Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[Anna]

I knew it!

There was also this

and this

and this

I got the impression that the operators would have been in an entirely different building from the one at Temperance & Sheppard - so I decided to check the 1910 map (revised 1912)

So, I'm thinking they were probably located in a building that was replaced by the one that Adma likes. Those 'rest room' windows seem to match those on the 4th floor facing Adelaide - and that building also looks like it had two floors added on later (this picture from 1946).

 

[adma]

Interesting evolution. Personally, I've long adored the elephantine Florentine-palatial way the Sheppard/Temperance block squats upon its intersection.

Oh, and to the right of Bell in the Goad's: would that be that ad-encrusted wooden shack I've seen photos of?

 

[thecharioteer]

Oh, and to the right of Bell in the Goad's: would that be that ad-encrusted wooden shack I've seen photos of?

Yes, but before that, it was a homestead and brewery dating back to 1827:

 

[Mustapha]

thecharioteer, I guess it's too late now to challenge your answer.

thedeepend, that Toronto Star building paper ephemera is wonderful. A paper envelope has outlasted a stone and iron building. I'll say no more about it because I'll lapse into poeticism.

Anna's photo above showing the operator ladies resting is interesting for the not one but two fire hoses against the wall on the right. A larger hose for bigger conflagrations and a smaller one for - what? - smaller fires? There must have been a real concern with fire in this building; or a past history of blazes, perhaps originating in all that electrical equipment.

Anna's photo of the bell ringing machine - that thing looks like it came from Jules Verne's "Nautilus"...




We've been showing quite a few post cards lately, here is another:

July 20 2010 addition.



Then. Four Seasons Motor Hotel. Jarvis street, just N of Carlton. The first in Izzy Sharp's Four Seasons empire. It was constructed in 1961 by a conglomerate of investors (including Murray Koffler of Shoppers Drug Mart fame) and his family's construction company. Peter Dickinson, architect.

Now. July 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Seasons_Hotels_and_Resorts



.

 

[Goldie]

Four Seasons Motor Hotel. Jarvis street, just N of Carlton. The first in Izzy Sharp's Four Seasons empire. It was constructed in 1961 by a conglomerate of investors (including Murray Koffler of Shoppers Drug Mart fame) and his family's construction company. Peter Dickinson, architect.

Thanks, Mustapha, for that reminder of the Four Seasons on Jarvis.
Izzy allowed the hotel's parking lot to be used for the first Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition in 1961.
I recall the day I captured this photo of an art critic:

 

[nstuch]

Thanks, Mustapha, for that reminder of the Four Seasons on Jarvis.
Izzy allowed the hotel's parking lot to be used for the first Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition in 1961.
I recall the day I captured this photo of an art critic:

i can only imagine what's she's thinking.. nice testes!

 

[adma]

Was(n't) some of the boulder facing of the Four Seasons reused in the base of the condo/office bldg at Carlton + Jarvis?

 

[bkeith]

Was(n't) some of the boulder facing of the Four Seasons reused in the base of the condo/office bldg at Carlton + Jarvis?

Looks like a bit of the wall immediately south of that gate is still standing.

Hope this street view works

 

[Mustapha]

Yes, but before that, it was a homestead and brewery dating back to 1827:

I never twigged and made this connection between these two images although I am familiar with both, and both are amply identified. That's what I get for skim reading. Wonderful.

Was(n't) some of the boulder facing of the Four Seasons reused in the base of the condo/office bldg at Carlton + Jarvis?

Looks like a bit of the wall immediately south of that gate is still standing.

Hope this street view works

It works for me. Thank you adma. Thank you bkeith for the sleuthing that brought that section of wall to "light".




The existence of orphaned walls remaining from the original - now lost - buildings they surrounded fills me with fascination and a queer sense of sadness. They stand mute guard [they are stone after all] to protect an entity that no longer exists, but by their own survival serve as a signpost pointing back into the past. Help. Poet needed. Apply via email. In that spirit , our July 21, 1010 addition.




Then. Note the brick wall in the distance. Roden Place looking W by S.

Later. Our row of houses await the Inevitable.

Now. July 2010. Note the brick wall again. Ivy covered but still there.

 

[Goldie]

I really like your recent discovery, Mustapha.
It's a fine example of our changing Toronto.
Only the wall and hydrant remain!

 

[street meet]

I wonder if that's the same tree on the right? Probably not... Trees grow faster than that, non?

 

[Mustapha]

I really like your recent discovery, Mustapha.
It's a fine example of our changing Toronto.
Only the wall and hydrant remain!

It was a total reno wasn't it?

I wonder if that's the same tree on the right? Probably not... Trees grow faster than that, non?

Maybe oui. There is a Then and Now picture pair of the front yard of Osgoode Hall much further back in this thread showing some large shrub like trees that have grown since the 1930s.

The Maple on my front lawn grew from 1956 (so says the elderly neighbour) until 2003.

My parents house has a Peony that has grown and bloomed each spring in the same spot since they moved in in 1954. This is a flower with fragile stems that is cut back to ground level each fall. Amazing if you take even a short pause to ponder it.

I think we humans are like fruit flies to the long lived species of the plant world. We are born, fuss with our Blackberries and expire.



July 22 addition.



Then. 181 Baldwin. October 7, 1919. This is the SE corner of Baldwin and Kensington. Amazing how the boy stares mischeviously at us across such a vast gulf of time.

Now. July 2010.

 

[LowPolygon]

Then. 181 Baldwin. October 7, 1919. This is the SE corner of Baldwin and Kensington. Amazing how the boy stares mischeviously at us across such a vast gulf of time.

beautiful shot...the long shadows raking to the east mean that the photographer was in Kensington late in the afternoon. the sun in late October sets around 6:30, so i imagine this image was taken around 5 pm.

also:

"We are born, fuss with our Blackberries and expire."

i think you've coined one for the ages there. be better if it looked like this:

 

[KoryLGriffin]

What a awesome concept for a thread? I wish I could find one like this from my hometown. Thanks for all the shares.

las vegas lodging
bermuda hotels​

 

[Mustapha]

beautiful shot...the long shadows raking to the east mean that the photographer was in Kensington late in the afternoon. the sun in late October sets around 6:30, so i imagine this image was taken around 5 pm.

also:

"We are born, fuss with our Blackberries and expire."

i think you've coined one for the ages there. be better if it looked like this:

Thank you for that thedeepend. Your font has made it rather more dignified than my trying-to-be-cute one liner deserves.

What a awesome concept for a thread? I wish I could find one like this from my hometown. Thanks for all the shares.

Maybe the local library has something? If your hometown has an employer that has been there for decades perhaps they might have documented their offices or factories?






July 23 addition.



Then. Elm street near Yonge. 1980-ish?

Now. June 2010.