Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[LowPolygon]

I think I have finally figured out how to upload full-size images. I'm a slow learner!!!
Hope this works.
If this is the fire station on Main St., I may soon attempt the "NOW" version.

worked fine Goldie....

 

[Mustapha]

July 5 addition.


Then. Our last look at the pre-Eaton Centre area. Looking westward along Terauley from the E side of Yonge street. June 14, 1950.

Now. July 3, 2010.

 

[junctionist]

It is curious that in an era that launched the blitzkreig of Victorian Toronto, this particular Edwardian building was deemed worthy of preservation (and the effort of moving it). The only other example I can think of a relocated building during this era, was the university building on the NE corner of St. George and Galbraith (or so I was told by one of my professors back in the 70's). Perhaps it was Toronto's particular fondness for Georgain Revival?

The University of Toronto did have a strange fondness for Georgian Revival. There are a number of buildings on campus in the Georgian Revival style which were surprisingly built in the 1950s. Anyway, the 1950s had their preservationists too, but sadly there weren't too many of them. Toronto Street's 19th century glory could have been preserved and restored.

 

[thecharioteer]

Great pictures of the Eaton's Centre block, Mustapha!

With your indulgence, I ran across two pictures I want to share of the Margaret Eaton School of Literature and Expression (1903) which once stood on the west side of Bay Street (then North Street), just south of Bloor.

Described eloquently by Eric Arthur in Toronto No Mean City thus:

"Were it not for the so typical Toronto cottages on both side and the shabby Hydro pole, the central building might be the headquarters, somewhere in Asia Minor, of a mysterious and unrecorded cult. Anything more unlike a school for young girls could hardly be imagined. "Beauty and fitness" is, I am told, a loose translation of the motto on the architrave which must have been a source of bewilderment to taxi-drivers. Except for the Registry Building on Edward Street, this was the swan song of the Greek revival in Toronto."

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

La Scala lives!

( S/E corner, North+Czar Streets )

Regards,
J T

 

[thecharioteer]

Two other forgotten buildings that once stood near Bloor and Bay, (and can be seen on the Goad map above) were the Baptist Church on the SE corner of Bloor and North and the house on the south side of Bloor Street to the east:

 

[Mustapha]

Great pictures of the Eaton's Centre block, Mustapha!

With your indulgence, I ran across two pictures I want to share of the Margaret Eaton School of Literature and Expression (1903) which once stood on the west side of Bay Street (then North Street), just south of Bloor.

Described eloquently by Eric Arthur in Toronto No Mean City thus:

"Were it not for the so typical Toronto cottages on both side and the shabby Hydro pole, the central building might be the headquarters, somewhere in Asia Minor, of a mysterious and unrecorded cult. Anything more unlike a school for young girls could hardly be imagined. "Beauty and fitness" is, I am told, a loose translation of the motto on the architrave which must have been a source of bewilderment to taxi-drivers. Except for the Registry Building on Edward Street, this was the swan song of the Greek revival in Toronto."

Yes, yes, dispensation granted.

I like the genie lamp up there in the Tympanum. I'm sure it must have caused some high Anglican dudgeon back in the day.

 

[Mustapha]

Two other forgotten buildings that once stood near Bloor and Bay, (and can be seen on the Goad map above) were the Baptist Church on the SE corner of Bloor and North and the house on the south side of Bloor Street to the east:

So the Goads map places the church at the present day Manulife Centre and the old residence at the William Ashley store. Wonderful.

 

[Mustapha]

La Scala lives!

( S/E corner, North+Czar Streets )

Regards,
J T

You must have had an expense account.




July 6 addition.



"Looking north on St. George towards Bloor street. February 21, 1936."

Now. June 2010. For you out-of-towners, the Bata Shoe Museum is on the left. Interesting to note that there is the town of Batawa here in Ontario, where their factory was once located. Bata Shoes no longer has any commercial presence in Ontario. Some of you may remember their stores in the malls of your youth.

Past that is the former Medical Arts Building (" the first major purpose-built medical office building in Toronto.")
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-11554.pdf Now the Jackman Humanities Building of the University of Toronto.

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"You must have had an expense account." QUOTE Mustapha

(LOL)

The "houseing", was great, but the food better on St Claire, s/s, west of Dufferin.

(the name escapes me presently)

Regards,
J T

 

[Urban Shocker]

"A neo-classical inspired building dating to 1915. The first floor of the former Toronto Board of Education administrative office houses a restored boardroom, now an education museum. Adjacent to the boardroom, the original walnut paneled Trustees' Committee Room functions as an additional display area and researchers' reading room. The crisp use of classical detailing is evident throughout the museum space's cast plaster ceilings, mouldings and cornice details. Woodcarvings in the rich mahogany dais, as well as egg and dart mouldings, Corinthian capitals and pilasters, and acanthus leaf decoration add to the beauty of the interior space. The building's elaborate exterior facade (north) echoes the interior design. The building was moved to its present location in 1959 to make way for the "new" Toronto Board of Education Administrative Building at 155 College Street."

Yikes, that part of town has seen buildings moved around like pieces on a chess board - Frederick Cumberland's 1853 Observatory, built near Convocation Hall, was taken down in 1907 and reassembled to the north, near Hart House. And the 1932 greenhouse at the north west corner of University and College was moved to Allan Gardens a few years ago. As reasonable an argument for a Facade District as any, I suppose.

 

[wwwebster]

...and the house on the south side of Bloor Street to the east:

I had to know more about this house, so I dug a little. It’s 23 / 25 Bloor West, a former residence of Thomas Hodgins, who died there on January 14, 1910:

http://www.archive.org/stream/universityoftoro10univuoft#page/240/mode/1up

He lived there as far back as 1868:

http://images92.torontopubliclibrary.ca/idc/groups/public/documents/books/tcd_1868-69-r-248.gif

…but the house appears in the 1858 Boulton Atlas and is listed in the 1859 / 60 directory as the residence of George H. White:

http://images92.torontopubliclibrary.ca/idc/groups/public/documents/books/tcd_1859-60-r-191.gif

I assume that’s George Hazelton White, also mentioned here:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/article975846.ece

And a “hat tip!†to Mustapha for snagging the NOW shot of 137 Richmond West.

 

[adma]

Yikes, that part of town has seen buildings moved around like pieces on a chess board - Frederick Cumberland's 1853 Observatory, built near Convocation Hall, was taken down in 1907 and reassembled to the north, near Hart House. And the 1932 greenhouse at the north west corner of University and College was moved to Allan Gardens a few years ago. As reasonable an argument for a Facade District as any, I suppose.

Also that little Romanesquoid house on Huron that was moved back a touch for the Earth Sciences Centre...

 

[Mustapha]

http://images92.torontopubliclibrary.ca/idc/groups/public/documents/books/tcd_1868-69-r-248.gif[/url]

This source you've listed... interesting how directories would even list your employment. I'm reminded of the Returning Officers' practice of publicly posting federal electors lists on hydro poles - a practice that died out sometime in the late 1960s I think. The curious could read the names of everyone on their street; and yes, their occupation too.



July 7 addition.


Then: E side of Ontario street N from Wellesley "189-".

Now. June 2010. Ontario street north of Wellesley isn't here anymore; it was removed for the St. James Town development. Ontario street does reappear again a few hundred yards north. Upon it, on the east side, is Rose Avenue Junior Public school, which serves the neighbourhood. It looks a bit out of place (the building style appears to date from the 1920s) surrounded by 1950s/60s era apartment buildings.

 

[GenerationW]

I'm reminded of the Returning Officers' practice of publicly posting federal electors lists on hydro poles - a practice that died out sometime in the late 1960s I think. The curious could read the names of everyone on their street; and yes, their occupation too.

I believe they stopped listing occupations towards the end, but I remember those hydro pole lists in the 70's (and possibly even the early 80's).