Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"If anyone knows, please pipe up."
QUOTE Mustapha.

I can't "pipe up" because I sold my Ridgid 535 to buy this confuser.
('Still have my aluminium, 10" - 4' pipe wrenches though!)

THE BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY OF CANADA, 1944:

Children's Wear

Eclipse Whitewear Co Ltd.
322 King W
AD elaide 0986.

('Thought we had been there before.)
(LOL)


Regards,
J T

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"233 Douglas Drive."
QUOTE Mustapha.

Looks as if the asphalt roofing was upgraded to one of slate, with the interior insulated for "energy efficiency".

Bad move!

Water will freeze under the slate and pop the nails after breaking the slate, as seemigly done on the right - side

roof. They should have left well enough alone. (That's also why they had to install the "ice dam" or retainer over

the balcony/front door.) Even if tracer cable is installed in the eavestrough the ice will sheet over it, not touching

the bottom of the trough were the melting should occur.

They did one thing right though, the trough, catch, & leaders are painted a dark colour.


Regards,
J T

 

[Earlscourt_Lad]

I recollect vaguely that whitewear was a term for certain types of uniforms and for "intimates". I think it sprang up from any sort of cotton clothing.

 

[Mustapha]

"If anyone knows, please pipe up."
QUOTE Mustapha.

I can't "pipe up" because I sold my Ridgid 535 to buy this confuser.
('Still have my aluminium, 10" - 4' pipe wrenches though!)

THE BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY OF CANADA, 1944:

Children's Wear

Eclipse Whitewear Co Ltd.
322 King W
AD elaide 0986.

('Thought we had been there before.)
(LOL)


Regards,
J T

"Confuser" or computer?

Can you thread a pipe, JT? One of the few unsung things that men (it's usually men) still do so that the rest of us can live lives of ease by having water and gas piped to clean and warm us and wastes piped away.

 

[Mustapha]

"233 Douglas Drive."
QUOTE Mustapha.

Looks as if the asphalt roofing was upgraded to one of slate, with the interior insulated for "energy efficiency".

Bad move!

Water will freeze under the slate and pop the nails after breaking the slate, as seemigly done on the right - side

roof. They should have left well enough alone. (That's also why they had to install the "ice dam" or retainer over

the balcony/front door.) Even if tracer cable is installed in the eavestrough the ice will sheet over it, not touching

the bottom of the trough were the melting should occur.

They did one thing right though, the trough, catch, & leaders are painted a dark colour.


Regards,
J T

Positively Mike Holmes-ian advice. Thank you JT. I'll have to return the 6 pallets of slate shingles now sitting on my lawn.

 

[Mustapha]

I recollect vaguely that whitewear was a term for certain types of uniforms and for "intimates". I think it sprang up from any sort of cotton clothing.

Thanks Earlcourt_Lad. Strange that nothing is available on the internet describing their origins and business yet their old factory is so very much a part of the lives of Torontonians 50 years later. The ground floor is a Tim Hortons (one of the more historically characterful ones in Toronto) that must be visited by thousands daily.

 

[Mustapha]

Then and Now for May 8.


Then. 159 Roxborough Drive. c1916. Northern Congregational Church. John Gemmell, Architect.

http://www.dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/architects/view/1903

Now. July 2011. Rosedale United Church. It's all there; even though I only got this picture of part of it.

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"Strange that nothing is available on the internet describing their origins and business "
QUOTE Mustapha.

There is now. (See my above post. - Whitewear = Children's clothing.)


"Can you thread a pipe," / " having water and gas piped to clean and warm us and wastes piped away."
QUOTE Mustapha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE_nObcuH_s&feature=related

Only steam boilers and the associated piping. (Taught to me by "The Dead Men".)


Regards,
J T

 

[160 Huron]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I live in one of those apartment buildings where everyone who passes it by wonders what the apartments look like inside: "The Epitome" on Huron Street south of College. It was originally built in 1913 as a "ladies residence" to skirt the ban on new apartment buildings. Back then it was called The Midmaples. Anyhow, while researching the building I found a scanned copy of The Canadian Builder and Carpenter magazine from 1913 with an advert for the company that installed the Tile and Plaster in the building.

and here is the building as it appears today...

It looks like the plans were altered between the time the illustration was done and when construction finished as the front is slightly different. I think its unlikely that it was altered later as the brick and stonework match from the side to the front seamlessly. I've poked around the city archives online but I've never been able to find any historic photos of the building aside from this.

 

[Mustapha]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I live in one of those apartment buildings where everyone who passes it by wonders what the apartments look like inside: "The Epitome" on Huron Street south of College. It was originally built in 1913 as a "ladies residence" to skirt the ban on new apartment buildings. Back then it was called The Midmaples. Anyhow, while researching the building I found a scanned copy of The Canadian Builder and Carpenter magazine from 1913 with an advert for the company that installed the Tile and Plaster in the building.

and here is the building as it appears today...

It looks like the plans were altered between the time the illustration was done and when construction finished as the front is slightly different. I think its unlikely that it was altered later as the brick and stonework match from the side to the front seamlessly. I've poked around the city archives online but I've never been able to find any historic photos of the building aside from this.

Hi 160 Huron.

Welcome. Great post.

My maternal grandmother lived here in 85-86 after she sold the rooming house she owned, lived in and ran on Grange Avenue. My toddler daughter and I would visit and take her great-grandmother out for lunch in nearby Chinatown. My daughter remenisced to me once about her memory of visiting what is now your home.

It's a building of style and substance. Great neighbourhood too. You have that exercise equipment installed on Darcy in front of the hydro substation - a free outdoor gym.

Warm regards,

Moose.

 

[Mustapha]

Then and Now for May 9.




Then. 229 Douglas Drive. c1915.

Now. August 2011.

 

[Blovertis]

For once, and very unusually for these Rosedale houses, I can hardly see any change. Other than the rebuilt steps and railing to the main entrance, it looks like the same windows, soffit, downpipe, shutters.

 

[Mustapha]

For once, and very unusually for these Rosedale houses, I can hardly see any change. Other than the rebuilt steps and railing to the main entrance, it looks like the same windows, soffit, downpipe, shutters.

I was scratching my chin about this too. It's been a hundred years... wood windows are painted - sometimes sloppily. Those are pristine. The shutters should have decayed into splinters around 1960 no matter how many coats of paint however repeatedly applied. I can only guess that the owner may be some kind of purist with a passion for historical details as well as access to this very same picture (to allow the undoing of unfaithful renovations done in the past).

 

[Mustapha]

Then and Now for May 10.


Then. 30 Whitney Avenue. c1915.

Now. July 2011.

 

[Earlscourt_Lad]

I was scratching my chin about this too. It's been a hundred years... wood windows are painted - sometimes sloppily. Those are pristine. The shutters should have decayed into splinters around 1960 no matter how many coats of paint however repeatedly applied. I can only guess that the owner may be some kind of purist with a passion for historical details as well as access to this very same picture (to allow the undoing of unfaithful renovations done in the past).

Impossible to tell from the pictures, as some details can only be ascertained up close. If the windows are single pane and/or glazed with putty, they are likely original. There are very few companies around that will make single pane wood windows (comparatively speaking) and fewer still that glaze with putty.

Additionally, there appear to be screens in the original picture, so that cancels using exterior screens as a dating tool. Typically, older hung windows were not equipped with screens, nor were most types of windows for that matter.

Of interest to those who like windows (we do exist):

http://www.mathewsbrothers.com/