Evocative Images of Lost Toronto

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

Here's one for all of you guys & gals:

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com...i-how-the-brits-stole-christmas/?preview=true

(LOL)


Regards,
J T

 

[thecharioteer]

From the revamped Toronto Public Library website, some wonderful pictures taken in the early 50's by James Victor Salmon, whose biography on the Toronto Archives site is described thus:

Very little is known about James Salmon. He was born in Toronto in 1911 and grew up in West Toronto Junction. He later moved to Willowdale, Ontario which is evidenced by the fact that Willowdale is stamped on the back of many of the prints. Salmon wrote a history of the Toronto Street Railway and was interested in the history of Etobicoke, York Township, and West Toronto Junction. He died in November 1958 at the age of 47.
Salmon was a keen collector of photography from the Toronto area. His entire collection consists of 15,000 prints and negatives most of which are housed in the Canadian History section of the Metro Toronto Reference Library. In 1974, Toronto City Archivist Robert Woadden negotiated the transfer of approximately 2,200 of those prints and negatives from the Library to the City Archives. These images, mostly created by City Works Department photographer Arthur Goss, were acquired to complement the Archives holdings of Goss images in RG 8.
James Victor Salmon was a designer for the Toronto Hydro Electric System for thirty years and was fascinated by the history of public transportation. He was knowledgeable in the history of Etobicoke and York Township, particularly West Toronto Junction where he was born. He collected 14,000 photographs (Goss – see SC 229) on subjects that interested him, especially Toronto landmarks, vehicles and ships. He wrote Rails from the Junction, the Story of the Toronto Suburban Railway, but upon his death at age 47 in 1958 it was yet unpublished. His widow Jean Salmon completed the task of publishing the history in 1970.

Bathurst north of Eglinton:

 

[adma]

Boy, the Masonic building looked grubby (or Toronto in general at the time)

 

[thecharioteer]

Too true. The car dealership to the south took the place of the Michie mansion, one of two houses that fronted on Yonge when the Dundonald estate was subdivided and Dundonald Street was created.

Kearsney House (the original Dundonald estate) in the 1890's:

From: http://biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=4661 on William Proudfoot:

Proudfoot had married Caroline Brooks Stow in York on 25 May 1833. By 1846 they had moved into the newly built Kearsney House on Yonge Street, possibly the most spacious residence in the Toronto of that day, and in it Mrs Proudfoot acted as hostess to parties of hundreds at bazaars, balls, and musical and theatrical entertainments. In the early 1860s, however, Proudfoot had to bind the house over to the bank.

1884:

1909:

1928:

1936:

 

[adma]

I'm just as surprised by how *un*-grubby it still seemed in 1936--almost like within the span of two decades, it came to be a tired dowager and a certain sitting duck for fashionable "urban renewal". (And if it was that bad then, I'm wondering how it came to be by 1970 or so--immediately pre-Gloucester Mews)

 

[brewster]

I also love the grubby , gritty look of the old photo's. I blame it on coal burning smokestacks and fireplaces.

 

[thecharioteer]

More from the TPL:

After the 1904 Fire, the Toronto Telegram Building:

Same corner (Bay and Melinda), awaiting election results 1909:

Adelaide East 1874:

Yonge 1939:

NW corner York & Adelaide 1906:

Same corner 1929:

Jarvis 1898:

Gerrard looking east to Jarvis (Harvey's currently on left) 1907:

Bank of Toronto, Church and Wellington, 1870:

 

[andrrea]

These are just amazing!!!!

 

[ceaz40]

I wish that we could have somehow had a person who, in the not so distant past, had a sense of the future. I see all of these wonderful (yet gritty/dirty) architectural treasures. If only someone had existed and said, back when, "you'll rue the days you'll never have nor see these types of buildings again...protect them". I look at the pictures filled with these distinctive old buildings and envision them, not unlike the ones today that have survived, cleaned up and refitted.......an enormous historical district....one surrounded by the Toronto of today....filled with tall buildings. The whole city would be like the Distillery District. We'd be a historical masterpiece worth any tourist coming to visit. No one would refer to us as a relatively young, modern city. I hate when I read that.....it makes us sound as though we we started building yesterday...and quite frankly, in many places, it looks like that would be anyone's "truth".

 

[Mississauga Slim]

I wish that we could have somehow had a person who, in the not so distant past, had a sense of the future. I see all of these wonderful (yet gritty/dirty) architectural treasures. If only someone had existed and said, back when, "you'll rue the days you'll never have nor see these types of buildings again...protect them". I look at the pictures filled with these distinctive old buildings and envision them, not unlike the ones today that have survived, cleaned up and refitted.......an enormous historical district....one surrounded by the Toronto of today....filled with tall buildings. The whole city would be like the Distillery District. We'd be a historical masterpiece worth any tourist coming to visit. No one would refer to us as a relatively young, modern city. I hate when I read that.....it makes us sound as though we we started building yesterday...and quite frankly, in many places, it looks like that would be anyone's "truth".

Pictures like this come to mind when you mention that.

 

[thecharioteer]

Pictures like this come to mind when you mention that.

And these:

Adelaide and Victoria:

Front St., west of Church:

Toronto Street:

What could have been our "Old Montreal":

Became this:

 

[brewster]

Found some aerials I have never seen before 1953-1960 from York space. Hopefully they are new for everybody.
http://pi.library.yorku.ca/dspace/b...fonds,+F0433&etal=-1&offset=120&type=relation

C.N.E. by TORONTO TONTO, on Flickr


Lakeshore 1 by TORONTO TONTO, on Flickr


Don River by TORONTO TONTO, on Flickr


High Park by TORONTO TONTO, on Flickr


Lakeshore by TORONTO TONTO, on Flickr


Sunnyside 1 by TORONTO TONTO, on Flickr


Sunnside by TORONTO TONTO, on Flickr


Sunnyside by TORONTO TONTO, on Flickr

 

[Red October]

I wish that we could have somehow had a person who, in the not so distant past, had a sense of the future. I see all of these wonderful (yet gritty/dirty) architectural treasures. If only someone had existed and said, back when, "you'll rue the days you'll never have nor see these types of buildings again...protect them". I look at the pictures filled with these distinctive old buildings and envision them, not unlike the ones today that have survived, cleaned up and refitted.......an enormous historical district....one surrounded by the Toronto of today....filled with tall buildings. The whole city would be like the Distillery District. We'd be a historical masterpiece worth any tourist coming to visit. No one would refer to us as a relatively young, modern city. I hate when I read that.....it makes us sound as though we we started building yesterday...and quite frankly, in many places, it looks like that would be anyone's "truth".

Looking at pictures like these makes me curse Nathan Phillips and that whole crew in the 60's and 70's who were hell bent on mindless destruction of Toronto's history.

 

[FAC33]

More from the TPL:

After the 1904 Fire, the Toronto Telegram Building:

I thought I'd seen most of the post-fire photos, but this one is new to me. I love the crowd of people on the doorstep (I'm guessing this is some sort of press conference), the carriages parked on the side, and the clear signs of the extent of the fire--the windows of the buildings directly to the south are broken, and debris is in the street along with what looks like a used fire hose.

 

[Mississauga Slim]

Looking at pictures like these makes me curse Nathan Phillips and that whole crew in the 60's and 70's who were hell bent on mindless destruction of Toronto's history.

It's been mentioned before, but said destruction would probably have happened no matter who the mayor was at the time. Taking down old buildings to clear space for parking was generally a 1950s/1960s thing, not specifically a Nathan Phillips thing.

I believe the city motto at the time was, Toronto: Ample Parking!