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This week's Throwback Thursday takes us to the meeting point of Toronto's two most important thoroughfares to compare five years worth of change. Both photos look down and to the northeast towards the intersection of Yonge and Bloor from near the top of The Uptown Residence on Balmuto Street. Five years ago in the upper right corner of the image, construction was continuing on the 76-storey One Bloor East, while in the centre of the photo demolition was under way on the Stollery's store, the first of several properties that would soon also be cleared to create space for another sky-scraping development.
Fast forward to April, 2020. One Bloor East is complete, and the Stollery's building along with neighbours to the south have long been cleared, with construction now in progress on their former site for The One from Mizrahi Developments. One of the buildings in the assembly—774 Yonge— was deemed of heritage value and its front can be seen retained on the site. It will be incorporated into the base of the 85-storey luxury hotel and condo tower, designed by Foster + Partners and Core Architects. The 2020 view shows that the tower's ground level has been poured, with anchor points visible for the hybrid exoskeleton system that will support the structure externally, allowing for suites that are unencumbered by interior supporting columns.
The One is one of a few buildings in Toronto set to overtake the current tallest building in Canada, First Canadian Place, in height, planned to top out at just shy of 309 metres.
We will return next week with another look at the changing face of Toronto. In the meantime, you can submit your own Throwback Thursday comparisons in our dedicated Forum thread for your chance to be featured in next week's edition.
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