Scarborough Photographs: Then and Now

[junctionist]

Cool find.

 

[brewster]

Saunders-Cook, Eastville Avenue & Kingston Road looking northwest - 1958

Saunders-Cook, Eastville Avenue & Kingston Road looking northwest - 1/3/2015

 

[debbieyc]

lol, i remember the place i am living was a corn field.

 

[kbdid]

Anyone have any photos of Oakridge (SW Scarborough). My first house was at 176 Leyton and although we found a newspaper in the wall dating to '39 we had a woman stop by who said she was born there (she was in her late 70's in about 1994 or so). It seemed to be one of those DIY homes built in steps (basement first). Tiny place.

ETA did they restore the Bell Estate or no, I seem to remember they wanted to do this. I think my place was originally part of the Bell property but not sure.

 

[Goldie]

Anyone have any photos of Oakridge (SW Scarborough). My first house was at 176 Leyton and although we found a newspaper in the wall dating to '39 we had a woman stop by who said she was born there (she was in her late 70's in about 1994 or so). It seemed to be one of those DIY homes built in steps (basement first). Tiny place.

I was intrigued by your comment: "It seemed to be one of those DIY homes built in steps (basement first)."

I remember seeing many of those DIY homes during the time of Scarborough's early expansion (1940-50s).

However, I've never seen any photos of those homes showing the early stages of construction (basement-living before upper storey).

Can anyone show us such a photo?

 

[kbdid]

I was intrigued by your comment: "It seemed to be one of those DIY homes built in steps (basement first)."

I remember seeing many of those DIY homes during the time of Scarborough's early expansion (1940-50s).

However, I've never seen any photos of those homes showing the early stages of construction (basement-living before upper storey).

Can anyone show us such a photo?

I've never seen any photos but do remember reading variously about the development in this area of Scarborough developing similar to the earlier shacktowns - landowners would build basement/tar paper and improve the homes as they went along

the house I'm speaking of is the little white one on the right - incredibly someone gutted the interior and it now has three bedrooms (colour me skeptical about the quality but I did see photos when it was for sale awhile ago). It's only 900 sq ft with an addition (original house was about 650 sq feet).

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.6986...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sjmR1Y9gAr_Pz1GkkHOA62g!2e0

 

[Anna]

I was intrigued by your comment: "It seemed to be one of those DIY homes built in steps (basement first)."

I remember seeing many of those DIY homes during the time of Scarborough's early expansion (1940-50s).

However, I've never seen any photos of those homes showing the early stages of construction (basement-living before upper storey).

Can anyone show us such a photo?

I recall seeing a photo of one on the Scarborough Historical Society's facebook page. I think it was on Gooderham Drive in Wexford and was built by the postee's father.

Here's one from Mississauga.

 

[kbdid]

thanks for that article. Maybe I'll ask the admin at SHS if they can did up some info. I know that churches also often started with the basement and then built up.

would still love it if someone had some pics of this area - tiny town, some of the houses/lanes similar to Craven Road.

 

[CityPlaceN1]

Some neat pictures here.

 

[Koolgreen]

'China Mission' - a church no doubt, that as part of it's 'mission' sent its members to China. How interesting. As a child in the 60s, my grandfather introduced me to a couple of elderly Canadian ladies who spoke fluent Chinese.

kinda interesting that people of our vintage thought Chinese was Cantonese back then.....And now mandarin is the dominant dialect in Toronto.....upper scarborough is Chinatown north .....

 

[sonny]

Thanks for that photo, great color for the era of the photo could have been taken last week, i would like to own half a dozen of those cars sitting in the car lot be worth a few bucks here in Tasmania.

Cheers Sonny

 

[spider]

kinda interesting that people of our vintage thought Chinese was Cantonese back then.....And now mandarin is the dominant dialect in Toronto.....upper scarborough is Chinatown north .....

O/T but please educate those of us who are curious, how different are spoken Mandarin and Cantonese and do they share the same written language?
TIA

 

[r937]

...how different are spoken Mandarin and Cantonese and do they share the same written language?
TIA

as a non-speaker of either, i can assure you they sound quite different, but use the same written characters

mandarin is all clenched teeth and sibilants, while cantonese is all long open vowels, especially at the end, aaaaah

see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e73btaVo868

 

[11th]

O/T but please educate those of us who are curious, how different are spoken Mandarin and Cantonese and do they share the same written language?
TIA

They only thing they share within the Chinese languages is the writing system, and even that is complicated by the fact there are two systems. In terms of spoken, saying "Chinese" is like saying "European". In my opinion, they are as similar to each other as Spanish is to Portuguese.
Mind you, some Cantonese speakers do get offended when one assumes "Chinese" language equates to Mandarin.

 

[Lone Primate]

Anybody know much about this place? A nice little community on Highland Creek at Lawrence Avenue between Morningside and Markham Roads. Looks like it was hit its peek just before Hurricane Hazel (older shot is from 1953), but to my surprise, most of these homes were still standing in 1957, and about half were still around in 1962. It's only by the city's 1971 shots, with the new Willows bridge, that these homes are finally all gone.