Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[thecharioteer]

A very forbidding, Orwellian vibe in this picture!

Though there may be hints of totalitarianism, (a la the Air Reich Ministry building in Berlin below), the Bank of Canada building remains one of the most elegant buildings on University Avenue, beautifully proportioned and detailed.

 

[Mustapha]

^ You should have brought your chainsaw.

Actually, I carry in my camera bag a Swiss Army knife with a small saw,. but the weather was warm and would have made for hot work.

 

[Mustapha]

"I wonder who Mr. Bigwood was?" QUOTE Mustapha.


MIGHT'S 1910:

Wm E Bigwood.
145 South Drive.
Lumber.


THE TORONTONIAN SOCIETY BLUE BOOK . . . 1921:

Bigwood, Mr & Mrs Wm E. nee Emery.
SR, Byng Inlet, Ont.
Receiving Day, Monday.
Mrs John C Rogers.
Clubs, Mr:
Albany.
Canadian Club of Toronto.
Lakeshore Country Club.
Mississauga Golf Club.
Toronto Board of Trade.

Clubs, Mrs:
Mississauga Golf Club.
Toronto Ladies' Club.
Women's Art Association.
Womens' Canadian Club.


THE TORONTONIAN SOCIETY BLUE BOOK . . . 1939:

Bigwood, Mrs Wm E. nee Emery.
Alexandra Palace,
600 University Avenue.
Clubs: Ladies Golf & Tennis Club.
Toronto Ladies Club.
Rogers, Mrs M B
161 Forest Hill Road.


Regards,
J T

Mr. Bigwood. Lumber? You kidding me?

 

[Mustapha]

Though there may be hints of totalitarianism, (a la the Air Reich Ministry building in Berlin below), the Bank of Canada building remains one of the most elegant buildings on University Avenue, beautifully proportioned and detailed.

Interesting... Mississauga Slim's comment about totalitarianism. Your showing the Berlin Reich Luft Ministerium. The photo of the Bank of Canada fronted by a wide "Karl Marx Allee" style University Avenue does have the visual sense, perhaps just a cropped visual sense - of Berlin about it.

 

[Mustapha]

One of my occasional indulgences here at Urban Toronto - completely off topic musings: herewith again my cat "Tiger". I show him as a reminder to all of the numerous cats at the Toronto Humane Society who await adoption and love.

 

[adma]

Actually, even though it's in brick rather than stone, my sleeper pick for Nazi-style sublime severity in Toronto would be LCBO on Lakeshore.

 

[Mustapha]

Actually, even though it's in brick rather than stone, my sleeper pick for Nazi-style sublime severity in Toronto would be LCBO on Lakeshore.

Now that you mention it, I can "see" it now.

 

[Mustapha]

June 29 addition.





More in our series of "look backs" at homes of the past. 185 Balmoral is our subject today. This is west off Avenue Road, just a couple blocks south of St. Clair. Picture courtesy of wwebster. Like the other pictures prior to this one, these homes were considered significant enough that they merited "portrait sittings" and inclusion in a trade book of the time.



Then. c1909. Our view is to the SW.

Now. May 2011. Our view is to the SE; small trees make the original perspective impossible.

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"Mr. Bigwood. Lumber? You kidding me?" QUOTE Mustapha.


No.

(LOL)

With suprise, there was no mention of corporate in Might's, just "Lumber".

Sounds/looks like kind of a (wooden) front to me!

(LOL)


Regards,
J T

 

[thecharioteer]

June 29 addition.





More in our series of "look backs" at homes of the past. 185 Balmoral is our subject today. This is west off Avenue Road, just a couple blocks south of St. Clair. Picture courtesy of wwebster. Like the other pictures prior to this one, these homes were considered significant enough that they merited "portrait sittings" and inclusion in a trade book of the time.



Then. c1909. Our view is to the SW.

Now. May 2011. Our view is to the SE; small trees make the original perspective impossible.

Ah, the days when an architect could build his own house on Balmoral!

This "classicizing" tendency seen in 185 Balmoral (well-done here), reminds me of a comparison I did a while ago in the South Rosedale thread in which an 1892 Romanesque-revival house at 35 Rosedale Road got a classic makeover:

Rendering is from the Canadian Architect and Builder (Vol.5, 1892, Issue 1):

 

[Earlscourt_Lad]

I find the present trend towards painting Tudor woodwork (and houses in general) in a monochromatic manner to be highly irritating. When you look at the original portrait, the wood being a black, brown, or dark green, stands out and highlights the design. When it's been painted two colours of mushroom soup, it loses its effect and becomes rather subdued. Not, I should add, that I think that houses should be preserved in aspic with no variation in colour from the original permitted, but a little sensitivity to the original design would be nice.

 

[FAC33]

I find the present trend towards painting Tudor woodwork (and houses in general) in a monochromatic manner to be highly irritating. When you look at the original portrait, the wood being a black, brown, or dark green, stands out and highlights the design. When it's been painted two colours of mushroom soup, it loses its effect and becomes rather subdued. Not, I should add, that I think that houses should be preserved in aspic with no variation in colour from the original permitted, but a little sensitivity to the original design would be nice.

Funny, I was just about to make a similar comment. I've always found well-done Tudor revival houses to be charming (when I was a kid, they were what I wanted to live in when I grew up). That beige woodwork is terribly boring in comparison.

 

[hawc]

Then. This is Castlefield Avenue. Just west of Rosewell. The same Otter creek but about a mile south still had to be bridged.

Now. The gully is still recognizable in the neighbourhood landscape.

I used to live on Briar Hill. I'm curious, does Rosewell follow the path of old Otter creek? Got any shots of Briar Hill between Yonge and Avenue?

 

[hawc]

The B/W images ( Poor Cow, 1967, plays at the Capitol ) remind me of the city I knew when I arrived here. In fact, I worked as an usher at the Capitol Fine Arts in '72/'73 when I was an art student and my parents rented a bungalow ( now a monster home ) on Bedford Park Avenue, just north of Lawrence.

I was a delivery boy for Brisbois Pharmacy back in the early 90s. Never knew the Pharmacy went so far back. My grandparents also lived on Bedford Park Avenue.

 

[4land]

Hi guys,

If you entered this thread just a quick opinion on this question.

Question: which do you prefer to live? back in the old days or now in this modern age? why?