Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[Mustapha]

Inspired by the many amazing photos in this thread, I tried my hand at blending a historic photo with a recent view (was lazy and used Google Street view - didn't have to leave the computer at all). Here' Dundas and McCaul from 2009 and 1923, posted to my blog, here:

The original photo is from the Toronto Archives, here.

Great inspiration. A great part of town - art, Asian food and groceries... what more could one want?





March 16 addition.





Then: Picture by Goldie, circa 1980. Berczy Park, Wellington Street.

Now: March 12, 2010.

 

[Aladone]

Inspired by the many amazing photos in this thread, I tried my hand at blending a historic photo with a recent view (was lazy and used Google Street view - didn't have to leave the computer at all). Here' Dundas and McCaul from 2009 and 1923, posted to my blog, here:

The original photo is from the Toronto Archives, here.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Then and Now remixing! I Like!

 

[Goldie]

[QUOTE
Then: Picture by Goldie, circa 1980. Berczy Park, Wellington Street.

Now: March 12, 2010.

[/QUOTE]

Thanks, Mustapha.
That's quite a change - I'd forgotten exactly where I took the photo 30 years ago.

 

[NomoreaTorontonian]

March 14 addition.



Then: Carlton looking W across Church street. Maple Leaf Gardens construction just beginning on the right. Jun 26 1931.

And not a piece of heavy-lifting equipment in sight!

Same goes for the one at McCaul and Dundas.

 

[thecharioteer]

March 16 addition.





Then: Picture by Goldie, circa 1980. Berczy Park, Wellington Street.

Now: March 12, 2010.

Similar view, which I took from the roof of one of the buildings on Colborne, late 1970's, just prior to the construction of the 33 Yonge building:

 

[adma]

Interesting difference between the photos: by the time Goldie's was taken, the Royal & Sun Alliance had already been expanded into its present form...

 

[Edward Skira]

Looks like the south tower is still under-construction. Quite the juxtaposition between the parking lot and rundown older buildings and this all glass gold tower. I can see why some people wanted the old replaced by the new.

 

[adma]

I was referring to Royal & Sun Alliance on Wellington (the fascist-classical limestone cube with the postmodern expansion)

 

[Edward Skira]

I know. I was talking about the south tower of the Royal Bank which still has a crane up top.

 

[LowPolygon]

[
Then: Picture by Goldie, circa 1980. Berczy Park, Wellington Street.

what amazing to me it that 'circa 1980' this clunker wasn't built yet.

i had always assumed this thing was ca. 66-70, and put its unredeemable ugliness down to the aesthetic limitations and pretensions of the late decadent period of modernism.

somehow knowing that it was ridiculously dated by the time it was completed, makes it an even more indefensible blight on the streetscape...

 

[adma]

Naw, it seems plausible of its time, in much the same way that Atrium On Bay is. "Don't Stop Believin'"-era urbanism.

 

[thecharioteer]

Good comparison. The Wellington complex was also considered quite leading edge by being mixed-use and by bringing larger units to the area. Its collonaded courtyard and public art were also well-received at the time.

 

[Mustapha]

March 17 addition.


St. George and College NW corner.

"Address: 214 College Street
Architect: Wickson & Gregg and A.H. Chapman, associated architects
Opened: 1909, September 8
Closed: 1977
Current use: Koffler Student Centre, University of Toronto

The new Toronto Reference Library opened at the northwest corner of College and St. George streets on September 8, 1909, and was the largest of Ontario’s Carnegie libraries. The “enlightened Beaux-Arts composition” was designed by Wickson & Gregg and A. H. Chapman, and reflects Chapman’s Paris training and New York experience. The Best Gift provides this detailed description of the architecture: “The College Street (front) façade, with paired ground floor windows set in a smooth grey stone wall, contrasts with the six bays above, defined by brick pilasters and modified Corinthian capitals. The bracketed cornice and rounded pediments facing College Street give way to a plainer façade on St. George Street, with the subtle change in window proportions reflecting changed interior functions.”

Major alterations
1930 Addition for a new Circulating Library officially opened, 21 April. Architects: Chapman & Oxley, in association with Wickson & Gregg.

Heritage status
1973 Listed on Inventory of Heritage Properties, adopted by Toronto City Council, June 20.
1975 Designation by-law passed by Toronto City Council, under the Ontario Heritage Act, November 26"

http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/abo_his_car_central.jsp




Then: May 15, 1914.

Now: December 2009.

 

[Long Island Mike]

More neat Then and Now Toronto Pics again!

Mustapha: There is ALWAYS something interesting in this section...I'll mention these recent pics:
3/14 - Carlton/Church Junction trackwork 6/26/31 - an interesting comparison with the old Maple Leaf Garden looking W towards Yonge Street and the College Park vicinity today...I remember the area.

3/16 Charioteer: Interesting pic looking at the E side of the Royal Bank Centre with the CN Tower "needle" behind almost looking like it is on top of the RBC...it certainly caught my eye!

LI MIKE

 

[LowPolygon]

Naw, it seems plausible of its time, in much the same way that Atrium On Bay is. "Don't Stop Believin'"-era urbanism.

I don’t mean to ‘belabour’ this, but I actually find this question of ‘timeliness’ and ‘datedness’ quite interesting. Some buildings seem much 'zeitgeisty' (no that's not a word) than others…

For me, I think the thing that makes 30 Wellington seem closer to 1970 than 1980 is partly the high-contrast and modish ‘black and white’ colour scheme. the use of white or near white seems to belong to a slightly earlier era...

As well, the use of the light coloured granite as a kind of trim or frame around the monochromatic smokey grey curtain wall seems fussily late modern to me…

I could be wrong, but when I think of ‘1980’, I imagine it to be the early days of the era of reflective glass, with contrasting aluminum mullions and the more modular look a la Atrium on Bay whereas this seems to almost be harkening back to FCP and many of the other ‘black and white’ buildings from the 60’s and 70’s, or at least splitting the difference.

As well there are very few things more definitively late 60’s-early 70’s than smoked glass!