Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[FAC33]

Hudson's Bay Centre? Really? The three black monoliths that are TD Centre are (in my opinion) ugly, bland and...well...cheap! I don't care if the architect was some muckamuck of the architect world. It just reaks of late 60s/early 70s laziness — under the guise of 'modernity', 'boldness', 'avant garde' ....

I can't agree. The materials used for the TD interior spaces are definitely not cheap looking, and the exterior looks solid and sound, not flimsy (compare with some of our more recent towers, for instance.) There's a unity of design aesthetic in the TD centre (especially if you've seen some of the spaces on the upper floors) that works well; none of the other big towers can really compare. Remember also that the concourse area has been altered from Mies' original plan.

The TD Centre suffers mainly because that style was so widely and so badly copied. That's the laziness. Blame the imitators, not the model.

 

[NomoreaTorontonian]

None of the "towers of Toronto" built since 1970 do anything for me. I suffer from vertigo.

 

[Monk]

I've been away for a few days...any updates as to a possible new home for the museum? My husband is a member and has also donated his father's papers, and we're really hoping it lands on its feet.

I have heard a couple of things but nothing is 100% yet so I can't comment. All the archives of the museum are packed and safe.

 

[k10ery]

Then and Now for June 7.


Then. 62 Lynwood Avenue. c1920. House of Mrs. C.C.E. Malloch.

Actually it was Mrs O. C. E. Malloch (Olive) -- there was a typo in the original photo cutline. Her husband, an Army surgeon, died in the 1919 influenza pandemic.

Hard to be sure, but it looks like the gable end ornamentation in the "Now" picture was added later - at least I can't see it in the "Then". And it doesn't quite fit the Mock Tudor style of the rest.

 

[Mustapha]

Then and Now for June 8.


Then. Residence of James S. Worts, 441 Avenue Road [on SE corner of Balmoral]. Geo. W. Goiunlock, Architect. c1910.

Now. June 2012. The present building looks to be about 1940ish to my eyes..

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"The present building looks to be about 1940ish to my eyes.."
QUOTE Mustapha.

According to MIGHT'S - 1942 (41) there was no building at 441 Avenue Road. (vacant)


Regards,
J T

 

[DSC]

Actually it was Mrs O. C. E. Malloch (Olive) -- there was a typo in the original photo cutline. Her husband, an Army surgeon, died in the 1919 influenza pandemic.

Hard to be sure, but it looks like the gable end ornamentation in the "Now" picture was added later - at least I can't see it in the "Then". And it doesn't quite fit the Mock Tudor style of the rest.

I think she was the widow of medical pioneer Archibald Edward Malloch (1844-1919) See: http://www.cmaj.ca/content/160/6/849.full.pdf

 

[k10ery]

Interesting guy! But no, her husband was:

"WILLIAM JOHN OGILVIE MALLOCH Aug. 10, 1869— Feb. 18, 1919
Lieut. -Colonel, Canadian Army Medical Corps.

"Son of the late Donald McG. Malloch; b. Clinton; ed. Clinton p.s. and H.s.;
University College 1887-91, B..\.; Medicine 1892-96, M.B.; Alpha Delta Phi; f.r.c.s.
1906; Practising in Toronto; Staff, Toronto General Hospital; StaflF, Faculty of
Medicine, University of Toronto.

"In the spring of 1915 he was appointed to No. 4, LIni\ersit) of Toronto, General
Hospital. He reached Salonica with this unit in November 1915, and served with it
throughout till he returned to England in 1917. For a short period he was in charge of
surgery at No. 16, Ontario, General Hospital in Orpington, and then rejoined the L'ni-
versity Hospital at Basingstoke. He arrived in Canada on February 5th, 1919, and was
almost immediately taken ill with pneumonia, to which he succumbed some days later.
Buried in Toronto. In .Ajjril 1919 his name was among those Mentioned for Valuable
Services."

(from the U of T WWI Roll of Service.)

Hs widow's name and address are in http://www.canadiangreatwarproject.com/searches/soldierDetail.asp?Id=23672

 

[DSC]

Interesting guy! But no,

Oops!!

 

[Mount]

Mustapha :: where are you from ??? and now living in Toronto ??

 

[Mustapha]

Mustapha :: where are you from ??? and now living in Toronto ??

Heya Mount, yep, born here. Live here. Welcome.

 

[Mustapha]

Mr. Dobie heads out one fine day in 1972 to capture downtown Toronto life with a

camera...

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cdobie/toronto-carleton-st.htm

 

[Goldie]

Thanks Yonderbean; great post and an interesting point you've brought up. The bulk of Toronto Then and Nows here or anywhere else on the interwebs show what was basically already a built up city even in the heyday (1910s) of such prolific photographers as William James. The 'countryside' wasn't nearly as well documented, although I myself gain some measure of fulfillment from the pictures of Old Scarborough that our Goldie has posted in the past - a Scarborough of split rail fences and rutted dirt roads.

Thanks Mustapha, you've once again given me the incentive to get 'out & about.'
Here's the visible change to a Scarborough road after 80 years:

Looking east towards the Rouge River Valley

Same road in 2012

 

[Mustapha]

Thanks Mustapha, you've once again given me the incentive to get 'out & about.'
Here's the visible change to a Scarborough road after 80 years:

Looking east towards the Rouge River Valley

Same road in 2012

Thank you Goldie.

The story of 1920s - 60s intercity bus travel in Canada needs to be told. It's a mode of transportation that fascinates me - where else can you see urban downtowns and travel elbow to elbow with sometimes the most interesting people.

I'm imagining the bus journey in your Then picture: as dusty, hot, noisy, jarring; widely spaced rest stops with probably sub par facilities.

 

[donoreo]

Thanks Mustapha, you've once again given me the incentive to get 'out & about.'
Here's the visible change to a Scarborough road after 80 years:

Looking east towards the Rouge River Valley

Same road in 2012

Not so long ago, that gas station, while still a Pioneer, was an old Joy castle. This was in the mid 1990s (later than fall of 1995 it still was, but I am not sure when it was redeveloped).