Historic photos from Toronto on this day

[wwwebster]

Amazing to see how much of the original house on the corner remained until at least 1910.

December 7th: No photo today, but we can go way back to 1837 for the Battle of Montgomery's Tavern...

Coincidentally, Doel’s Brewery was another of the places Mackenzie and his supporters met, on a few occasions from July through November, to discuss the Rebellion.

 

[Edward Skira]

Funny how they seemed to gravitate towards drinking establishments.

 

[bloor]

The Moorevale photo building looks suspiciously like the High Park chess club building, seen from
inside the park.

Any chance this one is misidentified in the orginal photo label?

 

[seemsartless]

The Moorevale photo building looks suspiciously like the High Park chess club building, seen from inside the park. Any chance this one is misidentified in the orginal photo label?

Certainly there are misidentifications in the Archives! Not sure if anyone is looking to go on a road trip to investigate on a day like today, and the Google Street view of the Chess Club isn't useful thanks to the trees out front. The image at http://www.chesstoronto.com/location.html looks different to me, and I wonder what the house in the distance on the left of the photo might be in High Park...

Thanks to Google Street view we have a current view of the Moorevale building, which looks very similar, but obviously park buildings in Toronto were all of the same style:

 

[seemsartless]

December 9th: A very industrial photo from 1932, of New Street at Campbell Milling Company (I've geotagged this in the wrong place, it isn't the Junction, but down by the waterfront):

December 10th Another photo that seems to be in the wrong place, with the water at the foot of Church Street back in 1912. But if you take a look at the corner of Church and the Esplanade today just west of the St. Lawrence Market you can see the building that was being built back 98 years ago today on the north east corner.

Then in 1929 we head over to Brockton Village for a view of the stable at the rear of 215 Margueretta Street:

( Details on these photos in the Historical Photos of Toronto webpage for Dec 10th. )

 

[Goldie]

December 9th: A very industrial photo from 1932, of New Street at Campbell Milling Company (I've geotagged this in the wrong place, it isn't the Junction, but down by the waterfront):

Could this be the Esplanade, looking east towards the huge Consumers' Gas Co. storage tank at the far end (Parliament St.)?

 

[DSC]

Could this be the Esplanade, looking east towards the huge Consumers' Gas Co. storage tank at the far end (Parliament St.)?

It's hard to read the sign on the building but it looks like xxxxx Metal Company to me rather than Campbell Milling. It does look like the Esplanade to me too. Anyone want to look at a 1932 Street Directory?

 

[bloor]

Yes, the building is certainly the same as the Moorevale bldg now. Ironically, the High Park chess
club looks more like the Moorevale building of yore than the same building does tosay.

(Trivia: the High Park bldg appears briefly in the background of the Nicholson movie
"The Last Detail")

The house on the left could've been one of the houses on the west side of High Park
Ave. north of Bloor.

On a completely different topic: do you know if where I might be able to get photos
from the 60s and 70s era of the north side of Bloor between Dorval and Dundas St. W
(mid 1500's in numbers of addressed)?

Might the Toronto Archives have them?

 

[seemsartless]

On a completely different topic: do you know if where I might be able to get photos
from the 60s and 70s era of the north side of Bloor between Dorval and Dundas St. W
(mid 1500's in numbers of addressed)?

Might the Toronto Archives have them?

There are over 500 photos of Bloor Street West in the archives, lots during subway construction... I wasn't able to find any from that stretch, but take a look at http://www.toronto.ca/archives/photographs/index.htm

December 11th: Here's a photo of the 1910 Dufferin Gates back in 1942, without a fan (that you can see in the November 16, 1942 photo):

Then a couple of years later, in 1944 there was the aftermath of a snowstorm that dropped 22.5 inches of snow on Toronto in 36 hours.

City hall in the background, with the Northern Ontario Building, and Laura Secord, at the corner of Bay and Adelaide

And the snow at Yonge and College Street, when the Eaton's store was just one floor:

(Details on these photos at the Historic Dec 12th webpage.)

 

[adma]

And the snow at Yonge and College Street, when the Eaton's store was just one floor:

*Bay* and College, actually--that was the one-storey extension of Eaton's College that was meant to be part of the superskyscraper base. (It was demolished after Eaton's College closed; IIRC details were retained for recycling elsewhere in the College Park complex.)

 

[seemsartless]

*Bay* and College, actually--that was the one-storey extension of Eaton's College that was meant to be part of the superskyscraper base. (It was demolished after Eaton's College closed; IIRC details were retained for recycling elsewhere in the College Park complex.)

Ah, thanks adma, I found a couple more photos that make that much clearer - one in 1930 looking east from Bay St. where it looks like they're just finishing the building here) and a similar view, 21 years later in 1951.

 

[seemsartless]

December 12th: We start in 1935 with a view looking north from St. Clair, east of Bathurst, at the apartment buildings on Heath Street West, just west of Lonsmount, and the dump across the street in Forest Hill:

Then in 1950 we have a sign for "Canada's First Subway" on Shutter Street, just east of Yonge Street, with the old Mason and Risch Building behind the street car with the N'S on it:

(Details on these photos available on the December 12th Historic Photos page.)

 

[seemsartless]

December 13th: One sketch today, of a proposed lavatory building, Clarke Beach Park for the Parks Department dated Dec 13th, 1934 which is also labelled with Cherry Beach in the City of Toronto Archives record. A quick trip using Google Maps shows how little the building has changed:

For more details on this photo, and an earlier version from 1932, see the Historic Cherry Beach photos page.

 

[seemsartless]

December 14th: Not all of the photos in the City of Toronto Archives are in such great shape, but sometimes it lends some authenticity to the photos, like this one from 1923 of St. Annes Anglican Church, on Gladstone Ave. in Dufferin Grove.

Then in 1926 we have a photo of Queen St E and Canadian National Railway grade separation, looking east in south Riverdale . The archive record has more details: "Item is a photograph looking at a view looking at all amin girders are in place for C.N.R. bridge over Queen Street at De Grassi Street. TTC Peter Witt streetcar service has resumed while overhead truck crew make final adjustments to overhead under new bridge."

Finally, in 1928 we have a photo of 17-27 Mutual Street, looking south-east, with a Lyons for sale sign, and the Ho Look Laundry, which was the site of the future TTC Mutual Street loop in the Garden District:

As always, details and locations of these photos is available on the December 14th Historic Toronto photos page

 

[seemsartless]

December 16th: One photo today, from 1924, of men taking apart the old Avoca Avenue bridge just south of the new St. Clair Avenue bridge in Moore Park:

Details on this photo, and many other photos from the construction of the new bridge, is available on the map here.