Evocative Images of Lost Toronto

[BeeRich]

Here are a couple of other pics of that Bank building that was on the SW corner.
Some say the foundation may still be under the Pizza palace.

LOL that's excellent. The CIBC on the NE corner, is the home of my first business. I sold lemonade on the stairs there. And I have bad news. Rumour has it Starbucks is taking over the SW corner of B&D. The realtor has moved out or is moving out. Also, the Coffee Time down Broadview across from Loblaws, is closed. It used to be a European deli with two nice people. Their son took it over and doubled the size of it, and it went broke. That's when the coffee shop moved in. Ya, nice people but horrible candy.

 

[adma]

Anybody have pictures of the White Elephant? That was the building that was partially built, yet denied hydro and sewer/water, up the Bayview Extension on the West side, just up from Pottery Road. It was painted white, and had no windows. It was about five floors high from what I can remember, and full of pigeons. Quite eerie actually. Guys used to jump the railing and head on over to trap pigeons for some reason.

Google "Bayview Ghost". You'll find a fair bit of stuff.

 

[adma]

That middle photo will be a 'Now-and-Then' soon enough.
That original Pizza Pizza Logo is a classic and will soon be extinct. I can't think of any other PizzaPizza location which still has this logo (PP#1 @ Wellesley & Parliament used to before the recent renos there)

Then again, given the scale and curiously "fresh" state of that particular "original" logo, I'm wondering if its current presence is a deliberate "retro" gesture...

 

[BeeRich]

Google "Bayview Ghost". You'll find a fair bit of stuff.

Thanks for the heads up. Never heard it named that, so this found some great pics.

 

[FAC33]

Google "Bayview Ghost". You'll find a fair bit of stuff.

This would be a really rich subject for a "Then and Now" photo. The Ghost was torn down before I moved to Toronto, and I know the general area where it was situated, but not the specifics. I believe that area has now been developed, so it would be a great candidate for that kind of treatment.

 

[Goldie]

This would be a really rich subject for a "Then and Now" photo. The Ghost was torn down before I moved to Toronto, and I know the general area where it was situated, but not the specifics. I believe that area has now been developed, so it would be a great candidate for that kind of treatment.

Here's a page which gives the basics regarding the Bayview Ghost: http://rudy.ca/the-bayview-ghost-part-1.html

 

[thecharioteer]

Wow. I've never seen this one before--what a wonderful shot of the death knell for the Bank of Toronto building. I guess I had assumed all the buildings came down at the same time for the TD Centre, or at least for the main tower and banking pavillion. Makes you wonder, for a brief second, could they have retained the old building? It was such a pretty thing, although the Mies pavillion is beautiful in its own right.

There are a number of examples in which significant buildings could have been retained within new developments if the will had been there (they weren't in the way, so to speak, except perhaps philosophically).

The three that come to mind are the Normal School complex within the Ryerson block, the old Bank of Montreal at King and Bay, and the old Royal Bank at Bloor and Yonge:

The original Normal School:

The Normal School within the Ryerson quadrangle, just before demolition:

The Bank of Montreal at King and Bay:

During demolition:

Royal Bank (originally Trader's Bank), Bloor and Yonge:

Prior to demolition:

 

[chriskayTO]

Couldn't agree more.

In the case of the Royal Bank at Yonge & Bloor, not only did we lose a beautiful structure, but the new one is so much worse - with no at-grade entrance and no street-level animation. I'm sure they could have fairly easily integrated it into the new complex.

 

[adma]

Though of course, in both the Royal and BMO's case, the existing structures weren't "fashionable" at the time--maybe marginally more so in BMO's case, strangely enough (I think it was THB-listed); but it was probably deemed "too new" (less than 30 years old), anyway.

And when it comes to the Royal; the historical-architectural tastemakers of the early 70s would likely have opted for the Art Nouveauisms of the CIBC at the opposite corner, instead. (Caveat: that was 40 years ago, not now.)

 

[chriskayTO]

And when it comes to the Royal; the historical-architectural tastemakers of the early 70s would likely have opted for the Art Nouveauisms of the CIBC at the opposite corner, instead. (Caveat: that was 40 years ago, not now.)

True - but at least the CIBC building got the street-level animation. At least far more than the Royal Bank bunker.

 

[FAC33]

There are a number of examples in which significant buildings could have been retained within new developments if the will had been there (they weren't in the way, so to speak, except perhaps philosophically).


During demolition:

Wow...so they got the main FCP building up before tearing down the BMO building. And in this case--the new building was definitely not comparable to the old.

This has me curious now--did they take down the Imperial Bank building on the southeast corner before building Commerce Court West?

 

[Goldie]

Guild Inn treasures

At least we should be thankful that many of the artifacts of those old bank buildings have been preserved on the grounds of the Guild Inn.
It's a wonderful place to tour and examine pieces of Toronto's history. (But wait for warmer weather!)

 

[adma]

This has me curious now--did they take down the Imperial Bank building on the southeast corner before building Commerce Court West?

Don't think so--after all, unlike TD and BMO, it's not the pavilion but the actual tower (albeit set back) at the corner. Also, it would've been redundant to keep the old building momentarily, as the CIBC in present-day CCN was still operational...

 

[FAC33]

At least we should be thankful that many of the artifacts of those old bank buildings have been preserved on the grounds of the Guild Inn.
It's a wonderful place to tour and examine pieces of Toronto's history. (But wait for warmer weather!)

In fact, I was just there in October. It was a gorgeous day, and I took lots of photos. Popular place for wedding photography--I had to wait for wedding parties that were blocking the architecture bits to move on out. And the Guild Inn itself just made me sad.

But I'm putting together a photo presentation on the transformation of King and Bay, so some of these photos could not have come at a better time.

 

[thecharioteer]

Here's another one that shows the excavation of the TD Centre while the Bay Street and York Street buildings remained:

And the ultimate demolition of the Bank of Toronto: