Evocative Images of Lost Toronto

[thecharioteer]

The rather handsome American Hotel - built in the 1840s I believe - was torn down to make way for the flamboyant Board of Trade building at Yonge and Front sometime around 1890.

http://maxhost.org/coppermine/displayimage.php?pid=783&fullsize=1

As seen here, before the Romanesque Revival descended on Yonge and Front:

 

[Goldie]

I love the details of humanity that can be found within these 'oldies.'

 

[spider]

Almost all of the residential buildings appearing in the photos on this thread are sheathed in stucco of some kind on wooden lathe. Was this the original exterior material on these houses? I am amazed at the poverty portrayed in these shots so long ago, especially when I remember that I was alive then.

 

[thecharioteer]

Almost all of the residential buildings appearing in the photos on this thread are sheathed in stucco of some kind on wooden lathe. Was this the original exterior material on these houses? I am amazed at the poverty portrayed in these shots so long ago, especially when I remember that I was alive then.

In the sense that "history is written by the victors", we perceive architectural history by the survivors, and most of the stucco and lathe houses of the early ninetheenth centruy seen in this thread did not survive for a variety of reasons: firstly, because a number of them were in neighbbourhoods that transitioned to industrial uses such as King/Spadina and Kng/Parliament and were torn down and replaced by factories, or in the case of the Ward by commercial uses; secondly, unless a stucco house is maintained properly on a continual basis, it will deteriorate much quicker than a masonry house, which leads to the third reason, namely, many of these houses became "slum" housing and in fact the photographs in the Archives originate either from the Housing or Health departments at the City documenting such sub-standard living conditions. The result of these investigations either resulted in some cases of the houses being repaired (and there are some "before and after" photos of such houses) or demolished.

If one observes certain streets and house with a careful eye, some of these house still remain, though in many cases have been refaced with brick or siding. I took a recent walk down Huron from College to south of Dundas and noticed quite a few. In the cases of block-long terraces of stucco houses (like the one I posted of Stewart Street) the only simiilar example I can think of is that Berkeley block north of King renovated by architect Joan Burt in the 70's.

 

[spider]

Thanks for the info on "Stucco" and the logical reasons for it's demise. Were these conditions common in other areas in North America?
My original question was prompted by the total absence of examples of this type of construction in the world of Architectural model making which is often associated with Model Railroading and often portraying a time frame in which such buidings would be found. The models I am referring to are often built with incredible fidelity to detail not just a cardboard box.

Thanks again for this great thread.

 

[thecharioteer]

A follow-up pic to the discussion on the lost CP Express Building on the SW corner of King & Simcoe (now the site of Roy Thomson Hall). In the Barton Myers proposal for a "New Massey Hall" which would have preserved the building, the open carriageways became an integral part of the scheme:

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

The other thing to note obout "The New Massey Hall", AKA "The Roy", was the major design change of the roof, from an elipse to a circular top finish;

it being a 'money problem".

Regards,
J T

 

[TOfan696]

Does anyone have a rendering of that proposal? (Barton Myers)

 

[LowPolygon]

"Before the Toronto Free Hospital was established for patients with advanced tuberculosis, families looked after their own. It was believed that plenty of bed rest and fresh air was the cure for tuberculosis, and throughout Toronto and other communities tents and glass houses were put up in backyards to try to maximize the amount of fresh air patients received. The lack of formal institutional care often meant that several members of a family would contract TB."


Health Inspector's Kit (Bag and supplies used by tuberculosis nurses.)

Tent exterior - family group. David Cummings, though a chronic consumptive is making a brave fight for improvement in the garden of his home. In summer, he raises all the fruits and vegetables required by his family, while the wife is employed at City Hall:

Exterior - improvised tent. For advanced cases, isolated at home:

Exterior - tent and houses. Home care and isolation. Electric light and bells from the house. A sanitarium trained patient:

Houses with tent in yard. Patient who has hip and lung lesions spent winters at Gravenhurst and summer in the tent on grounds of his brother's market garden on Christie Street:

Exterior - patient in bed. Cot and umbrella supplied for boy refusing sanitarium care. He died at Weston

Tuberculosis patient George de Ber in tent September 6, 1912:

Exterior - patient in bed. Cot and umbrella supplied for patient who refused sanitarium care. (George de Ber.)

Tent (exterior). Sanitarium. October 29, 1913:

Tent (exterior) October 29, 1913:

 

[thecharioteer]

Not quite the Alpine sanatorium in The Magic Mountain were they? What a sad slice of Toronto's past, especially thinking of a typical hot, humid Toronto summer and the thought that breathing that air was helpful. At least those that got out to the Island got the lake breezes....

 

[LowPolygon]

Photographs taken from the roof of the Rossin House Hotel, which was located on the south-east corner of King and York streets, in 1856.

Looking east, along King Street East:

Looking south east:

Looking north east:

Looking north east:

Looking north:

 

[thecharioteer]

What an amazing set! Whoever has read Michael Redhill"s Consolation will never see these pictures the same way again.

Here's an interesting pic of 68-70 Adelaide Street East, taken on May 14, 1918, compositionally one of the finest pics in the Arhives:

 

[Urban Shocker]

Interesting to contrast the 1856 photographs of the more-or-less Georgian city with the 1918 photo showing the mid-Victorian building on the left. Despite variations in the size of the buildings in the earlier photograph the windows are of set proportions, giving the streetscape a unity that lessened when the Goths, with their taste for variety and applied decoration, took over.

 

[thecharioteer]

Interesting to contrast the 1856 photographs of the more-or-less Georgian city with the 1918 photo showing the mid-Victorian building on the left. Despite variations in the size of the buildings in the earlier photograph the windows are of set proportions, giving the streetscape a unity that lessened when the Goths, with their taste for variety and applied decoration, took over.

However, if one looks at some of the intrinsic architectural qualities embodied by the Victorian building on the left, (namely the high ceilings, the large windows flooding the interior with natural light, aspects that have nothing to do with applied decoration) versus the rather squat Georgian building on the right, in which building, U.S., would you rather have had a shop, an office or an apartment?

 

[Gregory Graham]

Quite right, it is compositionally a stunning photo. What does the lettering say on the window? My screen is too small.