Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[adma]

Unfortunately, unlike New York's Fifth Avenue, in which the 19C mansions were replaced by architecturally superb apartment buildings designed by some of the best architects (McKim, Mead & White et al) producing what is known in real estate terms as "pre-war" buildings, Toronto's intensification happened all "post-war", replacing architecturally interesting housing with the lowest common denominator versions of Modern design (cutting down the trees on most of these streets didn't help either).

On these streets the "Thens" will usually win over the "Nows" for those reasons.

Though it may be unfair to paint everything postwar-apartmentwise with a dismissive "lowest common denominator" brush, as articles like this prove. But Jameson does rank lower on the denominator barometer than St George/Spadina/Walmer, or Avenue north of St Clair--largely because it lacked the adjacent prestige of affluent neighbourhoods or higher educational institutions. And Parkdale was already on a "tourist home"/rooming-housey downward skid even before the teardowns. Thus if the apartments along Jameson look quick'n'spec'n'cheap--they are; and the context which already existed allowed it all to take place. Of course, it didn't help things later when deinstitutionalization led to Parkdale becoming "bachelorette"/group-home ground zero, as the 999 Queen types gravitated westward...

 

[Mustapha]

From fancy sexy houses to crime ridden ugly slum tenements.. Yay for crappy housing projects.

I wish those houses were still there..

TKWizard, Walking up this street that day I saw quite a bit of maintenance going on on several buildings; including balcony replacement on one. The planters you see there on the sidewalk are imaginatively designed; each one features photographs-in-tile of, I suppose, people of the neighbourhood. The students of nearby Parkdale Collegiate came and went - the school year hadn't started - they were registering I suppose, and looked and acted as scholarly as the ones I see hanging around here at Lawrence Park Collegiate, if not more so. The building grounds were generally spruce, usually a good sign of conditions inside. [This doesn't hold true in New York City ]

So, while the general tone of the street is not as uplifting as we might think, I don't think "slum tenements" is an apt description of the street.


October 1 addition.

Jameson again.

 

[ReiwaMagi]

I apologize for my last message. I never knew that part of the neighbourhood was actually improving after all these years because last time I went through that area frequently via school bus (elementary school years), it was pretty bad..

At least todays picture is slightly better! Some buildings were actually spared from the wrecking ball though losing a little in the process, and that TD branch got a little 'upgrade' (downgrade for some people).

 

[thecharioteer]

Though it may be unfair to paint everything postwar-apartmentwise with a dismissive "lowest common denominator" brush, as articles like this prove. But Jameson does rank lower on the denominator barometer than St George/Spadina/Walmer, or Avenue north of St Clair--largely because it lacked the adjacent prestige of affluent neighbourhoods or higher educational institutions. And Parkdale was already on a "tourist home"/rooming-housey downward skid even before the teardowns. Thus if the apartments along Jameson look quick'n'spec'n'cheap--they are; and the context which already existed allowed it all to take place. Of course, it didn't help things later when deinstitutionalization led to Parkdale becoming "bachelorette"/group-home ground zero, as the 999 Queen types gravitated westward...

You are, of course, correct about the broad brush approach. The most problematic version of post-war intensification was the pattern of replacing one mansion with one apartment building, usually on a 50 or 60 foor lot (like on St. George and parts of Jarvis) resulting in horrendous light, view and privacy issues for all those side-facing apartments. Ironically, it's the much-maligned "towers-in-the-park" inserted into existing blocks (not isolated like at St. JamesTown) that produced the best housing, such as City Park, Greenwin on Alexander, Cadillac-Fairview's Bretton Place on Jackes and Park Towers at St. Clair and Walmer. There are also the one-off buildings on large lots, like the Benvenuto on Avenue Road and those Uno Prii buildings in the Annex that raised the bar, architecturally.

 

[Blovertis]

No one's mentioned it, but the Gardiner must have played some part in Parkdale's post-War decline. Suddenly there was no easy access to the lake.

 

[bkeith]

...
So here is my personalized Then and Now.

Then. 1948-ish. This is my gramps and grannie Quan, my mother's parents. The address is 38 Alexander street. They rented here. This is in the Yonge and Wellesley area. Gramps died before I was born. He ran one of those small town "Chinese Canadian cafes" (in Whitby).

Might it have been The Silver Lantern? If so, the signage has changed several times but there is still an old Silver Lantern sign in an out of the way spot.

 

[thecharioteer]

No one's mentioned it, but the Gardiner must have played some part in Parkdale's post-War decline. Suddenly there was no easy access to the lake.

A separation that began with the railroad, followed by Lakeshore Blvd. prior to the construction of the Gardiner:

1890:

Level crossing of the railroad at Jameson 1899:

1910:

Grade separation underway at Jameson and the railroad 1911:

1950's clearance of South Parkdale for the Gardiner:

 

[Mustapha]

Might it have been The Silver Lantern? If so, the signage has changed several times but there is still an old Silver Lantern sign in an out of the way spot.

bkeith,

Let me ask my dad. I'll get back to you in about 3 weeks; he's with a group tour in China and he's not an email user. Probably his last trip; at his age...



October 2 addition.


Then. September 19, 1950. Dowling N from Lakeshore.



No Gardiner Expressway just yet, though it would be soon, as shown in thecharioteer's aerial photo above. Our little grove of trees won't be for long.

Now. September 2010.

 

[Mustapha]

A separation that began with the railroad, followed by Lakeshore Blvd. prior to the construction of the Gardiner:


1910:

1950's clearance of South Parkdale for the Gardiner:

the charioteer,

At the bottom margin of your interestng map Starr Ave. and Empress Cres. are shown. Hard to believe such a sylvan neighbourhood existed here. Now covered by the Gardiner Expressway.

 

[adma]

Though even the 1951 shots were a preview of what was to come: the widening from 4 to 6 lanes, the replacing of the ornamental uprights w/cobra-head street lights...

 

[DSC]

Does anyone have a URL for a map of Toronto in the 1930s or 1940s? I am interested in looking at the area of The Esplanade to see how it has changed (or what was there then.)

 

[Mustapha]

October 3 addition.


Then. Parkdale Collegiate. Jameson Ave. just south of Queen. 1889 - 1928. I assume this fronted onto Jameson Ave as the present replacement building does.

Now. August 2010. The present building dates from 1929 with additions in the 1960s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkdale_Collegiate_Institute

 

[west_end_kid]

Does anyone have a URL for a map of Toronto in the 1930s or 1940s? I am interested in looking at the area of The Esplanade to see how it has changed (or what was there then.)

Although there is no date on this map, I think it is at least from the early 50's. I've found similar looking maps of Ottawa and Winnipeg online and they date from the mid-40s. Sorry about the wrinkles but it's been folded up for a few decades.

 

[DSC]

Although there is no date on this map, I think it is at least from the early 50's. I've found similar looking maps of Ottawa and Winnipeg online and they date from the mid-40s. Sorry about the wrinkles but it's been folded up for a few decades.

Thanks, I had hoped (and still hope) to find a larger scale map with buildings marked on it (similar to the Goads Atlases) but street directories are certainly another way to approach the 'problem:.

 

[Anna]

They have the later Goad's maps at the main Toronto Reference Library. Paper maps.

On a related note, there is an interesting collection of maps and pictures here.
Don Valley Historical Mapping Project