Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[Mustapha]

June 16 addition.





Then. NW corner # 504 Adelaide at Portland. September 9 1938.

Now. May 2010.

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

Also in a tyme past known as Tanya's; operated by a Chinese couple (Jean + husband) with her sweet very elderly mother.

Good food at a reasonable price and very clean.

Twenty years in business.


Regards,
J T

 

[LowPolygon]

Excellent points, deepend. Got me thinking that perhaps the building that best represents this transition is York Square on the NE corner of Yorkville and Avenue Road by Diamond & Myers (1968-9). Building on the precedent of Lothian Mews by Webb Zerafa Menkes (1964), it was one of the first projects that both preserved existing buildings and integrated them into a new structure while creating a beautifully proportioned open space. Urbanistically superb, cutting edge (for the time) in terms of detailing, fenestration and materials, it became the symbol of ot the "new" Yorkville (and "new" Toronto). Unsentimental in its handling of the old buildings, it's almost Roman in its nonchalance.

The courtyard 1969:

Thanks for the info on that development! i've always admired it, and one can easily see how important it would have been in the context of Toronto in the late 60's.

Trainspotter that i am, i am curious whether York Square is "one of the first projects that both preserved existing buildings and integrated them into a new structure" or is in fact the first. i am thinking about this in the context of your citing of the Webb Zerafa Menkes repurposing of Lothian Mews in 1964 as a precedent. while i certainly remember Lothian Mews, i don't remember it having any modernist elements. is it the very fact of the redevelop that makes it a precedent?

 

[Goldie]

expansion of Toronto to the east

I wonder if these stores were built in anticipation of the Prince Edward Viaduct (approved 1913, completed 1918)?

 

[DSCToronto]

I just noticed that this wonderful thread is about to celebrate its first birthday - Mustapha started it on June 17 2009. Thank you Mustapha and others who post (particularly those who post both Then and Now photos :-> ) AS CORRECTED BELOW it is actually TWO YEARS, it started in 2008. Time flies when one is having fun! Thanks again!

 

[ganjavih]

Ditto. What a fascinating thread.

 

[adma]

Trainspotter that i am, i am curious whether York Square is "one of the first projects that both preserved existing buildings and integrated them into a new structure" or is in fact the first. i am thinking about this in the context of your citing of the Webb Zerafa Menkes repurposing of Lothian Mews in 1964 as a precedent. while i certainly remember Lothian Mews, i don't remember it having any modernist elements. is it the very fact of the redevelop that makes it a precedent?

This wasn't modernist?

And another early (and very underrated--and unlike Lothian Mews, still basically intact other than rooftop additions + such) precursor: George Robb's Old York Lane...

 

[LowPolygon]

This wasn't modernist?

And another early (and very underrated--and unlike Lothian Mews, still basically intact other than rooftop additions + such) precursor: George Robb's Old York Lane...

well that shows how little i know about Lothian Mews. i was actually completely unaware of that courtyard!---for some reason i never went in there! i only knew it as a block of shops on the Bloor side...i wasn't much of a denizen of Yorkville...

 

[GenerationW]

I just noticed that this wonderful thread is about to celebrate its first birthday - Mustapha started it on June 17 2009. Thank you Mustapha and others who post (particularly those who post both Then and Now photos :-> )

Minor correction: second birthday.

May this thread never die.

 

[Zeiss]

well that shows how little i know about Lothian Mews. i was actually completely unaware of that courtyard!---for some reason i never went in there! i only knew it as a block of shops on the Bloor side...i wasn't much of a denizen of Yorkville...

]

This fountain is in the patio of Coffee mill now. I didn't know that it has been somewere else before. When I came to Toronto in 1990, there was parking lot where the restaurant and the cinema have been.
BTW, thank you guys for the extremely interesting info I find every day here. Becouse of you, I know way more about Toronto's history than most people around me.

 

[Mustapha]

Two years. As our Anna mentioned awhile back, some of the older Nows in this thread have already become Thens. [She was referring to a photo of the SE corner of Elm and Bay - The Coffee Time has already been replaced by an all-day-breakfast place].


June 17 addition.



Then. SW corner 2487 Lake Shore Blvd at Fourth.

Archive notes: "Item is an image of the New Toronto Hotel located on Lakeshore Rd., on the south west corner of Lake Shore and Fourth St. ca1945."

Now. May 2010.

 

[flashworldgames]

Wow its beautiful!

 

[College Park]

I wonder if these stores were built in anticipation of the Prince Edward Viaduct (approved 1913, completed 1918)?

What I really like seeing in this image is the evolution of faceless row buildings into a textured urban streetscape. Visiting family in the newer burbs I always wish I could fast forward the aging process.

 

[thecharioteer]

Thanks for the info on that development! i've always admired it, and one can easily see how important it would have been in the context of Toronto in the late 60's.

Trainspotter that i am, i am curious whether York Square is "one of the first projects that both preserved existing buildings and integrated them into a new structure" or is in fact the first. i am thinking about this in the context of your citing of the Webb Zerafa Menkes repurposing of Lothian Mews in 1964 as a precedent. while i certainly remember Lothian Mews, i don't remember it having any modernist elements. is it the very fact of the redevelop that makes it a precedent?

Converting residential buildings to non-residential uses goes back to the original Town of York as neighbourhoods changed and additions were added to both front and back of houseform buildings to make them more useable. One of the ironies of 100 Yorkville is that the "historic" facade from the original Mt. Sinai Hospital was actually a "new" addition applied to a Victorian mansion (which was subsequesntly demolished in the late 80's leaving only the facade). Lothian Mews was remarkable in that the original Victorian building on the site, the Pearcy coach house (which serviced the Pearcy house which once fronted Cumberland), remained relatively intact and became enveloped by the new courtyard scheme (the coach house later became the centre-piece of LM's later transformation into The Pearcy House when the courtyard became covered).

Both Lothian Mews and York Square reflected the new urbanity of the City at the end of the 60's: design at a human scale, eating outdoors, through-block connections and historic preservation (in a non-academic way). Many of the "Jane Jacob" aspects of design that we now take for granted were cutting-edge in these buildings.

View of 100 Yorkville, early 1980's:

Pearcy House matchbook:

 

[Aladone]

Minor correction: second birthday.

May this thread never die.

Happy Birthday Miscellany Toronto: Then & Now!