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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

I know we've seen this view a million time, but this one by William Notman, 1897, is particularly evocative. The pedestrian makes the background almost seem like an operatic stage set.

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As is this one, also by Notman, with the two ladies on the sidwalk to the right:

v3049-a-1.jpg


those are some of the most beautiful images i've seen of the city at that time. the top one especially--very painterly, with those rich blacks and the ghostlike figure in the foreground...
 
Glad you enjoyed the Toronto Street images, deepend!

There are very few remnants of Old Toronto as pleasant as Church Street south of Front, and very few places where the city's disconnect with the waterfront is so dominating and sad. Not only did Church Street get separated from the waterfront by the rail corridor, Lakeshore Blvd and the Gardiner, it also had its water slip filled in and its southern terminus blocked by one of the most profoundly ugly parking garage/apartment buildings ever built in the city.

Toronto_1910_Atlas_Volume_1_Plat-11.jpg
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View north 1908 (note spire of St. James among the masts):
SailingshipsSHDunnStLouisandReub-1.jpg


View north:
1912:
footofchurch1912.jpg


churchesplanade.jpg


View south:
1913:
fo1231_f1231_it2186.jpg


churchsouth.jpg
 
So depressing! One day, perhaps that garage/apartment building will get demolhed and Church Street will be extended to join up with Cooper Street, which itself will be straightened out and extended to the water's edge through the Redpath Sugar property. One day?
 
November 11 addition.


Then: King looking W across Spadina. No date on the original photograph. The photographer; Alexander W. Galbraith, is biographied in the online Toronto archives:

"Alexander W. Galbraith became one of Toronto's most prominent commercial photographers around the turn-of-the-century. Born on April 1, 1867, Galbraith was the son of Scottish immigrant parents, who were tenant farmers in Scarborough Township at the time of his birth. After spending much of his youth in Manitoba, Galbraith returned to Ontario in 1896 and found employment in Toronto as a manufacturer's agent. A keen amateur photographer, Galbraith changed careers ca. 1898 by going to work for Farmer Brothers, a Yonge Street photography firm. In 1899 he entered a partnership with another employee of Farmer Brothers, George W. Lucas, to form the photography firm of Galbraith & Lucas at 147 Yonge Street. The partnership was short-lived, however, and by 1901 Galbraith was working alone as manager of his own firm, Galbraith Photo Company. In 1903 he moved the studio to 245 Yonge Street and, in 1907, to 239 Yonge Street where it remained for 13 years. Then in 1919 he moved to 1570 Dundas Street West, where he advertised himself as a landscape and commercial photography company which also sold photographic supplies. By the 1920s, Galbraith's interest in the commercial photography business was waning. He made a final move to 1 Carlton Street in 1922, where he remained for only two years before closing his commercial studio altogether. He did, however, continue to work in photography and from 1929 to 1935 he was under contract to the Still Pictures Branch of the Ontario Department of the Treasurer. Around 1937, at the age of 70, Galbraith became interested in identifying and photographing trees. This avocation culminated in the production of a book, "Trees We Should Know", which was published in 1946 by Alexander W. Galbraith Publishing Company Limited, with Arthur H. Richardson providing descriptions for the photographs. Late in his life, Galbraith estimated that he had produced about 50,000 pictures during his photographic career, of which only a few hundred seem to have survived. Alexander W. Galbraith was an active Presbyterian, who served 28 years as the superintendant for the Newtonbrook and Forest Hill Sunday Schools. He married twice. He died on April 8, 1950 at the age of 83 and was buried in Thornhill Cemetery."

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Now: October 2009.

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I was corrected by LadiesMile that the house is actually in Des Moines. It's unfortuante that the Addams Family and you-know-what-movie has tainted this style for us.

Psycho_house_on_hill_Norman_Bates.jpg

A footnote--the actual house that Charles Addams based his fictional family manse on still stands on the Hudson River north of New York.

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Not my cup of tea at all, but an amusing historical artifact.
 
^^Wow! I can count at least 6 buildings that survived the century since the "Then" photo. Almost every building in the picture is still there. This must be a rarity in the city.
 
November 11 addition.


Then: King looking W across Spadina. No date on the original photograph. The photographer; Alexander W. Galbraith, is biographied in the online Toronto archives:

"Alexander W. Galbraith became one of Toronto's most prominent commercial photographers around the turn-of-the-century. Born on April 1, 1867, Galbraith was the son of Scottish immigrant parents, who were tenant farmers in Scarborough Township at the time of his birth. After spending much of his youth in Manitoba, Galbraith returned to Ontario in 1896 and found employment in Toronto as a manufacturer's agent. A keen amateur photographer, Galbraith changed careers ca. 1898 by going to work for Farmer Brothers, a Yonge Street photography firm. In 1899 he entered a partnership with another employee of Farmer Brothers, George W. Lucas, to form the photography firm of Galbraith & Lucas at 147 Yonge Street. The partnership was short-lived, however, and by 1901 Galbraith was working alone as manager of his own firm, Galbraith Photo Company. In 1903 he moved the studio to 245 Yonge Street and, in 1907, to 239 Yonge Street where it remained for 13 years. Then in 1919 he moved to 1570 Dundas Street West, where he advertised himself as a landscape and commercial photography company which also sold photographic supplies. By the 1920s, Galbraith's interest in the commercial photography business was waning. He made a final move to 1 Carlton Street in 1922, where he remained for only two years before closing his commercial studio altogether. He did, however, continue to work in photography and from 1929 to 1935 he was under contract to the Still Pictures Branch of the Ontario Department of the Treasurer. Around 1937, at the age of 70, Galbraith became interested in identifying and photographing trees. This avocation culminated in the production of a book, "Trees We Should Know", which was published in 1946 by Alexander W. Galbraith Publishing Company Limited, with Arthur H. Richardson providing descriptions for the photographs. Late in his life, Galbraith estimated that he had produced about 50,000 pictures during his photographic career, of which only a few hundred seem to have survived. Alexander W. Galbraith was an active Presbyterian, who served 28 years as the superintendant for the Newtonbrook and Forest Hill Sunday Schools. He married twice. He died on April 8, 1950 at the age of 83 and was buried in Thornhill Cemetery."

fo1568_f1568_it0282.jpg


Now: October 2009.

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Very nice Mustapha, I love that intersection. Did you wait for the streetcar in the now picture or was that a fluke.
 
Broadview Hotel

I, too, admire the Broadview Hotel.
Thanks for that photo, androiduk.
 

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^^Wow! I can count at least 6 buildings that survived the century since the "Then" photo. Almost every building in the picture is still there. This must be a rarity in the city.

Although interestingly, the building on the left (south-west corner of the intersection) sports a very subtle addition ... notice the extra floor.
 
Although interestingly, the building on the left (south-west corner of the intersection) sports a very subtle addition ... notice the extra floor.

Also, how much better the Mini Dealership building (at Brant) looked in the old picture with its cornice.
 
Could this thread get anymore depressing? :p

People often argue that Toronto is a younger city which is why it doesn't have the same stock of historical buildings as other cities - that's BS. We simply demolished too much of what we had.
 
Also, how much better the Mini Dealership building (at Brant) looked in the old picture with its cornice.


that would have been removed when the building was 'modernized' in the 1960's. the entire structure was covered with bile coloured aluminum siding until about 2000, when the emergence of "King-Spadina" led to its removal. i remember watching in astonishment as they removed the green 'cheese-grater' metal to reveal a very old Victorian warehouse. somewhat worse for wear, but there.
 
Just as a followup to the Toronto Street pictures, it's interesting to compare pics from the 1900's and later, and see the impact that cars have on a street in terms of scale and urbanity. Somehow, the street starts seeming so much smaller in the 1927 photo (also because of the office "tower" on the west side at Adelaide) and of course by the later demolitions and change in building scales:

1900's:

v3049-a-1.jpg


1910:

Toronto_Street_1910-1.jpg


1927:

f1231_it2166.jpg


1950's (Mike?):

2009-01-16-2350-33_edited-1.jpg


20-101-1.jpg


1960's:

TorontoCourt-1.jpg


Today:

torontogoogle.jpg
 

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