Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[thecharioteer]

The density of the blocks south of King was quite extraordinary (first pic is of Wellington east from Yonge in the 1880's) and most of the 19thC buildings survived until the 1940's as can be seen in this aerial photo:

And in this pic from the 1920's:

One particular demolition which was unfortunate was the original Stock Exchange Building from the 1850's (NW corner of Wellington and Leader Lane), which survived until the 30's:

 

[Anna]

I think that the decline of the area was so gradual, buildings being knocked down one at the time (for parking), buildings falling into disrepair. In a typical Toronto way, there was no vision that preceded the clearance of the area (no Rockefeller Center, no Lincoln Center), just a muddling-along that makes the process even sadder

I think the opposite is true. There was a vision to create an ‘arts district’ in that area with something like a Lincoln Centre, CBC headquarters, etc – but all that got built was the St. Lawrence Centre.
http://urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=9241&page=15

October 23 addition.

Mt. Pleasant Rd. East section. Looking N. July 1958.

The reason there is an east section of Mt Pleasant is because this used to be a separate street called Alberta Ave. On the 1910 Atlas of the City of Toronto, Mt Pleasant is a 'proposed street'.

 

[IanK]

Fantastic thread

I have enjoyed going down memory lane in Toronto. I love looking back at the past and the ghosts that haunt the streets and buildings. Looking at those people its like they built this city for us to take care of and leave for our children and there children to take care of.

I am an urban explorer and unfortunatly I only see the ruined remains of historic buildings and houses before they get demolished. I take photos of the insides of these places to document urban decay and development. I would love to know which places are being demolished so I can go inside and take documented photos before the building is demolished. It my way of saying goodbye to the past.

What I hate is the way Toronto is knocking down 100 year old buildings and houses to build concrete and stucco cookie cutter buildings and houses. Almost all of Toronto's history is in a landfill somewhere. The places Ive documented my photos is uer.ca

I just want to say thank you all for your hard work and dedication to this great thread. I wish I had photo's of then and now like you guys have done but I only have now pics of houses and buildings that have been since demolished. I hope to contribute if I see places I have explored on this site, Or if I can work with someone to have before pics found of the places I have explored.


Thanks again for all your hard work. It almost feels like I belong in the 1920's

 

[Goldie]

I think the opposite is true. There was a vision to create an ‘arts district’ in that area with something like a Lincoln Centre, CBC headquarters, etc – but all that got built was the St. Lawrence Centre.

Let's not forget Anna, that the O'Keefe Centre (later: Hummingbird/Sony) was built in that neighbourhood.

 

[Goldie]

Toronto 1961 aerial

Here's Toronto when the Bank of Commerce building was the tallest in the British Empire.
Construction of the 'New' City Hall is just beginning.
Toronto's 'skyscrapers' were soon to arrive.

 

[thecharioteer]

I think the opposite is true. There was a vision to create an ‘arts district’ in that area with something like a Lincoln Centre, CBC headquarters, etc – but all that got built was the St. Lawrence Centre.
http://urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=9241&page=15

Haven't read Unbuilt Toronto, but I would suspect that the proposal to put a theatre on the Flatiron block was the result of it being a vacant block already.

According to the "Star" article below, the City bought the land intending to build the St. Lawrence Centre there, but then opted to put it on the south side of Front instead. The SLC was a Centennial project (along with the restoration of the St. Lawrence Hall), and was announced in 1967, opening in 1970. It would appear from the archival photographs that the Flatiron block was cleared in the early 60's, years before the City acquired the land.

http://www.thestar.com/News/TorontoGTA/article/557221

Early 70's postcard:

 

[adma]

Going by what's offered in the book Lost Toronto, other buildings were cleared in the Flatiron block as recently as 1966...

 

[lightarchitect]

I don't care.... they should and need to rebuild all of it.

 

[Mustapha]

thecharioteer, That is a great set of visuals of the flatiron district. And this thread keeps coming back around to discussing this area in new ways. In my opinion, I can only say that the Soho district of New York City looks somewhat similar to what we lost. And Soho is a vibrant area. How much of that accrues from its being in Manhattan, I can't say..

I think the opposite is true. There was a vision to create an ‘arts district’ in that area with something like a Lincoln Centre, CBC headquarters, etc – but all that got built was the St. Lawrence Centre.
http://urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=9241&page=15
The reason there is an east section of Mt Pleasant is because this used to be a separate street called Alberta Ave. On the 1910 Atlas of the City of Toronto, Mt Pleasant is a 'proposed street'.

Thanks Anna,
The 'Western' section of Mt. Pleasant always looked like a bypass of this little stub of a street. This 'splains it.

I have enjoyed going down memory lane in Toronto. I love looking back at the past and the ghosts that haunt the streets and buildings. Looking at those people its like they built this city for us to take care of and leave for our children and there children to take care of.

I am an urban explorer and unfortunatly I only see the ruined remains of historic buildings and houses before they get demolished. I take photos of the insides of these places to document urban decay and development. I would love to know which places are being demolished so I can go inside and take documented photos before the building is demolished. It my way of saying goodbye to the past.

What I hate is the way Toronto is knocking down 100 year old buildings and houses to build concrete and stucco cookie cutter buildings and houses. Almost all of Toronto's history is in a landfill somewhere. The places Ive documented my photos is uer.ca

I just want to say thank you all for your hard work and dedication to this great thread. I wish I had photo's of then and now like you guys have done but I only have now pics of houses and buildings that have been since demolished. I hope to contribute if I see places I have explored on this site, Or if I can work with someone to have before pics found of the places I have explored.


Thanks again for all your hard work. It almost feels like I belong in the 1920's

IanK,

Welcome, and passionately put.

 

[Mustapha]

October 24 addition.

Then: Mt. Pleasant looking N from Belsize. c1925-ish?

Now: September 2009.

 

[thecharioteer]

I don't care.... they should and need to rebuild all of it.

Hey, Warsaw and Dresden did it after the war (Dresden's Frauenkirche was recently rebuilt, a domed Baroque cathedral). Why not start with an easy one: rebuild the 1863 Bank of Toronto at Church & Wellington (presently occupied by Pizza Pizza) and it becomes the new City Museum?

 

[Uncle Teddy]

In my opinion, I can only say that the Soho district of New York City looks somewhat similar to what we lost. And Soho is a vibrant area. How much of that accrues from its being in Manhattan, I can't say..

Soho, thanks to Robert Moses, was slated to be completely taken down and replaced by a highway and apartment blocks similar to St Jamestown. Thankfully for New York Jane Jacobs said NO.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Not all of the later Victorian structures that some folks are so nostagic about were aesthetic improvements on the earlier Victorian or Georgian buildings they replaced, though. The Victorians were city wreckers too. The combination of new technology - construction methods such as the steel skeleton that enabled hefty and perhaps rather ungainly structures like the Forrester's and Board of Trade buildings to stand, hot new fashions ( heavy Richardon Romanesque, the house style of a brash new commercial era ... ), and the rise of speculative builder culture may have robbed us of a more elegant and less visually loud earlier Old Toronto.

 

[LowPolygon]

Not all of the later Victorian structures that some folks are so nostagic about were aesthetic improvements on the earlier Victorian or Georgian buildings they replaced, though. The Victorians were city wreckers too. The combination of new technology - construction methods such as the steel skeleton that enabled hefty and perhaps rather ungainly structures like the Forrester's and Board of Trade buildings to stand, hot new fashions ( heavy Richardon Romanesque, the house style of a brash new commercial era ... ), and the rise of speculative builder culture may have robbed us of a more elegant and less visually loud earlier Old Toronto.

I suspect you're right. Except when the Victorians tore something down they replaced it with--something. And--personal taste aside--that something tended to be something very elegant, Grand and well made. In retrospect a bit OTT for some, a bit loose and easy in its appropriation of earlier architectural styles, but they were truly aspirational and inspiring buildings. The block clearing modernists replaced most of what they tore down with: nothing--or its equivalent, a sea of parking.

I know, I know, Berczy Park. People love to eat lunch there etc. The point is, it will never be equal to the beautiful, crowded 19th century cityscape that was lost here.

 

[Blovertis]

And let's not forget that in Georgian times, Toronto was little more than a village. With a few exceptions, the buildings from that era were more utilitarian than monumental.