Evocative Images of Lost Toronto

[LowPolygon]

this is one of my all time favourite photos of lost Toronto. a typical street corner in the Ward on May 15 1912. the buildings slated for demolition....

the photo has a really beautiful wide angle kind of look. i love the yiddish letters painted on the glass window of the storefront, the hand painted Coca-Cola sign and the early printed movie and theater posters. also, i don't know when electricity came to the Ward, but i would imagine that those hydro poles hadn't been there all that long....

based on the length of the shadows, it is either early in the morning or early evening. i love the difference in the posture of the children; the girl nervously looking at the camera, and the boys further off, one with a cocky stance, arms folded across his chest.

i love it when there is an exact date on an old photograph. it reminds you of how history is just a succession of days; days that are made up of mornings, afternoons, evenings and nights; and how each one pretty much like the next--century in, century out.

in this case, it makes you realize that one spring day, 98 years ago, those forever unnamed children (now almost certainly dead) stood there in that long gone spot, staring at a man with a camera....

 

[thecharioteer]

this is one of my all time favourite photos of lost Toronto. a typical street corner in the Ward on May 15 1912. the buildings slated for demolition....

the photo has a really beautiful wide angle kind of look. i love the yiddish letters painted on the glass window of the storefront, the hand painted Coca-Cola sign and the early printed movie and theater posters. also, i don't know when electricity came to the Ward, but i would imagine that those hydro poles hadn't been there all that long....

based on the length of the shadows, it is either early in the morning or early evening. i love the way the difference in the posture of the children; the girl nervously looking at the camera, and the boys further off, one with a cocky stance, arms folded across his chest.

i love it when there is an exact date on an old photograph. it reminds you of how history is just a succession of days; days that are made up of mornings, afternoons, evenings and nights; and how each one pretty much like the next--century in, century out.

in this case, it makes you realize that one spring day, 98 years ago, those forever unnamed children (now almost certainly dead) stood there in that long gone spot, staring at a man with a camera....

Well put! All this just around the corner from the Eaton's warehouses, humming with activity. By the way, the hebrew letters spell out "kosher meat".

 

[CityPlaceN1]

An interesting perspective on that photo. So true.

 

[thecharioteer]

And at the other end of the economic spectrum: Jarvis Street 1880's.

A summer day. Probably hot and humid. About 1pm? The sound of the horses (and the Carlton "trolley"). A piano playing nearby? Smell of trees, dust and newly cut grass.

Note the little girl in the pinafore on the right looking at the camera:

 

[Earlscourt_Lad]

Smell of trees, dust and newly cut grass.

The smell of manure with a hint of coal smoke would probably predominate. Perhaps an odd smell or two drifting up from the factories around and south of King, not to mention the gas works.

A further thought. It's interesting (to me) that we can see what Toronto looked like through photos and remaining buildings. There are clothes preserved from that era, so we can have an idea of what the people looked like. We can easily experience, or imagine, the relative cold or warmth of houses, offices, factories; the comfort or lack thereof provided by furniture. We can easily imagine the sense of scale provided when walking or horse was how you travelled around the city. But one thing we can never really gauge, is what Toronto smelt like. The combinations of odours long gone (coal smoke, for example) or very rare in the city these days (massive quantities of dung) are nearly impossible to recreate or imagine. How much more evocative would smelling old Toronto be?

 

[Mustapha]

this is one of my all time favourite photos of lost Toronto. a typical street corner in the Ward on May 15 1912. the buildings slated for demolition....

the photo has a really beautiful wide angle kind of look. i love the yiddish letters painted on the glass window of the storefront, the hand painted Coca-Cola sign and the early printed movie and theater posters. also, i don't know when electricity came to the Ward, but i would imagine that those hydro poles hadn't been there all that long....

based on the length of the shadows, it is either early in the morning or early evening. i love the difference in the posture of the children; the girl nervously looking at the camera, and the boys further off, one with a cocky stance, arms folded across his chest.

i love it when there is an exact date on an old photograph. it reminds you of how history is just a succession of days; days that are made up of mornings, afternoons, evenings and nights; and how each one pretty much like the next--century in, century out.

in this case, it makes you realize that one spring day, 98 years ago, those forever unnamed children (now almost certainly dead) stood there in that long gone spot, staring at a man with a camera....

What is interesting now is that the New City Hall is built right over this very spot.

 

[Jonny5]

What is interesting now is that the New City Hall is built right over this very spot.

Well the caption on the photo says "New Registry office site"

So the little girl must have been standing at the far left of the picture?

 

[thecharioteer]

The smell of manure with a hint of coal smoke would probably predominate. Perhaps an odd smell or two drifting up from the factories around and south of King, not to mention the gas works.

A further thought. It's interesting (to me) that we can see what Toronto looked like through photos and remaining buildings. There are clothes preserved from that era, so we can have an idea of what the people looked like. We can easily experience, or imagine, the relative cold or warmth of houses, offices, factories; the comfort or lack thereof provided by furniture. We can easily imagine the sense of scale provided when walking or horse was how you travelled around the city. But one thing we can never really gauge, is what Toronto smelt like. The combinations of odours long gone (coal smoke, for example) or very rare in the city these days (massive quantities of dung) are nearly impossible to recreate or imagine. How much more evocative would smelling old Toronto be?

Good point if we were taking about Jarvis and Front, but Jarvis north of Carlton in the 1880's in the summertime probably smelt more country-like, given the City essentially stopped at Bloor at that time. Also Jarvis never allowed public transportation, unlike Church and Sherbourne, so the horse traffic was probably minimal. Finally, given the families that lived there at the time, street-sweeping must have been the best in the city.

 

[thecharioteer]

I think that deepend is correct in his first post in speaking of the emotional reaction to certain photographs, which all depends on what the viewer brings to the table, so to speak. The following photograph I find quite moving, titled "Man and Woman in a Garden", taken in Toronto in 1859. The potential literary references are legion: Michael Redhill's Consolation; A.S. Byatt's Possession; John Fowles' French Lieutenant's Woman; even George Eliot, Dickens or Tennyson ("Come into the garden, Maud..."). And it's in Toronto (perhaps the Grange?)

 

[Anna]

Well the caption on the photo says "New Registry office site"

So the little girl must have been standing at the far left of the picture?

More like right in the centre of the picture. The caption also says 'Southwest cor Elizabeth & Louisa streets. Elizabeth street is still there, but ends at Hagerman. Louisa street was south of Hagerman.

Here is another view of the site. The Registry Office was built on the block in the middle of the photo, and our store is the one-storey building at the right edge.

Here's one of Osgoode Hall, showing the Registry Office behind it on Albert Street.

 

[thecharioteer]

More like right in the centre of the picture. The caption also says 'Southwest cor Elizabeth & Louisa streets. Elizabeth street is still there, but ends at Hagerman. Louisa street was south of Hagerman.

Here is another view of the site. The Registry Office was built on the block in the middle of the photo, and our store is the one-storey building at the right edge.

Here's one of Osgoode Hall, showing the Registry Office behind it on Albert Street.

I love the feel of typical Toronto houses existing cheek-by-jowl against such monumental buildings as the old Armouries, Osgoode Hall and (Old) City Hall. The disparity in scale is reminiscent of traditional European cities and makes the monuments seem even more monumental. This shift in scale is also apparent graphically in map form:

 

[MuchoGrande]

Pardon my ignorance but what is that amazing building? Is it the Registry Office that you refer to?

Here is another view of the site. The Registry Office was built on the block in the middle of the photo, and our store is the one-storey building at the right edge.

 

[thecharioteer]

Pardon my ignorance but what is that amazing building? Is it the Registry Office that you refer to?

Here is another view of the site. The Registry Office was built on the block in the middle of the photo, and our store is the one-storey building at the right edge.

The castle-like building in the centre is the old Armoury which was demolished and replaced by the new court house on University Avenue.

 

[Dugmor]

I don't understand why our city planners felt the need to destroy so many landmark buildings. There was plenty of vacant land for new construction. Why was it necessary to demolish the armoury? There are plenty of forgettable structures from the 60s and 70s I wish we would demolish, however.

 

[Goldie]

New City Hall - Then & Now

Here's another view of the same area (Osgoode, Registry, New City Hall).

The Registry Office can be seen in the background of the 1919 photo.