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More Lost Toronto in colour

Berczy Park is often used by patrons of shows at the St. Lawrence Centre - we strolled over there during the many Lipsynch intermissions for instance - so in a way it is fulfilling the site's original arts mandate in ways that weren't imagined. And, decades after the buildings to the east of the Cathedral were removed, the lovely St. James Park was created adding another pocket of green. I don't feel particularly sorry that we've lost a few elderly buildings, considering what they've been replaced by - that part of town was particularly bleak and dreary when I came here in 1970 and the revival of fortunes that has taken place is remarkable. The "bigger picture" of how the lower east downtown has been reinvented, with each generation contributing another distinctive layer, strikes me as a real success story.
 
Urban Shocker said:
Berczy Park is often used by patrons of shows at the St. Lawrence Centre - we strolled over there during the many Lipsynch intermissions for instance - so in a way it is fulfilling the site's original arts mandate in ways that weren't imagined. And, decades after the buildings to the east of the Cathedral were removed, the lovely St. James Park was created adding another pocket of green. I don't feel particularly sorry that we've lost a few elderly buildings, considering what they've been replaced by - that part of town was particularly bleak and dreary when I came here in 1970 and the revival of fortunes that has taken place is remarkable. The "bigger picture" of how the lower east downtown has been reinvented, with each generation contributing another distinctive layer, strikes me as a real success story.
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True about Berczy Park. And yet, and yet.....I will grant you Berczy Park if you give me back the Yonge/Scott/Front/Wellington block now occupied by the banal 33 Yonge. What a gateway to Toronto the old Board of Trade Building and the old Bank of Montreal building would make today!


Board_of_Trade_Building_Front_Stree.jpg
 
Urban Shocker said:
Berczy Park is often used by patrons of shows at the St. Lawrence Centre - we strolled over there during the many Lipsynch intermissions for instance - so in a way it is fulfilling the site's original arts mandate in ways that weren't imagined. And, decades after the buildings to the east of the Cathedral were removed, the lovely St. James Park was created adding another pocket of green. I don't feel particularly sorry that we've lost a few elderly buildings, considering what they've been replaced by - that part of town was particularly bleak and dreary when I came here in 1970 and the revival of fortunes that has taken place is remarkable. The "bigger picture" of how the lower east downtown has been reinvented, with each generation contributing another distinctive layer, strikes me as a real success story.
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On the other hand, one imagines that pretty much ALL of downtown was pretty dreary in 1970. Certainly, Queen St West was nothing but rundown shops, greasy spoons, and taverns, with nary a trendy new waver in sight. The same goes for Queen East, College St, King West, the village, Ossington Ave etc. --In other words, the neighbourhoods of downtown Toronto were dumpy and dour from end to end in 1970; and the date simply precedes the renaissance of the city in its entirety.

i can see, or at least partially see, why you insist on remaining positive about this area, in a kind of 'what's done is done' kind of way, but to imply that the area is a success because of the wholesale demolition of several city blocks (not a few elderly buildings) seems to rather overstate the matter.
 
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And by far, the bulk of the Gooderham/St Lawrence-zone demolition was done by 1970, so US's bleak/dreary perspective is skewed--besides, what remained was already on something like a path t/w adaptive-reuse renewal away from bleak dreariness...
 
The St. Lawrence case worked out in the end. Parks were added are in focal places beside landmarks and are quite attractive. Those urban renewal schemes can work if there's a willingness to invest a lot for genuine neighbourhood improvement. The desire for urban renewal will probably emerge in the future as more people will want to see more sophisticated urban design. It must be guided properly so that we don't lose significant buildings.
 
thecharioteer said:
True about Berczy Park. And yet, and yet.....I will grant you Berczy Park if you give me back the Yonge/Scott/Front/Wellington block now occupied by the banal 33 Yonge. What a gateway to Toronto the old Board of Trade Building and the old Bank of Montreal building would make today!


Board_of_Trade_Building_Front_Stree.jpg
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Would love to see some interior shots of this place...
 
Unfortunately, the spirit of the Board of Trade building lives on - a block to the east - in the equally dithery assemblage that's London on the Esplanade.
 
Urban Shocker said:
Unfortunately, the spirit of the Board of Trade building lives on - a block to the east - in the equally dithery assemblage that's London on the Esplanade.
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Board_of_Trade_Building_Front_Stree.jpg


I beg to differ. Though Romanesque Revival may not be to everyone's taste, the Board of Trade Building (1892) was as sophisticated a composition both urbanistically and architecturally as anything coming out of the offices of H.H. Richardson or E.J. Lennox.

The American architects Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge (which was the successor office to Richardson's practice upon his untimely death at 47 in 1886) took a traditional horizontal tripartite arrangement and divided into a 2-3-1 floor arrangement. Within that division, further variances occur: massive piers at grade are separated by sloped stone spandrels; the third and fourth floors are linked by thin pilasters which transect the spandrels; a decorative frieze occurs above the fifth floor heralding increased decoration above the sixth floor in the form of Romanesque arches and capitals, detailed stonework on the Yonge and Front facades, culminating in the six Venetian-inspired arches and gables on the corner (mimicking the front doors on Yonge and Front below). Above that is a flat cornice of arches, from which rises the sloped roof and turret, a landmark beacon which appears in countless images of Toronto at the time.

For all we adore the Gooderham Building, the Board of Trade Building is certainly its equal (if not superior). Its loss in 1958 was an act of urban vandalism that can't be justified no matter how pleasant the area is like today. To compare it to the clumsy effort by Burka Architects at "London on the Esplanade" (is there not a more cringe-producing name for a condo today?) surely does it a great disservice.
 
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I thought it was a derivative of Shepley Rutan + Coolidge, not an actual design by them.

In any case, whatever its merits (and I find a certain provincialism there as well), had the Board of Trade survived into the Crombie era, it'd all but certainly still be with us to this day, maybe reno'd into a boutique hotel or something...
 
It doesn't strike me as the most coherent design - even coming from the late Victorian age when more-is-more and heft ruled - just a rather loud one from a Board of Trade that wanted to make a big statement. But then I prefer the earlier and simpler version of the Bank of Montreal building that was taken down in 1885 for the present structure. A decently proportioned foursquare structure, it was designed by Kivas Tully in 1845; his Custom House at the south west corner of the Yonge/Front intersection was built in the same year and demolished in 1873 for the elegant but equally short-lived ( demolished 1919 ) Second Empire replacement.

http://ve.tpl.toronto.on.ca/TPM/e2-37c.html
 
Both Eric Arthur, in No Mean City, and William Dendy, in Lost Toronto, credit it to James and James.

Dendy describes James and James as a British firm who had moved to New York, and the building as almost a copy of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge's Boston Chamber of Commerce building ( designed before but built after our Board of Trade ).

Here's the James and James design from Canadian Architect and Builder ( choose vol. 2, issue 2 for the two pages of images ):

http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/cab/search/browse_frameset.htm

http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/cab/search/browse_frameset.htm

And here's the Boston building by Shepley:

http://www.iboston.org/mcp.php?pid=flourGrainExchange

Arthur describes the Board of trade as, "an unusual but not particularly impressive office building", and Dendy indicates that The Cheapening had happened ( despite it going $140,000 over budget! ) by the time it was built: In the original design, James and James faced the vertical piers of the facade with rough masonry and included much decorative carving - but most carving was omitted and the piers were faced with smooth cut Credit River sandstone and fine brick. This lessened the contrast between the piers and the lighter infill of large windows and sleek colonnettes.
 
To see the revised James and James design ( which was built ) go to Volume 2 and Issue 2. Then click on Page 14, and then click on the downwards arrow - this brings up the option of seeing Plate 1a and Plate 1b.

Here's another view of the Boston building by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge:

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/19th/shepley_grain1.jpg

Regarding the Board of Trade, while thecharioteer names the parts that make up the whole, I don't think the whole is greater than their sum. Maybe what we're seeing with it vis-a-vis the Boston Chamber of Commerce is similar to what we see when we look at any number of worthy Modernist buildings that weren't by Mies - but were built at the same time - compared to buildings that were designed by him?
 
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