Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[Goldie]

Toronto Street

Thanks to thecharioteer for those additional photos.

I love seeing the Toronto Street of old.

I hope to get down there soon to shoot more of my own.

I haven't rubbed shoulders with the Hollinger crowd for 3 years.

I wonder what's happening to Black's old office. Renovations or demolition?

 

[ganjavih]

Could this thread get anymore depressing?

People often argue that Toronto is a younger city which is why it doesn't have the same stock of historical buildings as other cities - that's BS. We simply demolished too much of what we had.

I agree. While a lot of our residential neighbourhoods remained intact, our commercial streets were completely ravaged by urban renewal. Toronto St, King St, Front St... these are tragedies. Compared to other North American cities, it seems that Toronto got hit hard. A victim of its own success?

 

[chriskayTO]

I haven't rubbed shoulders with the Hollinger crowd for 3 years.

I wonder what's happening to Black's old office. Renovations or demolition?

That building was sold in 2006 to someone else. They have undertaken a reno job that's been going on for quite a while, I believe.

 

[LowPolygon]

Just as a followup to the Toronto Street pictures, it's interesting to compare pics from the 1900's and later, and see the impact that cars have on a street in terms of scale and urbanity. Somehow, the street starts seeming so much smaller in the 1927 photo (also because of the office "tower" on the west side at Adelaide) and of course by the later demolitions and change in building scales:

it is one of the great quirks of history that, 100 years ago, human beings decided that the best way to propel their bodies through space was to encase it in two or three tons of metal.

 

[Mustapha]

Very nice Mustapha, I love that intersection. Did you wait for the streetcar in the now picture or was that a fluke.

Thanks androiduk. I waited for the streetcar.



November 12 addition.



Night shot!! Then: Yonge looking N from Queen. Someone will probably date this picture from the date of release of the motion picture on that marquee.

Now: September 2009.

 

[thecharioteer]

I agree. While a lot of our residential neighbourhoods remained intact, our commercial streets were completely ravaged by urban renewal. Toronto St, King St, Front St... these are tragedies. Compared to other North American cities, it seems that Toronto got hit hard. A victim of its own success?

Unfortunately, many (if not most) American cities suffered even more than Toronto. Denver is a case in point. Its' Curtis Street was its "Great White Way" and by 1930 the city itself contained 48 theatres (see the book Denver Now and Then by Joshua Dinar). Post-war the Denver Urban Renewal Authority razed the entire street and in 1964, even the 1881 Tabor Grand Opera House was demolished.

Curtis Street:

The Tabor Grand Opera House:

 

[condovo]

November 12 addition.

Night shot!! Then: Yonge looking N from Queen. Someone will probably date this picture from the date of release of the motion picture on that marquee.

Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)

Edward G. Robinson as Martinius Jacobson
Margaret O'Brien as Selma Jacobson
James Craig as Nels 'Editor' Halverson
Frances Gifford as Viola Johnson
Agnes Moorehead as Bruna Jacobson
Morris Carnovsky as Bjorn Bjornson
Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins as Arnold Hanson
Sara Haden as Mrs. Bjorn Bjornson


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

 

[wwwebster]

I had come to believe that the city decided to get out of the underground lavatory business after losing a court case regarding the Parliament & Queen lav that was next to the business now known as Marty Millionaire:

http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1917/0scr55-153/0scr55-153.html

However, the 1927 image posted by thecharioteer suggests to me that the Toronto Street lavatory had to go because it was a hazard to automobile traffic.

The entrance in 1912:

https://gencat4.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/fo1231/f1231_it1657.jpg

 

[Edward Skira]

Those Denver shots are quite depressing.

 

[androiduk]

^ Could you imagine if they had left Curtis St. intact they would be getting millions of tourists a year to see it.

 

[thecharioteer]

^ Could you imagine if they had left Curtis St. intact they would be getting millions of tourists a year to see it.

They realize that as well and are trying to revive the street (which is near the Denver Performing Arts Complex, Denver's version of Lincoln Center) by erecting neon theater signs on existing buildings, which I guess is one degree less than "facadism" and is more like "signism"

http://www.denverinfill.com/blog/2007/05/downtown-denver-theatre-district.html

 

[Tommy Shanks]

I've been registered here for a few weeks (since seeing the Star write-up) so I'm a bit late to the party.

This thread doesn't help.

I think I've spent 95% of my time just here, and I'm starting to think I recognize some of the people (My folk, grandparents, etc.) in the pictures.

But great job to everybody responsible, especially Mustapha. This thread is a treasure trove.

 

[thecharioteer]

I had come to believe that the city decided to get out of the underground lavatory business after losing a court case regarding the Parliament & Queen lav that was next to the business now known as Marty Millionaire:

http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1917/0scr55-153/0scr55-153.html

However, the 1927 image posted by thecharioteer suggests to me that the Toronto Street lavatory had to go because it was a hazard to automobile traffic.

The entrance in 1912:

https://gencat4.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/fo1231/f1231_it1657.jpg

Thank you for these, webster! My god, in the 1912 photo, it looks positively Parisian with that lamp standard. In other pictures, (1890's?) the lavatory entrance was covered by what looks like a festive-looking tent or pavilion:

Post-pavilion:

 

[Mustapha]

Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)

Edward G. Robinson as Martinius Jacobson
Margaret O'Brien as Selma Jacobson
James Craig as Nels 'Editor' Halverson
Frances Gifford as Viola Johnson
Agnes Moorehead as Bruna Jacobson
Morris Carnovsky as Bjorn Bjornson
Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins as Arnold Hanson
Sara Haden as Mrs. Bjorn Bjornson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Vines_Have_Tender_Grapes

Thanks condovo. Butch... now there is an old fashioned nickname.

I had come to believe that the city decided to get out of the underground lavatory business after losing a court case regarding the Parliament & Queen lav that was next to the business now known as Marty Millionaire:

http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1917/0scr55-153/0scr55-153.html

However, the 1927 image posted by thecharioteer suggests to me that the Toronto Street lavatory had to go because it was a hazard to automobile traffic.

The entrance in 1912:

https://gencat4.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/fo1231/f1231_it1657.jpg

I written this before but there is a cool Victorian era underground lav near London's Greenwich Park. Wooden doors and ancient sinks and all.





November 13 addition.



Then: NE corner of College and Bathurst. 1919.

Bank branches can be long lived.

This neighbourhood has never seen a shortage of smartly dressed young women down through time... note the lovely checking her watch. Black, it seems, is always in fashion.

Note also the paper boys putting their sections together, before delivery.

Now: September 2009.

 

[wwwebster]

Bank branches can be long lived.

I think they were expected to; I've noticed a few of them from that era have Elevation Benchmarks like this one mounted on them:

http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/3440c6df-fc9d-456e-9691-65b6a965057c.JPG

I've also found them on old churches, post offices and fellowship halls.