Evocative Images of Lost Toronto

[Rusty]

Now THAT'S a hydrant!

 

[Goldie]

Waterfront 1944, during wartime construction of minesweepers (shipyard at the foot of Spadina).
Now the site of the "Toronto Music Garden"

 

[Goldie]

Toronto 1884 N/E view from roof of Mail Bldg. at King-Bay.
Are the cigar factory and temperance hotel on the site that's now occupied by the (once-named) Trump Tower?

 

[thecharioteer]

The "new" Post Office on Adelaide Street under construction in 1873. One can see right through the ground floor. Notman & Fraser, in the TPL:

 

[pman]

The "new" Post Office on Adelaide Street under construction in 1873. One can see right through the ground floor. Notman & Fraser, in the TPL:

View attachment 123544

How sad that a beautiful beaux arts building was torn down to make way for the identikit midcentury mediocrity that survives to this day.

 

[junctionist]

How sad that a beautiful beaux arts building was torn down to make way for the identikit midcentury mediocrity that survives to this day.

It was a Second Empire building.

 

[thecharioteer]

Beaux-Arts architecture and Second Empire are not necessarily mutually exclusive:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaux-Arts_architecture

 

[junctionist]

Beaux-Arts architecture and Second Empire are not necessarily mutually exclusive:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaux-Arts_architecture

True, but the mansard roof and dormers are typical elements of Second Empire architecture.

 

[Skeezix]

How sad that a beautiful beaux arts building was torn down to make way for the identikit midcentury mediocrity that survives to this day.

IMHO, I don't think there is anything mediocre about Shore & Moffat's William Lyon Mackenzie Building, at least as it was when the feds owned it. I'm still fond of the building, despite the loss of the open courtyard and the other 2000-ish renos.

But, yes, I agree that William Lyon Mackenzie Building could have been built elsewhere, it never served as a decent view terminus for Toronto Street, and the General Post office building ought to have been saved.

 

[jaborandi]

The "new" Post Office on Adelaide Street under construction in 1873. One can see right through the ground floor. Notman & Fraser, in the TPL:

View attachment 123544

If I recall correctly, the original architectural rendering is lurking in the special collections at the reference library. It showed a pale golden limestone with a daring lilac coloured roof (unless my memory is playing wishful thinking on me)

 

[thecharioteer]

IMHO, I don't think there is anything mediocre about Shore & Moffat's William Lyon Mackenzie Building, at least as it was when the feds owned it. I'm still fond of the building, despite the loss of the open courtyard and the other 2000-ish renos.

But, yes, I agree that William Lyon Mackenzie Building could have been built elsewhere, it never served as a decent view terminus for Toronto Street, and the General Post office building ought to have been saved.

It’s all about timing. The PO could have been integrated into the WLM Building block with very little loss of GFA. It was the Modernist mentality of the era that viewed the compositional purity of the Shore & Moffatt design as more important than the retention of an old building whose design attributes would not be appreciated until the 1980’s. Similar to the demolition of the deco Bank of Montreal at King & Bay for the podium of FCP in the mid-70’s, which while it resulted in a loss of GFA (and revenue), still had to go in the name of the Edward Durrell Stone vision for the corner.

 

[adma]

It’s all about timing. The PO could have been integrated into the WLM Building block with very little loss of GFA. It was the Modernist mentality of the era that viewed the compositional purity of the Shore & Moffatt design as more important than the retention of an old building whose design attributes would not be appreciated until the 1980’s. Similar to the demolition of the deco Bank of Montreal at King & Bay for the podium of FCP in the mid-70’s, which while it resulted in a loss of GFA (and revenue), still had to go in the name of the Edward Durrell Stone vision for the corner.

In this case, never mind 80s. I'd say the case for Langley's PO was made with the publication of Toronto: No Mean City in 1963.

 

[Skeezix]

It’s all about timing. The PO could have been integrated into the WLM Building block with very little loss of GFA. It was the Modernist mentality of the era that viewed the compositional purity of the Shore & Moffatt design as more important than the retention of an old building whose design attributes would not be appreciated until the 1980’s. Similar to the demolition of the deco Bank of Montreal at King & Bay for the podium of FCP in the mid-70’s, which while it resulted in a loss of GFA (and revenue), still had to go in the name of the Edward Durrell Stone vision for the corner.

I don't really agree with that. Suggesting that the General Post Office could have been integrated into the Shore & Moffatt kind of misses the point of why the William Lyon Mackenzie Building was so great.

Yeah, they didn't appreciate Victorian architecture in the 1960s (much like they didn't appreciate Shore & Moffatt modernist jewel in 2000), sure they were hellbent on the latest modernist architecture, and yes, I wish they'd saved the General Post Office and built the William Lyon Mackenzie building elsewhere. All I am saying is that the William Lyon Mackenzie building was most definitely not the "identikit midcentury mediocrity" as it was described above, and was originally an architectural jewel in its own right. Doesn't make up for the loss of the General Post Office, nor are the attitudes in the 1960s fully comprehensible today, but what a mess that would have been to have had the Post Office integrated into the new office building. If you are talking fantasy scenarios, much much prefer they have not ruined the William Lyon Mackenzie building and just put it somewhere else, and then left the General Post Office alone.

 

[Goldie]

West end store, 1912

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

Really like the"elevator"!

Regards,
J T