AlexBozikovic
Active Member
Indeed it’s true that about 100 good Victorian and Edwardian buildings were demolished along Front Street East, mostly in the postwar era. The three most significant buildings here – the cathedral, St. Lawrence Hall, and St. Lawrence Market South – are extant. So is almost all of the housing.
We’re still talking about widespread demolition in less than 5% of old Toronto.
In talking about the lost city, everyone always returns to the same dozen buildings, including the board of trade.
As an author of a book on lost buildings I can confirm that the postwar demolitions here were not unusual.
Back to the point: one can make aesthetic arguments for heritage preservation of individual buildings. But to say that it’s important to save a house for historic reasons, even a decent Victorian like the one at 441 Adelaide, is IMO harder to defend.
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