Lost Road and Bridge: Lawrence Avenue

[Lone Primate]

I thought it was looking south towards the Brookbanks/Three Valleys underpass as well. It's odd that it is described as York Mills and Woodbine construction not DVP and York Mills construction - but I have seen a photo recently (here?) of the DVP & Lawrence with a sign that says 'Woodbine continues north of Lawrence' or something like that, which surprised me because I remember as a kid having to get off the parkway at Lawrence even though we were headed further north.

There is an 'I grew up in Don Mills' facebook page with some early photos of the Three Valleys area and someone mentions that there used to be a traffic light at Three Valleys & Woodbine.

I'm not exactly sure where Three Valleys would be... is that the golf course on the west side of Woodbine? I know there was some kind of access down that side opposite the home at the end of the road, but it's hard to imagine it would need anything more than a cautionary stop sign for people exiting the golf course, on the off chance that the folks who lived in that last house were head home or heading out.

Someone here suggested recently, I think, that at least for a little while, what became the northbound DVP access ramp from Lawrence westbound connected to the end of Woodbine. I've never seen any confirmation of that but seems like a good use for a ramp in anticipation of the rest of the highway for a year or two.

You'd be surprised how often the City Archives takes its best guess at a photo. A lot of it probably comes down to how careless the record-keeping of the item creator was. If someone just runs a photo of a bridge or a street by you fifty years after the fact, the odds are strongly against your identifying it... though you might give it a try.

This, for example, is identified as "G. Ross Lord Dam". It's not. It's the Claireville Dam (and I think it's flipped right-to-left)...

And this image, of the now-closed bridge on Gorewood Drive over the Humber, is definitely backward... flipped right-to-left.

 

[Lone Primate]

Those photos provide a wonderful record of an amazing piece of Don Mills history - thanks Mr. Primate.
So interesting to find that 'lone' house at the end of Woodbine.
A fine research project would involve identifying the owner/builder and recording the life-style of his/her pioneering days.

Geez, Goldie, I was kind of hoping maybe YOU knew 'em.

 

[Anna]

I'm not exactly sure where Three Valleys would be... is that the golf course on the west side of Woodbine? I know there was some kind of access down that side opposite the home at the end of the road, but it's hard to imagine it would need anything more than a cautionary stop sign for people exiting the golf course, on the off chance that the folks who lived in that last house were head home or heading out.

That's Three Valleys Dr on the left - with the path[?] to Woodbine. The golf course is Donalda. The 10-13th holes are there now, but not then.

I finally tracked down the shots of the house in question. I'm not sure when it was built, but I do know it was there, all alone, in 1960...

If that's looking west as I think it is, through the underpass is Three Valleys Dr.

Here's Brookbanks...

Someone here suggested recently, I think, that at least for a little while, what became the northbound DVP access ramp from Lawrence westbound connected to the end of Woodbine. I've never seen any confirmation of that but seems like a good use for a ramp in anticipation of the rest of the highway for a year or two.

This photo is included with the York Mills/Woodbine construction photos, so you may be right. (barring strange grouping and identification of photos, of course)

 

[Lone Primate]

This photo is included with the York Mills/Woodbine construction photos, so you may be right. (barring strange grouping and identification of photos, of course)
View attachment 11516

Now that's one I haven't seen before. You're better at coming up with search parameters than I am, I think. Judging from the lay of the land and the shadow cues, I think that view looks west from the edge of the DVP southbound bridge, towards Don Mills (this view, I think). It's a view I haven't seen before. What I wouldn't give if the photographer had only turned 90 degrees to the right to look up the hill toward the former end of Woodbine...

 

[Anna]

Now that's one I haven't seen before. You're better at coming up with search parameters than I am, I think. Judging from the lay of the land and the shadow cues, I think that view looks west from the edge of the DVP southbound bridge, towards Don Mills (this view, I think). It's a view I haven't seen before. What I wouldn't give if the photographer had only turned 90 degrees to the right to look up the hill toward the former end of Woodbine...

Well there are also these:
Scope: File consists of images of the Don Valley Parkway, possibly between Eglinton and Lawrence avenues. 1961
Sorta, but not quite.

I think sign reads 'To Woodbine Ave'

I think this is the transition between the Parkway and Woodbine, but sorry, I can't see your house.

 

[Anna]

Missed one. Is this the reverse of the last one, looking south?

 

[mattelderca]

Well there are also these:
Scope: File consists of images of the Don Valley Parkway, possibly between Eglinton and Lawrence avenues. 1961
Sorta, but not quite.
View attachment 11526

This is how I remember this rail overpass. And it is definitely between Eglinton and Lawrence. It now has a third arch for the "new" Wyndford on ramp.
The sign is cool, pkwy ends at Lawrence, Woodbine continues.
As a side note, a trucker gave his life crashing into the east side of the northbound arch. A tanker that lost brakes and turned off to the side instead of piling into traffic.

 

[Lone Primate]

I think this is the transition between the Parkway and Woodbine, but sorry, I can't see your house.
View attachment 11527

Purely astonishing. It never occurred to me that the DVP would have continued on up to Woodbine; only that they would have ended it various streets till the time to move it north... so I imagined that, at least for a bit, it just dumped everyone on Lawrence while they got around to subsuming Woodbine. A great discovery to realize that it was pushing through to narrow down to Woodbine somewhere around that house... just like it used to do just north of Sheppard till 1977 or so.

 

[Chip?]

Those photos provide a wonderful record of an amazing piece of Don Mills history

Parkwoods, technically--not Don Mills.

Does anyone know if there is a creek buried below Underhill Dr? I've heard that there is.

 

[Anna]

Parkwoods, technically--not Don Mills.

Does anyone know if there is a creek buried below Underhill Dr? I've heard that there is.

This aerial photo from 1957 from the first page of this thread shows a couple of ravines/streams[?] branching off from the Don Valley but I don't think you could say they're under Underhill.

 

[Goldie]

I finally tracked down the shots of the house in question. I'm not sure when it was built, but I do know it was there, all alone, in 1960...

View attachment 11500

Our 'famous' house appears to be in place in this 1949 aerial shot.

 

[Lone Primate]

Our 'famous' house appears to be in place in this 1949 aerial shot.

View attachment 11554

I'm not sure what that patch represents but it's a little too far south and too close to the road. The driveway and house do appear in MaMaster's 1954-1955 aerial shots, though. There is something else in that position in the '54-55 shot. It might be a different residence that came and went.

 

[Lone Primate]

Went for a look on Friday. Here's what the current view under the DVP at Brookbanks looks like today...

Since Anna showed us those shots of the DVP pinching down to join the old shirt tail end of Woodbine in the early 60s, it's a lot easier to imagine the need for a traffic light here when it was still a level meeting with Woodbine and not the bridge of the DVP. I'd really love to see what that looked like!

And the house in question. It's 6 Geraldine Court now. Heaven knows what its address on Woodbine Avenue was. It's interesting to reflect that this view was once the back of the home, and the privacy of its back yard. Now this is the public face from the street.

 

[Mustapha]

And the house in question. It's 6 Geraldine Court now. Heaven knows what its address on Woodbine Avenue was. It's interesting to reflect that this view was once the back of the home, and the privacy of its back yard. Now this is the public face from the street.

View attachment 11747View attachment 11748

What a beautiful home and so exceptionally kept up - that landscaping!

I'm imagining that the inside is as period correct as the outside - Danish teak furniture, etc.

Thanks for making the trip out to get the pic, Lone Primate.

 

[mattelderca]

One wonders if the current owners know of this historical value. Anyone game enough to contact them?