k10ery
Senior Member
Boy, I agree with that. A lot of the Second Empire and Romanesque Revival stuff in those pictures is pretty brutal. But oh for a few elegant Palladian or Italianate buildings like that old customs house!
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Top 10 Lost Toronto Buildings
- Thread starter Urban Shocker
- Start date
Boy, I agree with that. A lot of the Second Empire and Romanesque Revival stuff in those pictures is pretty brutal. But oh for a few elegant Palladian or Italianate buildings like that old customs house!
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
I'm proud to say there will be examples of neither when I eventually post my list of the Top 10.
Mississauga Slim
Active Member
If we had kept all those buildings, then being downtown would feel like walking around in a giant Edward Gorey cartoon.
FAC33
Active Member
Actually, the bulk of the pictured buildings are out of the modern core/financial district. Many are to the east in the old core area, and some (the Lunatic Asylum, and Chorley Park) out of downtown entirely.
And with pretty much all of those, what replaced the lost buildings was noticeably inferior. I'll take a Gorey cartoon any day over a generic "modern" building.
Tewder
Senior Member
Forgetting for a second 'serious' Architecture I kind of like the absurdity of these buildings.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
* The Chewett Building
( south east corner of York and King )
John Howard, 1834.
* The Bank of British North America
( north east corner of Yonge and Wellington )
John Howard, 1845.
* Provincial Lunatic Asylum
John Howard, 1850; Kivas Tully, 1866.
* Cawthra House
( north east corner of Bay and King )
William Irving and Joseph Sheard, 1852.
* Bethany Chapel
( University Avenue and Christopher Street )
Henry Simpson, 1893.
*Grandstand Stadium
Marani and Morris, 1948.
* Anglo Canada Insurance Company Building
( 76 St. Clair West )
James A. Murray, 1954.
* Shell Oil Tower
George A. Robb, 1955.
* Union Carbide Building
( 123 Eglinton East )
Shore and Moffat, 1960.
* Terminal One / Aeroquay One
John B. Parkin Associates, 1964.
( south east corner of York and King )
John Howard, 1834.
* The Bank of British North America
( north east corner of Yonge and Wellington )
John Howard, 1845.
* Provincial Lunatic Asylum
John Howard, 1850; Kivas Tully, 1866.
* Cawthra House
( north east corner of Bay and King )
William Irving and Joseph Sheard, 1852.
* Bethany Chapel
( University Avenue and Christopher Street )
Henry Simpson, 1893.
*Grandstand Stadium
Marani and Morris, 1948.
* Anglo Canada Insurance Company Building
( 76 St. Clair West )
James A. Murray, 1954.
* Shell Oil Tower
George A. Robb, 1955.
* Union Carbide Building
( 123 Eglinton East )
Shore and Moffat, 1960.
* Terminal One / Aeroquay One
John B. Parkin Associates, 1964.
thecharioteer
Senior Member
Good call on the Chewett Building, doyenne:
I guess I don't have to ask which version of Victoria Row you prefer:
adma
Superstar
Good one--or for that matter, the whole original ensemble, administration building, control tower, Shell station and all...
FAC33
Active Member
There's an interesting one, partially because of just how long it persisted at the heart of what had already become the financial district. If it had lasted a little longer, it might have gotten moved like Campbell House.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Thank you, boys. It took a while to winnow my selection down to just ten.
As the ever-gracious charioteer indicates, I'll take pure, modest, understated, red brick, Classically-inspired Toronto colonial Georgian over hustling, bustling, commercial Victoriana any day - though I understand the appeal of the latter, and his choices.
As the ever-gracious charioteer indicates, I'll take pure, modest, understated, red brick, Classically-inspired Toronto colonial Georgian over hustling, bustling, commercial Victoriana any day - though I understand the appeal of the latter, and his choices.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
adma, dear, you must give us your Top 10 selection. You owe it to us! Please!
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
As you'll see, I've completely avoided the sort of visually loud stylistic mashups that many hereabouts simply adore ( Board of Trade Building I'm talkin' to you ... ) and are in deep, perpetual mourning for. Bethany Chapel is my only half-hearted nod to that era, and it's because the building isn't specifically fake Gothic, or fake Romanesque, or fake Moorish, or fake Venetian but a clever appropriation of elements from an earlier age translated into something sui generis. I leapfrog - with surprising agility for a doyenne of my advanced years, I must say - from elegant, perhaps even austere, examples of Greek-inspired neo-Classicism such as Cawthra house and the Bank of British North America to buildings by local architects that represent the equally straightforward Modernist era.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Also, Ladies Mile - go for it, girl!
Ladies Mile
Active Member
We haven't lost 10 buildings worth caring about.
I might be in the minority, but I feel architecturally we are only recently really hitting our stride and developing what can be seen as a "house style". The loss of some of the classic Modernist buildings are to be regretted, but their counterparts are quite readily visible throughout North America. The Mies/Pei/Stone grouping and New City Hall aren't going anywhere and they are our true hallmark set pieces of Modernism.
As for older buildings, initiation Georgian generally has as little appeal for me as initiation Victorian. As Lewis Mumford pointed out, similar buildings litter past British colonies from Sydney to Williamsburg, VA.
The less said about American-style Beaux Arts and Art Deco, the better. I include Union Station, which is handsome but never more than competently so.
Osgoode Hall is a great old building and City Hall is a near masterpiece on the Richardsonian scale; Cabbagetown has its charms as an ensemble. Other than that, I am far more interested in what we are doing and can still do rather than what we happen to have done.
I might be in the minority, but I feel architecturally we are only recently really hitting our stride and developing what can be seen as a "house style". The loss of some of the classic Modernist buildings are to be regretted, but their counterparts are quite readily visible throughout North America. The Mies/Pei/Stone grouping and New City Hall aren't going anywhere and they are our true hallmark set pieces of Modernism.
As for older buildings, initiation Georgian generally has as little appeal for me as initiation Victorian. As Lewis Mumford pointed out, similar buildings litter past British colonies from Sydney to Williamsburg, VA.
The less said about American-style Beaux Arts and Art Deco, the better. I include Union Station, which is handsome but never more than competently so.
Osgoode Hall is a great old building and City Hall is a near masterpiece on the Richardsonian scale; Cabbagetown has its charms as an ensemble. Other than that, I am far more interested in what we are doing and can still do rather than what we happen to have done.
Tewder
Senior Member
The loss of Walnut Hall still stings, I must say.