to the Distillery District, ran directly through the St. George campus. Philosopher’s Walk follows the former ravine of this waterway, which was channelled underground as Toronto developed and continues to flow beneath the campus today. The stream was once a gathering place for Indigenous Peoples, but as the city expanded it was increasingly altered and polluted.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/34/69/3469192a-3c22-4e52-8e28-1b791350cd43/content/images/2026/09/Taddle-Creek-1861_Henry-Martin_Wikimedia-Commons-1.png)

Watercolour painting of the University of Toronto, with Taddle Creek. Henry Martin, 1861\. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Now, before we go on, an important distinction is needed: Taddle Creek is not just another Reznikoff story, and Indigenous history is not a haunting that one adds to a collection of Gothic curiosities. Reznikoff and Diabolos belong to campus folklore, but Taddle Creek concerns documented histories and continuing relationships to the land. 

But what can placing architecture, a ghost story, and lived history together reveal? By using a Gothic lens, we find that our understanding of history is shaped not only by what we choose to remember, but also by who has the power to decide which stories stick. We can easily recognize the European architectural traditions invoked by U of T — they are right in front of our eyes. And campus legends have been repeated for generations. But other stories and histories require us to look differently because they have not been afforded the same visibility. 

In 2024, U of T officially opened Ziibiing at Hart House Green, creating a visible space that marks and evokes the historic path of Taddle Creek. It was developed through Indigenous consultation and shaped by Indigenous knowledge, and functions as a contemporary Indigenous space on campus, a place for gathering, learning, ceremony, and continuing relationships with the land. Through this effort toward reconciliation, U of T has demonstrated that what we treat as the past is, in reality, an important part of our present — and our future. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/34/69/3469192a-3c22-4e52-8e28-1b791350cd43/content/images/2026/09/Editor-s-Note_Ziibiing.png)

History does not wail at us like a ghost in the attic. Our intertwining lives are not carefully constructed Gothic narratives. If we want to understand a place, we have to be willing to question the story its surface appears to tell. What came before? What continues alongside us? And what do we not yet know to look for?

None of this makes U of T’s more familiar history false or unimportant. University College is definitely part of Toronto’s history; U of T’s many buildings (even the Big Turkey) tell a story. The Legend of Reznikoff and Diabolos, whether fictional or not, belongs to a tradition of campus folklore that people continue to enjoy. 

But looking at the campus through a Gothic lens asks us to become more attentive to the many layers that compose a place, to question the difference between the past we imagine, the past we inherit, and the histories we have a responsibility to remember.

So the next time you’re in a place you frequent, have a look around. Soak up the stories that people tell, but stay curious about the ones you haven’t heard yet. Sometimes, looking at a familiar place differently is all it takes to realize how much more there is to know. 

You know we love you.

☠️**🖤**☠️**🖤**  
Gothic Girl