Midtown Modern

[LowPolygon]

In one picture signs overhead said "WAY OUT" British-style instead of "EXIT" - Any idea about when the TTC changed the signs to read "EXIT"? My first Toronto trip was Summer 1979-the TTC had installed "EXIT" signs by then. I also miss those well-built Gloucester Red Subway cars too! LI MIKE

very observant point Mike--you're right about the now extinct use of British English for the wayfinding signage in the stations. and yes, those Red Rockets were so elegant! the colour being another Brit carryover--i'd forgotten that the pigment was called Gloucester red.

 

[LowPolygon]

Then again, to play devil's advocate, I can see how this may seem sterile, barren, "Kafkaesque" to a fault...

it also reminds me of the great urban alienation paintings of George Tooker...

 

[DavidJamesTO]

British English isn't totally extinct on the TTC. Some of the wall-mounted black and white signs still read 'To Car Park', while other wall-mounted signs still say 'Way Out' here and there (I believe).

 

[junctionist]

The Vitrolite look was stunning in its bold simplicity, yet simultaneously uninspiring.

 

[adma]

But by default, it would seem more "inspiring" now than it did 55 years ago.

 

[Urban Shocker]

The decision of the architects to set the concourse level bus departure bays at a slight angle - so as to reflect their priority over the arrival bays for passengers approaching from the east - was both practical and pleasing to the eye. thedeepends first three images show this quite nicely, from both directions.

 

[lawsond]

"British English isn't totally extinct on the TTC. Some of the wall-mounted black and white signs still read 'To Car Park', while other wall-mounted signs still say 'Way Out' here and there (I believe)."
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Yeah, the TTC has really Waspy British origins. I always thought it was run by the Scottish Presbyterian Mafia.

Are there still "Mind the Gap" signs down there? Haven't been on in awhile. "Mind the Gap" always seemed like a fussy British thing to warn people of, especially since the "gap" is less than two inches and the word "mind" as a verb is very British.

One other thing relating to the name of this thread - Does anyone know what the current boundaries of downtown, midtown and uptown are? As late as 1980, Bloor-Yonge was still listed on city brochures - see before and after pics - as "uptown". Now, Yonge and Eg is Midtown. This makes geographic sense if compared to Manhattan. YandE is approx. the same distance from the lake as 42nd street is from Battery Park....amazingly enough.
But if YandE is midtown, then uptown is where? North York?

 

[Earlscourt_Lad]

I can clearly recall the excitement and terror that my first subway ride created. Waiting at a very busy Union station and then hearing and feeling an old Gloucester rumble in, I mean, you knew when those were arriving. Better yet was being told my Grandfather's involvement in the sale of the Gloucesters to the TTC, which as a kid, made me feel quite proud that I had some seemingly inside track on the whole experience. But I digress.

I think Vitrolite really works well when seen en masse, and without advertising all over it. It really allows you to appreciate it's beauty, but it does create a spartan look. Which I think suited the Toronto that existed then, it seems to have been a very clean and utilitarian place.

 

[junctionist]

"British English isn't totally extinct on the TTC. Some of the wall-mounted black and white signs still read 'To Car Park', while other wall-mounted signs still say 'Way Out' here and there (I believe)."
Reply With Quote

Yeah, the TTC has really Waspy British origins. I always thought it was run by the Scottish Presbyterian Mafia.

Are there still "Mind the Gap" signs down there? Haven't been on in awhile. "Mind the Gap" always seemed like a fussy British thing to warn people of, especially since the "gap" is less than two inches and the word "mind" as a verb is very British.

One other thing relating to the name of this thread - Does anyone know what the current boundaries of downtown, midtown and uptown are? As late as 1980, Bloor-Yonge was still listed on city brochures - see before and after pics - as "uptown". Now, Yonge and Eg is Midtown. This makes geographic sense if compared to Manhattan. YandE is approx. the same distance from the lake as 42nd street is from Battery Park....amazingly enough.
But if YandE is midtown, then uptown is where? North York?

Mind the Gap is ubiquitous in the system, with signs at every station.

North York Centre is now "uptown", but these boundaries have been debated in various threads. I'd that based off the built form, downtown ends at Bloor.

 

[LowPolygon]

I think Vitrolite really works well when seen en masse, and without advertising all over it. It really allows you to appreciate it's beauty, but it does create a spartan look. Which I think suited the Toronto that existed then, it seems to have been a very clean and utilitarian place.

one thing i find quite sad is the way this kind of beautiful austerity is now solely the province of the wealthy. this sort of supremely understated aesthetic is now found only in super high-end retail, spas, hotels, restaurants etc, while the plebs get Toronto Life Square, Rainforest Cafe and the Paramount. gag.

 

[adma]

one thing i find quite sad is the way this kind of beautiful austerity is now solely the province of the wealthy. this sort of supremely understated aesthetic is now found only in super high-end retail, spas, hotels, restaurants etc, while the plebs get Toronto Life Square, Rainforest Cafe and the Paramount. gag.

Although one subtly "programmatic" exception(?), and maybe the closest you're going to find to this spirit anywhere along the existing Yonge line, is the lobby and concourse of the Procter & Gamble Building off the Poyntz exit of Yonge/Sheppard Station. Suffice to say, it just screams out Procter & Gamble, i.e. you halfway expect to see a holographic Mr. Clean scrubbing all those impossibly clean, shiny, ultra-modern wall surfaces. (That's why I call it "programmatic", i.e. I suspect that was precisely the design intent. But any resemblance to the original Yonge line is purely coincidental.)

 

[LowPolygon]

interesting...
i suppose one other bastion of populist minimalism, at the retail end anyway, is to be found in the design aesthetic of the Apple stores...
in a certain respect, the Apple brand in general (through its iMacs and iPods especially) has made "white the new black"--or at least the new silver.

 

[Earlscourt_Lad]

Some of the Apple stores do have a very minimalist aesthetic, not necessarily a modernist aesthetic. I realize I am parsing a fine line there, but I trust one can see the difference.

 

[adma]

Admittedly, when the Yonge line was built, there was no such concept as "minimalism".

 

[Urban Shocker]

????

It worked nicely for the Cistercians in the 12th century ( and Le Corbusier practically creamed his jeans when he saw Le Thoronet ), and Modernism is merely the current vehicle. It generally acts like a cultural enema to flush away excesses of the past - the reformist Cistercians rejected the luxury and corruption of Cluny, just as Modernism is an ahistorical rejection of the past.

Income level has nothing to do with it - a person of modest means living in aA's new Regent Park building will lord it over someone living in 1 St. Thomass any day.