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Evocative Images of Lost Toronto

AlbertC said:
Photo from parkdale.to, along Queen Street west of Gladstone in 1898:

parkdale.to

Happy New Year Parkdalians!

Queen Street looking west from Dufferin in this 1898 view by photographer Josiah Bruce As 2021 comes to an end, we want to thank you so much for supporting your community. This New Year’s Eve…
parkdale.to


View attachment 379384
Click to expand...

The Queen Subway has been completed...
cornerstone+1897.jpg
From
link.
 
AlbertC said:
Photo from parkdale.to, along Queen Street west of Gladstone in 1898:

parkdale.to

Happy New Year Parkdalians!

Queen Street looking west from Dufferin in this 1898 view by photographer Josiah Bruce As 2021 comes to an end, we want to thank you so much for supporting your community. This New Year’s Eve…
parkdale.to


View attachment 379384
Click to expand...
The people in that photo seem to be gathered around this staircase:
goo.gl

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
goo.gl goo.gl

I wonder what they were holding / pulling on.
 
AlbertC said:
Photo from parkdale.to, along Queen Street west of Gladstone in 1898:

parkdale.to

Happy New Year Parkdalians!

Queen Street looking west from Dufferin in this 1898 view by photographer Josiah Bruce As 2021 comes to an end, we want to thank you so much for supporting your community. This New Year’s Eve…
parkdale.to


View attachment 379384
Click to expand...
There are 3 prominent church spires in the distance at the top of the photo - anyone know what those are?
 
Towered said:
There are 3 prominent church spires in the distance at the top of the photo - anyone know what those are?
Click to expand...
I'm obsessively searching to figure out, as they seem to be quite grand structures, but from what I can tell the one at the top left and the centre right no longer exist. The building in the centre I'm quite sure is the Parkdale Presbyterian Church, however the taller portion just behind it seems to be gone- not sure if it's the same building or one just behind the surviving church. Possibly removed when the attached senior's home was built?

Untitled1.jpg


Edit: The taller spire that I thought was attached to the above church might be the original Parkdale High School. Its profile is similar and it was on Jameson Ave, just out of frame from my Google Maps screenshot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkdale_Collegiate_Institute

I will keep sleuthing!

Edit #2: I believe I've found the building at the top left, the Parkdale Methodist Church at King & Dunn. The profile looks similar and by my estimation that'd be the right location based on the photo.

dunn1.jpg
 
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So I'm close but stumped on the last tower, which I believe belongs to the building just out of frame on the left of this image. If you look closely at the old aerial photo you can see the fire tower on Cowan Ave, it is quite faint but just to the right of other tower. I thought perhaps the extant building at 220 Cowan Ave. had a tower that was since removed, but if you compare the ground level they are different buildings. It appears everything in this image is gone now.

Cowan_Avenue_Fire_Station_in_1925.jpeg


A summary of where I'm at in my stream of consciousness posting... Hopefully someone knows the identity of our mystery tower.

QueenDufferin1898.jpeg
 
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egotrippin said:
I thought perhaps the extant building at 220 Cowan Ave. had a tower that was since removed, but if you compare the ground level they are different buildings. It appears everything in this image is gone now.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure about that.

The building to the south of the fire hall, now the Community centre actually pre-dates the fire hall.

The building to the south was erected in 1898, whereas the firehall arrived in 1905.

However, the former has been subject to a few material renos o'er the years.

1898-1907 - Parkdale Curling Club
1907-1915 - Parkdale Roller Rink
1915-1936 - Pavlova Dancing Academy
1936-? (1939?) - Tennis Club
1939-1945 - Recreation Facility for employees of John Inglis Co.
1945-1979 - Czech Community facility
1979 - present City of Toronto Community Centre

* indications that there were two massive chimney elements

Taken from: https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=10512

egotrippin said:
A summary of where I'm at in my stream of consciousness posting... Hopefully someone knows the identity of our mystery tower.

View attachment 381112
Click to expand...

Hmmm.

Now I'm down the rabbit hole too!
 
So if I have it correctly, the image I posted above shows Fire Hall No. 15 and the 1888 Municipal Building, both demolished in 1931 for the new police headquarters. The building just out of frame to the left is theoretically the 1905 Fire Hall No. 18, albeit with what looks to be the tower from our aerial photo and different brickwork/windows etc.

This website below indeed describes the building just out of frame as No. 18, so it appears that it underwent significant facade renos sometime after the 1920s. Additionally if you check it out on Google Earth, there is a conspicuous flat square area on the roof that looks like it could have hosted a tower portion.

https://www.tfspics.com/Historic-Photos/Toronto-FD/i-5Mf7DNV

Screen Shot 2022-02-20 at 4.28.50 PM.png


The rabbit hole is fun, isn't it.
 
egotrippin said:
So if I have it correctly, the image I posted above shows Fire Hall No. 15 and the 1888 Municipal Building, both demolished in 1931 for the new police headquarters. The building just out of frame to the left is theoretically the 1905 Fire Hall No. 18, albeit with what looks to be the tower from our aerial photo and different brickwork/windows etc.

This website below indeed describes the building just out of frame as No. 18, so it appears that it underwent significant facade renos sometime after the 1920s. Additionally if you check it out on Google Earth, there is a conspicuous flat square area on the roof that looks like it could have hosted a tower portion.

https://www.tfspics.com/Historic-Photos/Toronto-FD/i-5Mf7DNV

View attachment 381125

The rabbit hole is fun, isn't it.
Click to expand...

I believe you are correct, that in the earlier image, we are seeing Fire Hall 15 which would be where 224 is above.
 
Northern Light said:
I believe you are correct, that in the earlier image, we are seeing Fire Hall 15 which would be where 224 is above.
Click to expand...
The more I look at the footprint of the 1931 police station, I wonder if the building just out of frame in that 1925 shot was another building on the police station site; not 220 Cowan (Station No. 18). That would explain why it looks completely different at ground level, in which case the search continues for that tower/structure.
 
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