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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

For your weekend Delight:




Today.

DSC_0040-1-1.jpg




And Tonight.

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Then and Now for Feb 13. Almost Valentines Day. Don't forget. Like I did once.


Then. Court and Church Streets, SW corner. "Imperial Oil Building, Toronto. Clinton & Russell, Architects. J. A. Havill, Resident Architect. c1917."

Very pleasing proportions I think, but the architects knew what they were doing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_and_Russell

402ChurchCourtSWc1917.jpg




Now. June 2011. Presently a condo of - guessing here - late 80s vintage. I don't know when the Imperial Oil Building bit the dust, but many parcels of land in this area remained/have remained undeveloped for decades long periods. The opposite corner of Church and Court, the NW corner, is a case in point.

403.jpg
 
I seem to recall that it might have been around the 1967/68 period that Imperial Oil fell (are parts of it at the Guild Inn? maybe that's where I got/recall the date)

It's definitely one of the most underrated "lost" Toronto landmarks; unfortunately, this kind of vigorous Beaux-Arts/American Classicism was ill-appreciated at the time of its demise. (It might well have been stigmatized for reflecting an architectural "wrong path" in the eyes of an Eric Arthur or whomever at the time.)
 
I recently received this 1977 photo (by Charles Cooper) of the CNoR (Canadian Northern Railway) abandoned right-of-way.
It's an older version of the one I posted recently.
This is what could be seen looking S. from Ellesmere in Scarborough.

CNoRROWatEllesmere1977byCharlesCooperweb.jpg


These homes (1721-1727 Ellesmere) were completed in 2010 on the same site.
Example of another type of "infill" building.

housesonCNoRROWAug-2010web.jpg
 
I recently received this 1977 photo (by Charles Cooper) of the CNoR (Canadian Northern Railway) abandoned right-of-way.
It's an older version of the one I posted recently.
This is what could be seen looking S. from Ellesmere in Scarborough.

CNoRROWatEllesmere1977byCharlesCooperweb.jpg


These homes (1721-1727 Ellesmere) were completed in 2010 on the same site.
Example of another type of "infill" building.

housesonCNoRROWAug-2010web.jpg

Goldie,

Do you (or anyone reading this thread) know the routing of this abandoned right of way? I find these things fascinating as I am sure many others of us do,..
 
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Gorgeous older shot. Absolutely gorgeous. Wish it still looked like that. The two layers of "after" are even more compelling in the light of this.

Wish someone had a shot of the view with the railroad as a going concern!
 
I believe the CNoR line existed from about 1909 to 1926.
It began in the Don Valley, near the Leaside Bridge and continued through Scarborough, Whitby, Oshawa, Port Hope on the way to Ottawa.
The abandoned right-of-way is still evident in many places along the route, especially thru built-up areas of Scarborough.
I'm indebted to a fine railroad buff, Charles Cooper, for much of this information.

This pair of photos show the abandoned CNoR bridge over Morningside and the recent alteration to the roadway. When taken in 2002, I didn't know it was part of the CNoR line.

The attached map shows the spot where the new homes are located on Ellesmere (It's a detail from the larger map).

zTNMorningsiderailroadbridge-1.jpg
 

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I believe the CNoR line existed from about 1909 to 1926.
It began in the Don Valley, near the Leaside Bridge and continued through Scarborough, Whitby, Oshawa, Port Hope on the way to Ottawa.
The abandoned right-of-way is still evident in many places along the route, especially thru built-up areas of Scarborough.
I'm indebted to a fine railroad buff, Charles Cooper, for much of this information.

This pair of photos show the abandoned CNoR bridge over Morningside and the recent alteration to the roadway. When taken in 2002, I didn't know it was part of the CNoR line.

The attached map shows the spot where the new homes are located on Ellesmere (It's a detail from the larger map).

zTNMorningsiderailroadbridge-1.jpg

Thank you Goldie. That's quite a change. And,.. your left map shows a 'Abandoned T & Y Railway'. I don't expect to have everything handed to me on a plate but I'm also having trouble locating even a segment of that one.
 
I believe the CNoR line existed from about 1909 to 1926.
It began in the Don Valley, near the Leaside Bridge and continued through Scarborough, Whitby, Oshawa, Port Hope on the way to Ottawa.
The abandoned right-of-way is still evident in many places along the route, especially thru built-up areas of Scarborough.
I'm indebted to a fine railroad buff, Charles Cooper, for much of this information.

This pair of photos show the abandoned CNoR bridge over Morningside and the recent alteration to the roadway. When taken in 2002, I didn't know it was part of the CNoR line.

The attached map shows the spot where the new homes are located on Ellesmere (It's a detail from the larger map).

This explains the old embankments on Sewels Rd just below steeles.
It may also explain a funni looking spot on Taunton Rd. just west of Brock in Pickering. I will try to look at that on the way home after work, and maybe get a photo of it.
 

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