Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[Mustapha]

Happy 45th Birthday New City Hall.

[Lapel pin; a recent score at St. Lawrence Antique Market]

 

[thecharioteer]

Agreed!

from the Star Weekly Magazine, covering the opening celebrations:

Early postcards:

 

[moe45673]

Is the first city hall still around?

 

[DSC]

Is the first city hall still around?

It is incorporated into the St Lawrence Market - go to the gallery on the 2nd floor there to see the council chamber.

 

[moe45673]

Sweet, I'd love to see that!

Another question: In a lot of the old photos, I can't see a bleeding street sign anywhere? How'd the old-timey Torontonians know what street they were on? Obviously, the pace of traffic was much slower, but still!

 

[Gregory Graham]

Moe, The street signs were usually affixed to the houses/buildings rather than on poles. On some old houses/buildings around town now you can still sometimes see faded old street name signs on the corner edge. Usually a tin sign nailed to the brick of the building. Sometimes they would be carved into the stone and set into the building's brick work or masonry.

 

[Goldie]

Moe, The street signs were usually affixed to the houses/buildings rather than on poles. On some old houses/buildings around town now you can still sometimes see faded old street name signs on the corner edge. Usually a tin sign nailed to the brick of the building. Sometimes they would be carved into the stone and set into the building's brick work or masonry.

Thanks for that description, Gregory.
Moe may like to see this sign which was attached to the Confederation Life Building, corner Yonge & Richmond.
The building (still there) was built about 120 years ago and the sign was revealed during 1981 renovations.
I was so lucky to capture this image before the sign was removed.

 

[DSC]

The George Brown College building (formerly the Christie Biscuit Factory) at King/George/Frederick/Adelaide has "Duke" carved into its NE corner (Adelaide Street used to be called Duke Street) and "Frederick" at its NW corner on Frederick/Adelaide. As people moved more slowly in the past it was possible to have street names that were far less obvious - and, of course, there were fewer 'foreigners' so street names were actually less needed.

 

[adma]

An Elizabethan Gothic style similar to St Lawrence Hall?!?

 

[thecharioteer]

An Elizabethan Gothic style similar to St Lawrence Hall?!?

Also: "ancient" St. Lawrence Hall?

 

[thecharioteer]

Moe, The street signs were usually affixed to the houses/buildings rather than on poles. On some old houses/buildings around town now you can still sometimes see faded old street name signs on the corner edge. Usually a tin sign nailed to the brick of the building. Sometimes they would be carved into the stone and set into the building's brick work or masonry.

Interesting picture of the corner of Jarvis and Wilton (now Dundas) from 1916 that shows street signage attached to the corner house as well as on a free-standing pole, reflecting the transition as the automobile age arrived.

 

[Mustapha]

Goldie, I was looking over Anna's old CNE map and your images and was struck by the loss of the "Art Gallery".

I'm imagining a CNE where the Art Gallery of Ontario or perhaps the Royal Ontario Museum have "satellite branches" with free displays of select pieces during the run of the CNE. The purpose would be to whet the curiosities of CNE goers enough that they would make the trek to the AGO or ROM. This would lift the general "tone" of the CNE too.

thecharioteer, great images of the New City Hall. We Torontonians are overfamiliar with it, not giving it a second look, but my out of town friends are always impressed.

Those were heady days in the 60s when Yorkdale mall, New City Hall, and the Ontario Science Centre opened; boom, boom, boom, all in a row.




September 15 addition.



Then. Peter street looking S from Queen. July 12, 1949.

Good grief; has the "Peter Pan" restaurant been there that long?

Now. June 2010.

 

[adma]

In the "former", looks like a freshly shaved-off cornice to the right, and...remind me of what the storefront looked like in Cooper's Furniture days?

 

[moe45673]

Thanks for the discussion regarding my query, very illuminating!

Re: Peter St looking south..... there's a quite blatant example of the old being better. That building at the back left with the raised middle is beautiful. Also, the second building on the right with the thing on the roof impresses me more. Funny how that house between the two buildings on the right is gone, with nada to show for it but a parking lot.

 

[Anna]

Thanks for the discussion regarding my query, very illuminating!

There was also this ca. 1908

and this in 1929 - definitely not for the automobile and I'm not sure how widespread it was.