Evocative Images of Lost Toronto

[FAC33]

I'm curious--the pre-demolition photo shows the building without its trio of cornices. Were they removed as part of the demolition, or sometime before? It's kind of hard to tell--they look to have been lopped off rather neatly....

 

[Mustapha]

http://theclevelandarcade.com/

 

[thecharioteer]

The Arcade Building 1907:

1950. Note Holt Renfrew's on the left and the Wild One in front. What the two guys are doing on the third floor ledge of the Lumsden Building at right is anyone's guess. Also, further to FAC33's comment about the missing pediments, it looks like the two side ones are already gone:

1951:

1954:

 

[Gregory Graham]

One really fascinating thing about cities in Australia (I'm thinking in particular of Melbourne and Sydney) is how similar they are to Canadian cities (Toronto in particular), except, unfortunately, that we demolished so much more of our Victorian built heritage.

There are two arcade buildings still standing in Sydney which look very similar to the old Yonge Street Arcade Building:

1. The Strand Arcade: http://www.strandarcade.com.au/About-Strand
2. The Queen Victoria Building: http://www.qvb.com.au/

The modernist Arcade building still standing on Yonge Street is such a sorry replacement. We lose, Australia wins.

 

[thecharioteer]

Gregory: Thanks for the links. Time to book my flight to Sydney!

There are almost no pics of the Victoria Street facade of the Arcade Building, but here's one showing a glimpse in between the gloriously un-truncated towers of Confederation Life and the Freehold Loan and Savings Building on the Adelaide/Victoria corner:

 

[Gregory Graham]

Thanks for the glimpse charioteer. Yes, book your flight indeed. Weather there should be glorious now. Actually, for Victoriana I think Melbourne trumps Sydney. I got an incredible deja vu, 'I've been here before' sense walking the streets of Melbourne. It is so like Toronto it is creepy. British Empire remnants and street cars. I guess that is it. Wondering whether anyone else who has been to these Australian cities and Toronto agrees.

It is ironic that at the very time Toronto was building its subway system and making the downtown easily accessible, we were also demolishing most of what made it interesting and enriching. Thanks automobile culture!

 

[adma]

There are almost no pics of the Victoria Street facade of the Arcade Building,

That pediment-less demolition photo was of the Victoria side.

Oh, and re the early 50s Yonge photos, Novelty Shoe Repair remains eternal...

 

[thecharioteer]

That pediment-less demolition photo was of the Victoria side.

Quite right. I meant pics of the Victoria Street side when the building was still in its glory.

One can see this side in the following postcards, both using the same photograph taken from St. James Cathedral (circa 1907):

Close-up:

Colourized:

 

[ganjavih]

Think of the possibilities of that old town would have remained intact.

 

[thecharioteer]

Wilton Crescent

As we know, the finest residential neighbourhood in late Victorian Toronto centred on Jarvis and Sherbourne Streets. One of a number of streets linking the two was Wilton Street (later named Dundas Street East). To line up with the location of Wilton at Sherbourne, a small curved section was laid out east of George Street with the grand name "Wilton Crescent", carrying the aristocratic allusion to the much grander Wilton Crescent in Belgravia, London. A number of the homes still remain (none unaltered), but the combination of changing demographics, crime and a higher than usual preponderance of nearby social agencies (like Seaton House) have prevented this section of downtown from enjoying the renaissance experienced elsewhere in the neighbourhood. The widening of the street, cutting down of the trees, demolition of the best houses and construction of some brutal new buildings haven't helped either.

Looking west:

1911:

Looking east:

This would appear to be the same house as in the centre of the previous picture (taken in the mid-80's; thanks to seemsartless):

At Sherbourne 1911:

 

[DSC]

My god! What a come-down for poor Wilton Crescent! The more modern photo (from 1980s) of 247 Dundas East shows a building very similar to what is there now. (See Google Streetview). It was recently renovated yet again (the reno was still in process when the streetview photo was taken) and the 'shed' at the corner of Pembroke Street and Dundas East is now a restaurant.

 

[Goldie]

Manpower at work!

 

[seemsartless]

Manpower at work!]

I wonder what the guy climbing the top of the pole does, besides show off? Is he carrying a line, maybe?

 

[wwwebster]

I believe this was originally the home of James Orford, a Cabbagetown farmer and merchant, who began buying land in this area in 1841. Orford died in 1880, and it later became a residence of four-term Toronto Mayor Robert John Fleming, who married Orford’s daughter Lydia in 1888.

Bonus view, with Joy Oil gas station:

Today’s Cole Street, running east off Parliament, was originally Orford, and then Otter. Not sure why it wasn’t renamed Orford when it was opened back up again, but the 1895 directory lists a Thomas A. Cole, grocer, at the corner of Parliament and Dundas (then Wilton).

More info at:

http://www.crpmuseum.com/index.php?article=39

 

[thecharioteer]

More pics of the now-demolished Fire Hall at Dundas-Parliament, the first from Toronto No Mean City:

From the Ontario Archives:

From the Toronto Public Library: