Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[kbdid]

Central Neighbourhood House was for orphans or a "poor house", etc?
Very intricate brickwork so must have been a government job. [VBG]

actually an agency meant to provide services/programs to newcomers/"poor". Agency is still in existence.

 

[DSC]

actually an agency meant to provide services/programs to newcomers/"poor". Agency is still in existence.

Indeed it is: http://www.cnh.on.ca/

 

[Goldie]

Re: skyline 1854 vs 2016
It's absolutely amazing to see what Torontonians accomplished in 160 years,

 

[railmus]

Some for the better, some not.

 

[Goldie]

Site of New City Hall before demolition of "Registry of Deeds and Lands Titles" Building, 1958

March, 2016

 

[thecharioteer]

Great set, Goldie! Would be an interesting design exercise to see if and how the Registry Building could have been integrated into the Revell scheme if that had been a criteria at the time (and we know that the 1955 Marani & Morris scheme did retain it). Interestingly, it was the negative reaction to the Marani & Morris scheme that led to the international competition, ultimately won by Revell.

The scheme was panned by leading architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright (who called it a "sterilization" and "a cliché already dated") and Walter Gropius (who deemed it a "very poor pseudo-modern design unworthy of the city of Toronto"), and a joint letter was sent by all classes of the University of Toronto Faculty of Architecture condemning the proposal and calling for an international competition. The whole $18 million proposal was scrapped when voters rejected it in a December 1955 referendum. The parti was adapted by the architects and built as the Imperial Oil Building on St. Clair Avenue West.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_City_Hall

 

[Goldie]

Thanks for that insight, thecharioteer.

I much prefer the magnificent 'clam-shell.'

 

[Goldie]

The other City Hall with a display by DeLasalle Cadets, 1918

 

[Red October]

Interestingly, it was the negative reaction to the Marani & Morris scheme that led to the international competition, ultimately won by Revell.

The scheme was panned by leading architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright (who called it a "sterilization" and "a cliché already dated") and Walter Gropius (who deemed it a "very poor pseudo-modern design unworthy of the city of Toronto"), and a joint letter was sent by all classes of the University of Toronto Faculty of Architecture condemning the proposal and calling for an international competition. The whole $18 million proposal was scrapped when voters rejected it in a December 1955 referendum.

Funny enough I highly doubt Toronto of today would have the cajones to do something similar.

 

[DSC]

Funny enough I highly doubt Toronto of today would have the cajones to do something similar.

Indeed, I can almost see Minan-Wong phoning in an order to http://www.futurebuildings.com/ (as seen on TV).

 

[Goldie]

Yonge St. S. from Shuter c.1930s

 

[Koolgreen]

Site of New City Hall before demolition of "Registry of Deeds and Lands Titles" Building, 1958

View attachment 69374

March, 2016

View attachment 69375

I wonder if that white staircase going underground in the sixties is the same staircase in the foreground of the current picture by the ice rink???

 

[Goldie]

I wonder if that white staircase going underground in the sixties is the same staircase in the foreground of the current picture by the ice rink???

I questioned that myself -- it's certainly possible.

 

[Red October]

Yonge St. S. from Shuter c.1930s

View attachment 69512

View attachment 69513

Ugh, the Before just accentuates how dead the After is.

Turning its back on Yonge St.

 

[thecharioteer]

Re: Yonge, south of Shuter:

If the parking for Eaton Centre had gone underground, the buildings north of Albert could have been retained without affecting the Galleria itself. Certainly more complicated, but what a difference it would have made.