Evocative Images of Lost Toronto

[wwwebster]

wwwebster?

Poking around the wwweb a bit, I find no indication that there was ever a design competition for Massey Hall. The architect, Sidney Rose Badgley, was Canadian-born but spent much of his career in Cleveland, and it seems likely that this is where the Massey family became familiar with him or his work, as they lived in Cleveland for a time.

Couldn’t find much on George Frederick Stalker, apart from the link below, but he wrote a number of articles for Canadian Architect and Builder, and they often published designs that were more “thought experiments” than intended plans.

http://www.magma.ca/~djeanes/architects/Stalker.html

 

[Urban Shocker]

Talking of performing arts buildings, do any of you lads and lassies know what Margaret Eaton Hall at 9 McGill Street looked like? Maurice Ravel performed there when he came to town in 1928.

Ravel in Toronto
Ravel arrived in Toronto on Sunday 18 March 1928 and stayed in the city for several days. He immediately gave an interview to a local newspaper, in which he declared his intention of visiting Niagara Falls (20 March) "to get a new theme for composition". (Toronto Daily Star, 19 March 1928**). (According to Eugène Lapierre, in his biography of Calixa Lavallée (Montréal, Fides, 1966), Ravel is supposed to have exclaimed on seeing Niagara Falls, "Quel majestueux si bémol", ["What a majestic B flat."])

On 22 March Ravel gave a recital at the Margaret Eaton Hall in Toronto, alongside the soprano Lisa Roma and Quatuor Hart House. The programme was essentially the same as one given earlier in Vancouver, except for the substitution of the Rigaudon from Le tombeau de Couperin and the String quartet. According to one reviewer there was a "capacity crowd" from whom Ravel "received a veritable ovation", in spite of his limitations as a performer. (The Globe (Toronto), 23 March 1928**).

Not everyone was as well pleased. The critic of the Evening Telegram (23 March 1918**) did not like Ravel's music or the performance. "His playing, and Miss Roma's singing, ignored the emotions entirely... Since Ravel might have been a chemist, or a surgeon or a painter, it is absurd to expect emotions in his work."

The first hour of the recital was broadcast on the radio (station CFCA of the Toronto Daily Star).

Here's a bit of information about Toronto's lively performing arts scene in those days:

http://people.uleth.ca/~scds.secd/English/Resources/AmyBowring.pdf

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"Margaret Eaton Hall at 9 McGill Street looked like?" QUOTE Urban Shocker


Is it not still there as a women's club?


Regards,
J T

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"aerial photo featuring the Queen Street Mental Health Centre " QUOTE Prof Goldie


Sorry to be a "Pooper", but the above pic is backwards. (Reqires a horizontal flip.)


Regards,
J T

 

[Goldie]

"aerial photo featuring the Queen Street Mental Health Centre " QUOTE Prof Goldie


Sorry to be a "Pooper", but the above pic is backwards. (Reqires a horizontal flip.)

Regards,
J T

Thanks, JT. The photo was found on a Flickr page with error and I obviously don't know the neighbourhood well.
Here's a correction:

An area of Toronto that must have changed plenty since this aerial photo featuring the Queen Street Mental Health Centre (999 QS).
Construction of the Gardiner Expressway can be seen in the upper-right corner.

 

[thecharioteer]

Talking of performing arts buildings, do any of you lads and lassies know what Margaret Eaton Hall at 9 McGill Street looked like? Maurice Ravel performed there when he came to town in 1928.

Ravel in Toronto
Ravel arrived in Toronto on Sunday 18 March 1928 and stayed in the city for several days. He immediately gave an interview to a local newspaper, in which he declared his intention of visiting Niagara Falls (20 March) "to get a new theme for composition". (Toronto Daily Star, 19 March 1928**). (According to Eugène Lapierre, in his biography of Calixa Lavallée (Montréal, Fides, 1966), Ravel is supposed to have exclaimed on seeing Niagara Falls, "Quel majestueux si bémol", ["What a majestic B flat."])

On 22 March Ravel gave a recital at the Margaret Eaton Hall in Toronto, alongside the soprano Lisa Roma and Quatuor Hart House. The programme was essentially the same as one given earlier in Vancouver, except for the substitution of the Rigaudon from Le tombeau de Couperin and the String quartet. According to one reviewer there was a "capacity crowd" from whom Ravel "received a veritable ovation", in spite of his limitations as a performer. (The Globe (Toronto), 23 March 1928**).

Not everyone was as well pleased. The critic of the Evening Telegram (23 March 1918**) did not like Ravel's music or the performance. "His playing, and Miss Roma's singing, ignored the emotions entirely... Since Ravel might have been a chemist, or a surgeon or a painter, it is absurd to expect emotions in his work."

The first hour of the recital was broadcast on the radio (station CFCA of the Toronto Daily Star).

Here's a bit of information about Toronto's lively performing arts scene in those days:

http://people.uleth.ca/~scds.secd/English/Resources/AmyBowring.pdf

Is this possibly it, to the right of the old YWCA building at 21 McGill, in 1923?

And to the left in this pic from 1950?

 

[Urban Shocker]

Oh, how interesting, thanks! The deco typeface certainly suggests it must be the joint.

 

[Goldie]

Mary Pickford's home

Is there a map that would show the exact location of this house that was once at 211 University Ave.? (attached)
I believe the numbering system has been changed and this was in the vicinity of the Sick Childrens Hospital.
With the location in hand, I'd like to shoot a "Now" photo.

 

[donoreo]

Is there a map that would show the exact location of this house that was once at 211 University Ave.? (attached)
I believe the numbering system has been changed and this was in the vicinity of the Sick Childrens Hospital.
With the location in hand, I'd like to shoot a "Now" photo.

It was where Sick Kids is now. There is actually a marker mentioning it out front.

 

[wwwebster]

With the location in hand, I'd like to shoot a "Now" photo.

Imagine that Walton Street extended through to University Avenue. Pickford’s house would have been in the middle of Walton.

 

[Goldie]

My thanks to donoreo, wwwebster and JT for assistance.
Here's a preliminary, but I'll try for something else later on.

 

[wwwebster]

Incidentally, here are the 1892 and 1893 directory listings for Smith, John C., Pickford’s father, at (then) 175 University:

 

[Edward Skira]

Someone on Facebook asked the following:

Does anyone know why there are so few pictures of the Bloor/Danforth subway tunnel and station construction?

Is this the case? If not post the photos here.

 

[thecharioteer]

Someone on Facebook asked the following:



Is this the case? If not post the photos here.

There seem to be a few launch and completion pics (search "university subway" on Toronto Archives site), but curiously none of actual construction. Perhaps they just haven't been put online yet:

1959:

Tour 1962:

Opening 1963:

 

[junctionist]

I'd like to see more subway construction and completion photos as well, like the Yonge extensions, the Spadina line, and the Scarborough RT.