Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[Mustapha]

February 26 addition:


Then: Church looking S across Lombard. June 20 1912.

Now: December 2009.

 

[thecharioteer]

Great selection, Mustapha! One of the City's worst architectural losses was that of the Mechanics' Institute, shown in the older picture on the NE corner of Adelaide and Church.

From Wikimedia Commons:

Mechanics' Institute (Toronto, Canada).
The York Mechanics' Institute was established in 1830. The architectural firm of Cumberland & Storm planned and supervised construction of a large, handsome building on the corner of Church and Adelaide Streets between 1854 and 1861. The reference library and two reading rooms were located on the main floor and decorated with oak. The music hall was located on the second floor and was reached by an entrance from Adelaide Street. When the institute became a free public library in 1883, this hall became the main reading room and a small addition was made to the back of the building to accommodate more volumes in the new stack room. This building served as Toronto's central public library until 1909 and continued as a downtown branch library until January 1927. The building was demolished in 1949.

Picture in the McCord Museum from 1868:

February 9, 1924:

Interestingly, the archives also contains a picture taken the same day as your "then" picture, just around the corner, (showing a number of buildings that never should have been demolished):

 

[ganjavih]

Seeing photos like this of old Toronto just makes me want to cry. As great as Toronto is now, imagine how much more interesting it would have been if it had more historic districts.

 

[Earlscourt_Lad]

That is probably Arthur H. Fisher in his white joiner's apron.

 

[Lone Primate]

Thanks for more childhood memories, Lone. Used to play at the Humber near Rountree Mills Park and haven't been up there in a couple of decades, so was sort of shocked to see Finch carry right on through now.

Perhaps someone can refresh my memory, but was there something called "Italian Gardens" on the north side of Finch near Islington? We moved to the area in the early 60s when I was very young, but I clearly remember thinking I wasn't allowed to go to the gardens because i wasn't Italian (I may have this confused with a Baby Point memory ...)

Rowntree, wow... I remember going there a few years ago to photograph the bridge and the trail up the west side of the Humber that used to be part of Rowntree... it was an important crossing once, before they finally put Steeles across the Humber in the early 80s. It's amazing just how many gaps there were in the road network in north Etobicoke till very recently... even Finch wasn't finished till the 90s.

I don't know about Italian Gardens, but there's an arboreal stretch there on the northwest corner of Finch and Islington that's part of a facilty for troubled kids, and has been since at least the 50s. You can see its driveway in the shots I posted. It used to connect to Islington on the west side, but it's now cut off from the road system by the new course of Finch west of the Humber.

 

[Mustapha]

Seeing photos like this of old Toronto just makes me want to cry. As great as Toronto is now, imagine how much more interesting it would have been if it had more historic districts.

Now: November 2009.

 

[Aladone]

Here's an old skewl post from last Sept. I think.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Cumberland and Storm's Mechanic' Institute would have made a handsome pairing with William Thomas's St. Lawrence Hall ( 1850 ), both built soon after the first Great Fire of Toronto, which destroyed commercial and residential buildings and the cathedral. They almost marked the north western and south eastern extent of the fire. Here is the newspaper reading room at the Institute, circa 1900:

http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/images/abo_his_mechanics_institute_big.jpg

 

[Towered]

Yet more harsh evidence that modernist stretches consistently fail to retain the vibrancy of their predecessors.

On an unrelated note, why was Sheppard never extended west across the Humber in Rexdale? It's a serious gap in north Etobicoke's street grid...

 

[thecharioteer]

Cumberland and Storm's Mechanic' Institute would have made a handsome pairing with William Thomas's St. Lawrence Hall ( 1850 ), both built soon after the first Great Fire of Toronto, which destroyed commercial and residential buildings and the cathedral. They almost marked the north western and south eastern extent of the fire. Here is the newspaper reading room at the Institute, circa 1900:

http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/images/abo_his_mechanics_institute_big.jpg

The same thing occurred to me as well, US. It was an extremely subtle facade, as only architects skilled in the neo-Classical tradition were capable (note the inset brackets flanking the second-storey wondows on the front facade). Cumberland was truly one of Toronto's greatest architects as comfortable in the Gothic as much as the Classic tradition (St. James Cathedral, University College).

View of the Mechanics Institute from the St. Lawrence Hall (photo from 1860, McCord Museum, by Notman):

Cumberland's own house "Pendarvis" 33 St. George St (1857-1860):

 

[Mustapha]

Here's an old skewl post from last Sept. I think.

How very neat; you worked in the overhang in front of the front doors of the New City Hall.

 

[Miss Sadie Thompson]

Rowntree, wow... I remember going there a few years ago to photograph the bridge and the trail up the west side of the Humber that used to be part of Rowntree... it was an important crossing once, before they finally put Steeles across the Humber in the early 80s. It's amazing just how many gaps there were in the road network in north Etobicoke till very recently... even Finch wasn't finished till the 90s.

I don't know about Italian Gardens, but there's an arboreal stretch there on the northwest corner of Finch and Islington that's part of a facilty for troubled kids, and has been since at least the 50s. You can see its driveway in the shots I posted. It used to connect to Islington on the west side, but it's now cut off from the road system by the new course of Finch west of the Humber.

Ah yes, Thistletown Regional Centre - my dad (a city cop) would threaten to send us there when we misbehaved. I believe it's on Panarama Court (across the river).

I tried to look for any reference to Italian Gardens (which I remembered being on the east side of Islington on a hill) and note there is a business on Islington near Finch called Italian Gardens Sewing, which is enough to convince me it wasn't a figment of my imagination.

I also found this - containing some interesting history of the area (including access across the Humber). Of note is the Italian Gardens subdivision.

 

[Lone Primate]

Looking northwest across the Lawrence Avenue East bridge over the East Don in 1955 (by James Salmon), and across where it was, in 2003 (several dozen yards south of current Lawrence Avenue). The guard rail visible in the 2003 shot is a DVP offramp.

 

[Mustapha]

Cumberland's own house "Pendarvis" 33 St. George St (1857-1860):

Still there, off St George street on the east side, just N of College street.

Looking northwest across the Lawrence Avenue East bridge over the East Don in 1955 (by James Salmon), and across where it was, in 2003 (several dozen yards south of current Lawrence Avenue). The guard rail visible in the 2003 shot is a DVP offramp.

Fascinating these remnants of lost roads and bridges.



February 28 addition.


Then: Queen Street/Don River bridge looking NW. April 9 1913.

Now: November 2009.

 

[Lone Primate]

Leslie and Sheppard

Ted Chirnside, image 1282, 1961. Looking north up Leslie Street from Sheppard Avenue East and the East Don River, with similar view from January, 2010. Due to the changes in the nature of the intersection, an exact match would be difficult to achieve.

Ted Chirnside, image 1284, 1961. Looking east along Sheppard Avenue East from the East Don River and Leslie Street, with similar view from January, 2010.