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Throughout October, UrbanToronto is celebrating 20 YEARS, with stories looking back over the last two decades. Each day we are also checking out our ever-changing street scenes, comparing an older "Then" shot with an up-to-date "Now" shot.
For today's 'Then & Now' we are travelling up to North York City Centre to take a look at the growth that has taken place there over the last 20 years. The 'Then' image above, which was taken in 2005 looking south down Yonge Street at Norton Avenue, shows a streetscape already in-transition; a combination of taller office buildings and residential mid-rises offset with 2-storey brick buildings, standalone fast-food restaurants, and automobile-related uses. In 2005, the pointed green roof of 5140 Yonge was the tallest structure on the west side of Yonge Street, while on the far-right of the image, the eastern block of Park Willow (completed 1966) can be seen peaking out above the advert sign.
Moving to the 2023 image (below), Yonge has seen considerable development, with the majority of low-rise structures having been demolished and replaced by mixed-use towers. While there has been effort to maintain somewhat of a pedestrian-scale built form directly along the street with 3-storey podiums, the dynamic has changed dramatically. The 'Now' image shows a number of projects completed in the last ten years, including Beacon Condos (124m), Gibson Square Condos (137m), and the eastern tower of Emerald Park Condos (128m). Finally, at the right of the image is the under-construction Ellie Condos, which consists of a taller residential component (105m), and shorter office tower (50m).
Come back tomorrow for another Then and Now from over UrbanToronto's last two decades!
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Thank you to the companies joining UrbanToronto to celebrate our 20 years in business.
