Lost Toronto Hotels

[Tewder]

That strikes me as such a unique 'landmark' building, even in terms of heritage buildings. Likely would have become as 'beloved' as the flat iron building if it had survived.

 

[robbiedigital]

Jilly's!

BROADVIEW HOTEL on the north west corner of Queen St . East and Broadview Ave.

At least this one is still standing...I wonder if they have hourly rates?

 

[Archivist]

I also despise the fashionable/unfashionable cycle and consider it to be one of the main reasons why quality buildings are demolished. For instance, postmodernism is all too often trashed willy-nilly, creating an environment in which good buildings can be demolished through no fault of their own.

 

[Mystic Point]

These photos are fantastic. Do you have any pix of the old FORD HOTEL on BAY STREET? It was torn down in 1972 me thinks. It was my fave hotel as a boy.

 

[Conrad Black]

There's pictures of The Ford Hotel in another thread around here.

 

[Archivist]

Link to an image of the Ford Hotel.

 

[Mustapha]

Link to an image of the Ford Hotel.

The 'Ford' in Erie, PA, is still extant. It looks to be a 2/3rds version of our long gone Toronto version.

http://www.richfordarms.com/

The Buffalo version is gone.

http://www.cardcow.com/30579/ford-h...buffalo-us-state-town-views-new-york-buffalo/

They sure looked alike, didn't they?

And now, another excuse to show again a bit of my collection of historic Toronto related paper ephemera:

 

[adma]

These photos are fantastic. Do you have any pix of the old FORD HOTEL on BAY STREET? It was torn down in 1972 me thinks. It was my fave hotel as a boy.

You must have been an interesting boy, to say the least...

 

[LowPolygon]

These photos are fantastic. Do you have any pix of the old FORD HOTEL on BAY STREET? It was torn down in 1972 me thinks. It was my fave hotel as a boy.

i'm surprised how few photos of the Ford seem to be floating around--given its scale, history and notoriety...i'm sure there are some fantastic undigitized ones in the Toronto Archives--i've been meaning to go there for a while to search the database...

 

[adma]

Maybe the problem with the Ford is that even if big, it was "ugly", or at least not terribly photogenic--a spartan rectangular brick hulk with twin light-courts, the generic cartoon image of the 1920s Statler-type urban hotel catering to the travelling salesman crowd and whatnot. At best, it was to its era what, say, the Delta Chelsea was to the 70s/80s--and that's not necessarily a condemnation. (And I presume the advent of the Depression tripped up any high hopes of reasonable middle-class reputation.) In fact, as an urbanistic presence, more people probably remember the Ford for its rooftop sign than anything.

It's also definitely one of those cases where the demolition happened right before such generic 20s hotel architecture could even begin to be re-appreciated--at least to the point of being photographically documented and openly lamented or reflected upon at the very end...

 

[ganjavih]

the generic cartoon image of the 1920s Statler-type urban hotel

Well, there's something to be said about Statler-type urban hotels. Sure, ours wasn't as nice as Buffalo's but there's something about them that scream cool big-city urban grit.

Statler Towers, Buffalo

 

[LowPolygon]

Maybe the problem with the Ford is that even if big, it was "ugly", or at least not terribly photogenic--a spartan rectangular brick hulk with twin light-courts, the generic cartoon image of the 1920s Statler-type urban hotel catering to the travelling salesman crowd and whatnot. At best, it was to its era what, say, the Delta Chelsea was to the 70s/80s--and that's not necessarily a condemnation. (And I presume the advent of the Depression tripped up any high hopes of reasonable middle-class reputation.) In fact, as an urbanistic presence, more people probably remember the Ford for its rooftop sign than anything.

It's also definitely one of those cases where the demolition happened right before such generic 20s hotel architecture could even begin to be re-appreciated--at least to the point of being photographically documented and openly lamented or reflected upon at the very end...

I think that’s right. What makes it unique is precisely its boxy and bland functionality and its scale—features that seem more appropriate to an early 20th century Chicago or Detroit than a provincial outpost of the Empire. Whereas the Royal York and King Edward accurately reflect our colonial roots, the Ford seems to belong to another kind of city. Even its name sets it apart, and places it on a continuum of hotels all over the United States.

Of course, it is its very anonymity, its massive scale, and its “big city” vibe, that make the Ford a fabulous site for another kind of urban archeology.

The bland muteness of its design--as well as its proximity to the bars, nightclubs and theatres on Bay and Yonge, and of course the bus station--no doubt made it a staging ground for all sorts of hard core activities that could play a starring role in an alternate and unwritten history of the city--a central player in an imaginary “Toronto Noir”.

 

[Mustapha]

There was/is a Ford hotel in Montreal too. 1425, Rene-Levesque Ouest

Would be interesting to take a lookaround inside with a camera to see what's left of the old interior and fixtures.

If I win the superlotto, I'll go to Montreal and buy it. Then buy the Atrium/Ford site in Toronto and tear the Atrium down. Then teardown the Montreal Ford and reassemble it here in the old location. I'll pay all comers $40/hr to chip off the old mortar. Then I'll recreate the old 'Tiki' room. The dress code will be 'Madmen/Don Draper'. The 'Tiki' will be a private club. Everyone must smoke; or pretend to inhale. Brycreem will be laid on in the bathrooms; cufflinks on shirts will also be mandatory.

It'll be Urban Toronto central.

 

[adma]

I think that’s right. What makes it unique is precisely its boxy and bland functionality and its scale—features that seem more appropriate to an early 20th century Chicago or Detroit than a provincial outpost of the Empire. Whereas the Royal York and King Edward accurately reflect our colonial roots, the Ford seems to belong to another kind of city. Even its name sets it apart, and places it on a continuum of hotels all over the United States.

Of course, it is its very anonymity, its massive scale, and its “big city†vibe, that make the Ford a fabulous site for another kind of urban archeology.

The bland muteness of its design--as well as its proximity to the bars, nightclubs and theatres on Bay and Yonge, and of course the bus station--no doubt made it a staging ground for all sorts of hard core activities that could play a starring role in an alternate and unwritten history of the city--a central player in an imaginary “Toronto Noirâ€.

As would this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_Magazine

 

[collations]

A few more hotels ... although not exactly grand, they are indeed lost ... in one way or another ...

The Palace is intact in this photo, photographed in [October]1986, with its banner soliciting Blue Jays fans, on their way to Exhibition Stadium, three years before SkyDome opened. But it ceased to be a hotel proper shortly after this, with the loss of local industry, in the form of the John Inglis Co and Massey-Harris Ltd. Although the building still stands today, it serves as housing only, the ground floor bar having long since closed.

Ahh, the Derby ... a really old time bar, if ever there was one ... here's two shots, from June 2, 1988, shortly after the bar closed pending redevelopment of the site. One shows the aging neon sign (still working at the time? ... I seem to recall that it was still working ... and that it was pinkish in colour, or maybe orange?) ... and one clearly indentifying the "Men's Entrance" (I think the "Ladies & Escorts" entrance was around the corner, on the Parliament St side of the building).