News   Jan 09, 2025
Oxford's Union Park Swaps Office Tower for More High-Rise Residential
 1.3K     2 
News   Jan 09, 2025
UrbanToronto Industry Updates: Record-Low Sales, Award-Winning Innovations, and 2025 Training Opportunities
 421     0 
News   Jan 09, 2025
UTPro Q4 2024: GTHA Crane Count Stabilizing After Several Large Drops
 1K     0 

Evocative Images of Lost Toronto

You guys were quite harsh on the future cream of Toronto's medical establishment. I'm sure they cleaned themselves up when they had to:

students.jpg


And there is a certain "Brideshead Revisted" quality in some of the shots (Toronto version):

students2.jpg


students7.jpg


And there were always the wild and crazy art students in their life-drawing classes (Toronto version; no nude models apparently):

artstudents2.jpg


artstudetns2.jpg


artstudents3.jpg


Things livened up when women were admitted to campus:

students4.jpg


students5.jpg


They knew how to dress in those days:

students6.jpg
 
beautiful selection Charioteer! i am always very interested in these old group portrait shots of young people. its quite moving when you see these eager faces, full of confidence and optimism, having no idea what the future holds for them. i often find myself wondering 'what the story is' with each of them, what their backgrounds and family histories might be etc.

its very easy to get caught up looking at them, and having your mind wander...knowing that there are may be a few among them who will end up destitute or vagrant; more than a few will end up alcoholic; more than a few are gay, and many of them will probably never come out; some will marry well or find lasting love, while a few others may end up institutionalized or in jail; some will be rich and successful with a beautiful family, others will live a solitary, isolated life of poverty or suffer great mental distress. some will die very young, and others may live to see the year 2000...in any case, the life of every one of them will be complex and rich--like all lives!

students.jpg

students5.jpg
 
Last edited:
its very easy to get caught up looking at them, and having your mind wander...knowing that there are may be a few among them who will end up destitute or vagrant; more than a few will end up alcoholic; more than a few are gay, and many of them will probably never come out; some will marry well or find lasting love, while a few others may end up institutionalized or in jail; some will be rich and successful with a beautiful family, others will live a solitary, isolated life of poverty or suffer great mental distress. some will die very young, and others may live to see the year 2000...in any case, the life of every one of them will be complex and rich--like all lives!
Click to expand...

As the 1915 graduating class I would imagine many didn't make it out alive in France.
 
Blovertis said:
Athletic wear looked fantastic back then. Uncomfortable, no doubt, but very stylish.
Click to expand...

I totally concur. All that jersey and rib knit! Factory made but 100% manufactured in Canada, probably even in Toronto. I wonder if the wool was Canadian?…don’t know much about sheep I’m afraid…
It’s all before the invention of synthetic fiber so it is all 100% natural wool and cotton. It would cost a fortune to produce clothes of that quality today…
 
22d02026.png


Queen Mary would been pleased with these girls:

thecharioteer said:
students4.jpg
Click to expand...

and less pleased with these...

thecharioteer said:
students5.jpg
Click to expand...


A big change in women's clothing in just 5 years! A very big move away from the heavy, restrictive styles that required bustles and padding, towards a more natural form.

In 1912, the clothes are ‘tailor made’: ie. the suits are made of wool or serge, and were often worn with shirtwaist blouses. You can also see the influence of ‘The Gibson Girl’ in these young women: in the lace trimmed shirt collars and tie neck cravats etc…

The girl second from right has a very stylish outfit for the time. Her outfit is made of much lighter fabric (silk?) than the heavier tweed and rougher serge of the other girls, and the look is altogether much more loose and flowing, with off the shoulder seams, and kimono sleeves that are loosely cinched with cloth-covered buttons.
 
I wonder if Queen Mary had any idea how futile her attempts to enforce modesty would prove to be.

I'd love to bring her back from the dead and have her watch The Bachelor (or U.K. trash TV's current equivalent).
 
deepend, you've written previously about how certain photographs capture a moment in time. This one is particularly evocative for a number of reasons: it's dated December 30, 1913, just before the last New Year's Eve of the "Belle Epoque" (cue The Merry Widow Waltz in the King Edward ballroom); the long exposure times reduce everyone to ghosts except for the relatively stationary traffic cop and the pedestrians reading the posted newspapers; the vanished "heft" (in Urban Shocker's words) of the building; the sign for the Mail & Empire (what could be more evocative of the era than that name?); the hand-lettered windows; the snow-less streets; the outdoor thermometer (or is a circulation meter?).....All in all, a great photograph:

NW corner of King and Bay, December 30, 1913:

bayking.jpg
 
thecharioteer said:
deepend, you've written previously about how certain photographs capture a moment in time. This one is particularly evocative for a number of reasons: it's dated December 30, 1913, just before the last New Year's Eve of the "Belle Epoque" (cue The Merry Widow Waltz in the King Edward ballroom); the long exposure times reduce everyone to ghosts except for the relatively stationary traffic cop and the pedestrians reading the posted newspapers; the vanished "heft" (in Urban Shocker's words) of the building; the sign for the Mail & Empire (what could be more evocative of the era than that name?); the hand-lettered windows; the snow-less streets; the outdoor thermometer (or is a circulation meter?).....All in all, a great photograph:

NW corner of King and Bay, December 30, 1913:

bayking.jpg
Click to expand...


Absolutely spot on. I think we agree that the most engaging photos often create a profound sense of presence; they have little details that touch us personally and allow us to establish an emotional connection to the time, scene or people within the frame. These details create a sense of ‘thereness’: in this case a deep awareness that, 97 years ago, all those people were there, on that Tuesday afternoon, on a mild winter day, on that corner, not knowing that 6 months in the future the Great War would begin. Only we know the war is coming, and it colours absolutely the way we see the image.

All of this touches on a lot of the themes that Roland Barthes spent a lot of time developing, with regards to photography:

“If photography is to be discussed on a serious level, it must be described in relation to death. It’s true that a photograph is a witness, but a witness of something that is no more. Even if the person in the picture is still alive, it’s a moment of this subject’s existence that was photographed, and this moment is gone. This is an enormous trauma for humanity, a trauma endlessly renewed. Each reading of a photo and there are billions worldwide in a day, each perception and reading of a photo is implicitly, in a repressed manner, a contract with what has ceased to exist, a contract with death.â€

Roland Barthes, The Grain of the Voice trans. Linda Coverdale (New York: Hill and Wang, 1985) 356
 
3/8 Deepend: That is an excellent airview pic over Downtown that you posted - early 50s is a good guess - showing the large extent of Toronto's railway land coverage along with much of Downtown Toronto - Commerce Court and Old City Hall stand out here. Can a copy of this pic be obtained or printed with detail? Thanks in advance - LI MIKE
 
Long Island Mike said:
3/8 Deepend: That is an excellent airview pic over Downtown that you posted - early 50s is a good guess - showing the large extent of Toronto's railway land coverage along with much of Downtown Toronto - Commerce Court and Old City Hall stand out here. Can a copy of this pic be obtained or printed with detail? Thanks in advance - LI MIKE
Click to expand...

thank you Mike! here is the link to the photo. i'm afraid its not all that big--its not bad though: about 2000x1500 pixels...
http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/CPR_Toronto/aerial_Toronto.jpg
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top