Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[Ikmin]

Interesting shots but you really need to have an old and new photo of same scene to meet 'obligations' of this great thread.

I might have worded my captions weirdly, but these photos are taken from roughly the same spot. Is that not in line with every other post on this thread?

 

[DSCToronto]

I might have worded my captions weirdly, but these photos are taken from roughly the same spot. Is that not in line with every other post on this thread?

I misunderstood your captions - the area REALLY has changed! "Roughly the same spot' is usually the best we can do! Thanks for posting.

 

[adma]

So, before the high level bridge, Bloor took the Old Mill pathway?

 

[thecharioteer]

Wellington Street West (west of Yonge):

1910, Ontario Club on the right:

1912:

Aerial view (lower left hand corner). 1950's?

1967. The Club was demolished in 1969:

Now:

 

[Blovertis]

In case anyone thinks Toronto is uniquely bad at architectural preservation:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1864390007135297946

 

[adma]

In case anyone thinks Toronto is uniquely bad at architectural preservation:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1864390007135297946

"Grass is greener", you know.

That said, judging from how certain Toronto examples would have seemed implausible a generation ago (Meighen, Simpson, etc), I'm wondering whether this reflects a modern-day "post-preservationist" hubris, i.e. the same mindset that's made McMansions common in neighbourhoods where the decorum of leaving well enough alone was once the rule. Renewing something "dated" with something "fresh", almost as a gesture to "own the hysterical preservationists"--a sod-you to those Architectural Revival/Architectural Uprising-type sites where they celebrate the replacement of "horrid" 60s/70s modernism with trad retro "beauty matters" etc etc. Altogether, it's sad when our preexisting urbanscape gets wrecked on behalf of today's dumbed-down culture wars where neither side seems much interested in the actual *history* of what was there previously...

 

[thecharioteer]

On the other hand, sometimes (but rarely) the direction goes the other way:

San Antonio:

 

[Tim MacDonald]

I didn't quite get this right since it was only when I was over the area that I realized I had a 1986 photo and it might be cool to try a now and then type thing.
1986-City of Toronto archives

December 15th 2024

 

[Northern Light]

Then: (not dated)

Taken from: https://scontent.fykz1-2.fna.fbcdn....u-ovNmi8acA7yrESTP2sDfiqv4cI8cUOg&oe=677A596F

Now: (streetview 2018)

 

[Lenser]

Here are some shots of Mill Street and Cherry Streets from the early aughts, when my wife and I had studio space in an old trucking terminal... many of our neighbors with their own bays were also film types - scenic painters, props and sets people with their lockups, etc. It was also a place to cheaply park trailers, containers and other over-sized rigs for cheap. The trucking terminal was managed by a specialty painter who did stuff like repainting helicopters, aircraft and boats for film shoots. I don't know who actually owned the building at the time but it was definitely a great deal for many of us that lasted a number of years before the inevitable pressure to comprehensively redevelop the area chased us all out. I don't have a super-recent shots of what the area looks like now but trust me - it's been completely redeveloped and you'd never know it was ever this drably industrial and fallow. Here are a series of shots from 2000, followed by some winter shots from 2001 as well as a shot from 2003 from near the top of the railroad embankment, looking north on Cherry Street.

 

[Lenser]

Same general area, but shot in late September of last year.

Same general area, but shot in late September of last year.

 

[TwinHuey]

This photo displayed in the Swiss Chalet at Danforth Avenue and Danforth Road caught my attention.

No idea what year it was taken (check out the vintage cars). Inspired by @Tim MacDonald's posts to this thread, I thought it would be fun to see what it looks today with the drone.


January 17

 

[Tim MacDonald]

This photo displayed in the Swiss Chalet at Danforth Avenue and Danforth Road caught my attention.

View attachment 626189

No idea what year it was taken (check out the vintage cars). Inspired by @Tim MacDonald's posts to this thread, I thought it would be fun to see what it looks today with the drone.


January 17
View attachment 626190

More please!

 

[adma]

Interesting how that Dominion looks less like a supermarket than like a "food terminal", akin to the early days of Knob Hill Farms...

 

[Lenser]

Great old & current comparison! Fantastic content.