adma
Superstar
April 8 addition.
Yonge and Chatsworth, SW corner.
Sad loss of a station. But that's my favourite Toronto church in the background--very mid-c20 Swiss...
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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now
- Thread starter Mustapha
- Start date
Sad loss of a station. But that's my favourite Toronto church in the background--very mid-c20 Swiss...
egotrippin
Senior Member
Why on Earth would they tear down the original gas station building if they were keeping the site as a gas station. This is especially considering that the original structure was very interesting, while the new one is a tremendous step downwards.
I guess perhaps I'll never understand what went through the heads of a lot of planners and developers in the mid-century.
I guess perhaps I'll never understand what went through the heads of a lot of planners and developers in the mid-century.
adma
Superstar
Key word: "mid-century".
And as it stands now, even the present station is a charmingesque survivor simply by being an old-school full-service operation...
Mustapha
Senior Member
This corner hasn't changed too much in 50 odd years. If you look at the black&white version of the blend, it's hard to tell what's new and what's old. Again, thanks to Mustapha for keeping the modern perspective close to the original. Take a look at the new version of the 'Capitol' sign on the theatre. Now that's minimalism!
This Laura Secord decamped to inside the Eglinton subway station sometime in the late 60s - located where the pizza all day breakfast place is now (across from the 'Cinnabon'). Quite large and always busy. The all women staff wore white nurses type uniforms. Then it moved to the SE corner of Yonge and Erskine. Now it's inside the Yonge Eglinton Centre. In its own way it has been one of the steady fixtures of life in North Toronto. People don't really give flats of chocolates anymore, except perhaps at Christmas. Laura Secord chocolates still mean something special, thank goodness.
I miss the hum and whir of the Yonge trolley, and the thump when the pole fell from the wire onto the roof accompanied by the lights going out. Now I have to go to VAN for the same experience.
Thanks androiduk.
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Mustapha
Senior Member
Interesting building. And, one of the more interesting offshoots of the Christian faith.
April 9 addition:
Queen on the left and King on the right. Then. Later. Now.
Mustapha
Senior Member
April 10 update.
Yonge and Eglinton.
Looking N
Looking S
Yonge and Eglinton.
Looking N
Looking S
adma
Superstar
April 10 update.
One interesting thing I notice: there's two CIBC branches a few doors from each other. (Was this the aftermath of the Canadian Bank Of Commerce/Imperial Bank Of Canada merger in 1961?)
(1) nice New Look to the left...
(2) looks like OPSEU was nearing completion in the background...
(3) what do those attenuated letters atop 2221 Yonge spell? (And interesting that the flagpole still exists after all these years.)
(4) ah, that old school No U Turn sign--all the more reason to cherish just about the last remaining example of its sort (on Bay t/w Queen)
(5) and most of all, the Stop The Spread Of Nuclear Weapons poster. Yes, they even protesteth in Toronto The Good long before New City Hall opened, long before Jane Jacobs came to town, etc...
condovo
Senior Member
We're going to regret demolishing buildings such as the one next 2221 Yonge in the before pic where Minto Midtown stands today. (Also, the building destroyed to make way for X Condo and the old CAS building).
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adma
Superstar
You mean that provincial office building? Despite the modish window frames and pleated penthouse roof, it was one of the stodgiest things of its day. Once you start actively regretting that after the fact, you might as well regret the loss of practically anything out there...
condovo
Senior Member
I defer to your better-informed judgement on these matters.
adma
Superstar
Well, I can't say that I don't have a certain misty eye t/w it--after all, I identified some of its distinctive features. It's sort of the embodiment of c1960 bureaucratic conservatism: a bit of a boiled-over Scandinavian/Festival Of Britain tweak of what might otherwise have been retardataire neo-Georgian. But it isn't like the replacement is unworthy except to the hardcore Walker/Stintz adherents out there (whose point of contention has nothing to do with raw architectural preservation, besides).
But you (and I, with my certain-misty-eye comment) have a point: after all if we take something like the BCE/Brookfield block, nobody batted an eye 20 years ago when the 60s curtain wall of Credit Foncier was sacrificed for it, because all the "historical" emphasis was on the older stuff further east--even the c1928 building at Bay + Front that everyone remembers as the Admiral-sign platform wasn't all that "considered" or crusaded-for. Today, it'd definitely be different for the latter, and even to a degree for the former, though it wasn't like Credit Foncier was *important* or anything, just that it's more worthy upon "reflecting upon" today...
But you (and I, with my certain-misty-eye comment) have a point: after all if we take something like the BCE/Brookfield block, nobody batted an eye 20 years ago when the 60s curtain wall of Credit Foncier was sacrificed for it, because all the "historical" emphasis was on the older stuff further east--even the c1928 building at Bay + Front that everyone remembers as the Admiral-sign platform wasn't all that "considered" or crusaded-for. Today, it'd definitely be different for the latter, and even to a degree for the former, though it wasn't like Credit Foncier was *important* or anything, just that it's more worthy upon "reflecting upon" today...
Uncle Teddy
Senior Member
Love the signage in the older Yonge and Eglinton shots.
condovo
Senior Member
Well, adma, I guess when it comes to historic/architectural preservation, it's incredibly difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.
And another thing that irritates me, as revealed by these images, is how thoroughly we've failed in preserving the original (sashed) windows of many of the significant buildings that have survived. Or, at the very least, to find reasonable replacements. 2221 Yonge is just one example (though not really a 'significant' building). The whole rhythm of the facade is pretty much gone.
And another thing that irritates me, as revealed by these images, is how thoroughly we've failed in preserving the original (sashed) windows of many of the significant buildings that have survived. Or, at the very least, to find reasonable replacements. 2221 Yonge is just one example (though not really a 'significant' building). The whole rhythm of the facade is pretty much gone.
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adma
Superstar
True enough; the new strip windows of 2221 are dead. Though it's interesting how much original character it retains otherwise, from the base treatment up to the flagpole--never a temptation to grossly postmodernize it or parts thereof...
Mustapha
Senior Member
April 11 addition.
Normal School facade in Ryerson University Quadrangle.
I could not move further back for the same perspective as the old photo; there was a building behind me.
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