News   Apr 19, 2024
45 and 61-Storey Towers Proposed near Oakville GO
 1.3K     0 
News   Apr 19, 2024
DRP Reviews Innovative Affordable Housing at Kennedy Station
 756     2 
News   Apr 19, 2024
Lifetime Helping Craft the Future of Toronto's Neighbourhoods
 1.2K     3 

The Esplanade 1907

If I am reading it right, it is interesting that they were planning a link through the new viaduct at Church Street. Something that is again in the cards with the Lower Yonge Precinct plan - coming to TEYCC on August 12.
 
DSC said:
If I am reading it right, it is interesting that they were planning a link through the new viaduct at Church Street. Something that is again in the cards with the Lower Yonge Precinct plan - coming to TEYCC on August 12.
Click to expand...

In a perfect world, DSC, the parking garage with the social housing units above it would be demolished and rebuilt to the west, reopening the Church Street view corridor....
 
The Railway Viaduct Debate (continued):

From https://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=2765962c8c3f0410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD

Finished in 1921 [i.e. Union Station], it remained unused for six more years because of legal wrangling between, the Harbour Commission, the City, and the railways over grade separations. In 1924, a final plan was approved by the Board of Railway Commissioners, and work on the necessary viaduct, bridge, grading, platforms and trackage commenced. During this time the old Union Station remained open.

From http://transit.toronto.on.ca/regional/2302.shtml

Debate and More Debate

Despite this, it still took nine years for the various governments, railroads and property owners to agree on a proposal. A team of architects including the Montreal firm of G.A. Ross and R.H. MacDonald as well as Hugh Jones of the CPR and John M. Lyle of Toronto prepared the design of the station. On April 26, 1914, the plan for the Union Station was finally approved by the Board of Railway Commissioners and, on September 26, 1914, just weeks after the start of the First World War, construction began. War shortages slowed construction, but in 1920 the building was ready to be opened. However, the viaduct was not complete. Disputes over whether the tracks should pass over or under Toronto's streets kept the new Union Station closed for years. Finally, on August 6, 1927, the station was officially opened by the visiting Prince of Wales (the station actually went into use five days later, on August 11). Once the new station opened, the old Union Station at the foot of Simcoe Street was closed and eventually demolished.

Even as the station opened, the viaduct was still under construction. Passengers still had to use the old platforms from the old Union Station in order to board their trains. A temporary wooden bridge from the new station to the old station tracks was erected and used until the viaduct was completed (tracks 1-6 in January 1930, and tracks 7-12 in December 1930). Even then, the transfer was not complete. On June 14, 1916, the CPR had opened North Toronto station by Yonge Street on its mainline through the city, and its trains continued to use that station until 1930 before switching to Union.


From http://cnr-in-ontario.com/Reports/index.html?http://cnr-in-ontario.com/Reports/RSR-003.html

Consequently, when Union Station was in the planning stages the city of Toronto was intensely concerned with the project. In addition to the station building itself, the city was also interested in the yards. Wishing to regain access to the waterfront which for some years had been blocked by east-west tracks, the city involved itself in the planning of grade separations which would allow north-south underpasses beneath the east-west trackage. The CPR, however, did not agree with the initial plan put forth by the City Engineer's Department recommending elevated tracks on an earth-filled viaduct with twelve subways joining north/south streets to the waterfront, and through tracks into the station with an access subway under them. Such a plan would have involved the alteration of existing CPR freight yards, as well as being very costly to the railways.

The battle over the grade separation issue raged on for several years. By 1911 an Act of the Dominion Parliament had created the Toronto Harbour Commission, a five-member board who also had to be consulted on grade separations along the waterfront. Finally, in 1913, a new viaduct plan was approved by the Board of Railway Commissioners who issued a work order for a fourteen million dollar station. By April of 1914 the Toronto Terminals Railway Company had assembled a team of architects to design and construct the station. Preliminary work was begun on the site in September of that year.

Meanwhile Britain had declared war in Germany. Canadian troops left Toronto from the old Union Station while work on the new station progressed slowly. Hampered by delays in the delivery of materials during the war, the exterior was not completed until 1918. By 1920 the CPR and the CNR were occupying office space in the building, and the Post Office had taken possession of the east wing for which it had previously negotiated. The old arguments over grade separations continued between the Harbour Commission, the City and the railways. In 1924 a final plan was approved by the Board of Railway Commissioners, and work on the necessary viaduct, bridge, grading, platforms, and trackage commenced. At long last, on 11 August 1927, the station was opened for business—twenty-three years after its inception. The subways connecting the north/south streets with the waterfront were not completed until 1930.
 
Last edited:
thecharioteer said:
In a perfect world, DSC, the parking garage with the social housing units above it would be demolished and rebuilt to the west, reopening the Church Street view corridor....
Click to expand...
Indeed it would but the building is actually only partly garage - there is housing on the upper floors. Not clear whether the Lower Yonge plans will result in Church being 'punched through' (below the housing?) for a full road, a pedestrian/cycling pathway or ?? Something to watch for though! (Incidentally, the St Lawrence Community Improvement Plan suggested at least cladding the Church Street view terminus (the garage) - it REALLY is very ugly - and the parking lot on The Esplanade and Church does not help.)
 
It's too bad they decided to raise the railways as opposed to lowering them (and building bridges over). It would be much easier to cap over the rails today and connect the city to the cut off waterfront if that were the case.
 
Red October said:
It's too bad they decided to raise the railways as opposed to lowering them (and building bridges over). It would be much easier to cap over the rails today and connect the city to the cut off waterfront if that were the case.
Click to expand...

1853, there was such a plan (TPL):







 
To answer my own question, The Esplanade in the 1930's and 1940's, seemingly used as a freight yard:

esplanade1933.jpg


esplanade1932.jpg


esplanade1932a.jpg


esplanade1932b.jpg


esplanade1932c.jpg


esplanade1932d.jpg


esplanade1940.jpg


Trains can be seen on The Esplanade in these aerials from the 40's and 60's:



 

Attachments

  • esplanade1933.jpg
    esplanade1933.jpg
    94.4 KB · Views: 942
  • esplanade1932.jpg
    esplanade1932.jpg
    91.1 KB · Views: 909
  • esplanade1932a.jpg
    esplanade1932a.jpg
    92.4 KB · Views: 913
  • esplanade1932b.jpg
    esplanade1932b.jpg
    90.2 KB · Views: 908
  • esplanade1932c.jpg
    esplanade1932c.jpg
    91.2 KB · Views: 906
  • esplanade1932d.jpg
    esplanade1932d.jpg
    90.5 KB · Views: 892
  • esplanade1940.jpg
    esplanade1940.jpg
    94.1 KB · Views: 916
Last edited:
^ Wow, St. Lawrence used to look pretty bleak...

...I just so happened to take roughly the same shot in 2007, with the modern Esplanade for comparison:

67440947.jpg
 
Great thread!

Now I know why Montrealers always called Toronto "muddy." (And yes, that's my Montreal chauvinism showing. :))

It's always a choice between "progress" and the environment, isn't it? Without those trains, Toronto would never have grown into the economic power it eventually became. Not even the Seaway would have made much of a dent. It would have looked like a great big London, Ontario, maybe.

My favourite pic is this one because you can still pick out existing structure, eg. the late Jilly's.

kingqueen1907.jpg
 

Attachments

  • kingqueen1907.jpg
    kingqueen1907.jpg
    96.6 KB · Views: 905
Red October said:
It's too bad they decided to raise the railways as opposed to lowering them (and building bridges over). It would be much easier to cap over the rails today and connect the city to the cut off waterfront if that were the case.
Click to expand...

Yes, Red October, as was done in Montreal. Having the tracks below street level (as shown here in 1930), allowed for this huge complex (Place Ville Marie) and other downtown buildings to be build above those tracks.

Montreal1930-PVM_zpsc36090ea.jpg
 
Map from 1916 showing the layout of the proposed railway viaduct, the site of the new Union Station and the proposed infill of the waterfront. As outlined in the articles above (post #18), the new Union Station was finished in 1920, but did not open until 1927 because the viaduct wasn't finished (and it took three more years to finish the north-south subways).



http://maps.library.utoronto.ca/datapub/digital/G_3524_T6_16_1916.jpg
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top