Aaron
Active Member
*Raises hand*
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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now
- Thread starter Mustapha
- Start date
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Mustapha
Senior Member
hey UT world,
short time lurker, first time poster...
i have thoroughly enjoyed the now/then thread so i figured i would take advantage of the awesome weather yesterday to take some photo's of my own. i apologize for the tree in my way at king and river but it was best spot i could get to...
i'll do my best to get out and take some more pics and will post them as i do.
later!
Great series. That last pair - photogs like you and tomms - I don't know how you manage to persuade people to let you into buildings or onto rooftops to take pictures.
September 22 addition.
Looking SE across the city from Berti and Adelaide. I lost my notes for the 'then' picture. thecharioteer originally posted it - it was taken from the rooftop of a building no longer extant at the SW corner of Berti and Queen.
If anyone knows the name of the building, or if thecharioteer comes along, please let us know.
By the by, that is a 'shot tower', in the middle right of the picture. Molten lead would be dropped from a height, as it formed a ball and cooled you could have shotgun pellets. Also, the 'chilled shot' signage was a giveaway.
Students:
What other manufactured goods are being made in our Young Toronto?
What might have they been used for?
Engineering students: What has wire got anything to do with nails?
Now: August 2009. 'Now' picture taken about 40 feet from the location of the original photographer, from the 5th floor of the Green P parking garage.
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allabootmatt
Senior Member
"I'm not a Montreal expert, but it seems to me in my all too brief visits there that that city's central business district has escaped what happened here in the 60s and 70s."
Yes and no. On the one hand, development pressures in Montreal were not as intense and didn't last as long as in Toronto--our equivalent of Old Montreal, which I guess would be the area of Toronto St/King/Victoria etc. was definitely ransacked by comparison. On the other hand, Montreal still lost a staggering amount. My parents--Montreal expats both--have a book called 'Lost Montreal' which documents in excruciating detail all of the historic buildings that went for modern towers, parking lots, and especially highways. The result is a downtown that I find pretty uninspiring. Much like Toronto, the city is special because of its mixed-use neighbourhoods, not its centre.
One of the (many) ways in which Montreal and Toronto are sort of doppelgangers is that our Quebec cousins actually did many of the things that we all thank our lucky stars Toronto avoided in the post-war boom--ripping out streetcars, jamming highways into the city centre, and so on. Montreal has obviously suffered for it, but still remains an immensely vital and vibrant place--which I guess makes one wonder how bad the results of similar behaviour in TO would have been.
Yes and no. On the one hand, development pressures in Montreal were not as intense and didn't last as long as in Toronto--our equivalent of Old Montreal, which I guess would be the area of Toronto St/King/Victoria etc. was definitely ransacked by comparison. On the other hand, Montreal still lost a staggering amount. My parents--Montreal expats both--have a book called 'Lost Montreal' which documents in excruciating detail all of the historic buildings that went for modern towers, parking lots, and especially highways. The result is a downtown that I find pretty uninspiring. Much like Toronto, the city is special because of its mixed-use neighbourhoods, not its centre.
One of the (many) ways in which Montreal and Toronto are sort of doppelgangers is that our Quebec cousins actually did many of the things that we all thank our lucky stars Toronto avoided in the post-war boom--ripping out streetcars, jamming highways into the city centre, and so on. Montreal has obviously suffered for it, but still remains an immensely vital and vibrant place--which I guess makes one wonder how bad the results of similar behaviour in TO would have been.
thecharioteer
Senior Member
September 22 addition.
Looking SE across the city from Berti and Adelaide. I lost my notes for the 'then' picture. thecharioteer originally posted it - it was taken from the rooftop of a building no longer extant at the SW corner of Berti and Queen.
If anyone knows the name of the building, or if thecharioteer comes along, please let us know.
By the by, that is a 'shot tower', in the middle right of the picture. Molten lead would be dropped from a height, as it formed a ball and cooled you could have shotgun pellets. Also, the 'chilled shot' signage was a giveaway.
Students: what other manufactured goods are being made in our Young Toronto? Engineering students: what has wire got anything to do with nails?
Now: August 2009. 'Now' picture taken about 40 feet from the location of the original photographer, from the 5th floor of the Green P parking garage.
It was the Victoria Orange Hall designed by EJ Lennox, built in 1886, demolished 1971, an exquisite little building, much admired by Eric Arthur in Toronto No Mean City, looking quite neglected in this photo (behind the Public Optical sign) a few years before its demolition:
AGTO
Banned
Nails and screws are made from wire.
slickrick
New Member
Great series. That last pair - photogs like you and tomms - I don't know how you manage to persuade people to let you into buildings or onto rooftops to take pictures.
that one was no big deal... there's an open fire escape down the side of the building that i happily climbed, i would have gone higher but the tree kept getting bigger!
Goldie
Senior Member
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
QUOTE]
And there - next to the St. Lawrence Hall - is the Beard Building ( 1894 ), built at 7 storeys rather than the 9 originally designed, of load-bearing masonry rather than the metal frame construction planned.
A time of dramatic changes to the skyline, introducing a new breed of hefty commercial office buildings: Confederation Life ( 1892, 7 storeys, load bearing masonry with some structural metal ); the Board of Trade ( 1892, 7 storeys, steel frame ); Simpson's Department Store ( 1895, 6 storeys, steel frame ); the Temple Building ( 1896, 10 storeys, cast iron frame ). The TD Centre/Commerce Court/FCP of their day.
Long Island Mike
Senior Member
September 20th pics...
Everyone: That first pic of the Wascana Avenue-Corktown block looked a little rough around the edges in 1967.
Mustapha: That is a mid 60s pic on Wellington Street - a '63? Ford Falcon Station wagon in front of the Corvair and a "big boat" Chrysler behind.
LI MIKE
Everyone: That first pic of the Wascana Avenue-Corktown block looked a little rough around the edges in 1967.
Mustapha: That is a mid 60s pic on Wellington Street - a '63? Ford Falcon Station wagon in front of the Corvair and a "big boat" Chrysler behind.
LI MIKE
adma
Superstar
But it also depends on what part of "downtown" you're thinking of--after all, the old heart of the business district along St James (St Jacques) and on t/w Notre-Dame was a much hardier survivor than Toronto's equivalent. Sure, there were a few demolitions and incursions; but on the whole, it would be as if the TD Centre, CC, FCP et al chose to locate north of Queen, leaving the old downtown business/financial core fabric to slumber, rather than displacing it altogether...
Goldie
Senior Member
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
I believe that, at 305 ft., the Cathedral Church of St James held the height record from 1875 ( when Henry Langley's spire was added to the 1853 building ) until Old City Hall opened in 1899 at 340 ft.
Mustapha
Senior Member
September 23 addition.
All 'Now' pictures taken August 2009.
All 'Now' pictures taken August 2009.
Mustapha
Senior Member
Long Island Mike
Senior Member
NYC: Then and Now Picture site...
Mustapha: Good link with lots of NYC pics - definitely worth a look!
A history lesson of sorts in itself...LI MIKE
Mustapha: Good link with lots of NYC pics - definitely worth a look!
A history lesson of sorts in itself...LI MIKE