Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

[Vaucluse]

Shutters, Awnings and windows that could open... the original air conditioners. They might not be very practical in today's multi-story buildings, but I wonder as I sit in my two story suburban commercial building how much energy goes into cooling the inside of the building to the same temperature as it is outside?

 

[nostalgic]

Probably a lot of energy, and even then it's hard to regulate the temperature. I was in a suburban office where staff on the west side cooked while the rest of us froze in the summer. For a house, you hardly need A/C at all if there are awnings, windows that open, shade trees and ivy on the walls.

Alexander Gemmel house, e side Jarvis St between Carlton and Wellesley (from TPL site)

 

[thecharioteer]

Later on the awning usage in the Lumsden Building was more sporadic. Note the retail awnings on the Dineen Building:

 

[Mustapha]

Lumsden Building... that's it, thanks wwwebster.



Then and Now for May 16, 2013.




Then. The Ontario Veterinary College. Dundas and University SW corner. c1916. Those of you with good memories may remember I 'did' this corner a few years ago with another Then picture. Todays Then picture was sourced by wwwebster and I'm taking another opportunity to ruminate on the loss of what was to me a fine and dignified building.

Now. April 2013.

 

[FAW]

I love that the common thread in both these pictures are the streetcar tracks and that there are less cars and more bicycles in the now picture.

Paul

 

[themarc]

It’s not a great quality scan, but I do like this image of the Lumsden Building with most of its awnings unfurled:

from:

http://archive.org/details/constructionjour04macduoft

I always thought that was one of the most god-awful buildings in downtown - but with the Awnings it looks very handsome. Maybe that was the original architects intention. It would be cool if they brought it back (we don't use windows for light anymore anyways...).

 

[plink]

"Is there a way to search who owned plate number 2432 in 1912?"

Z32: There are license plate collectors-myself included-who are also interested
in this plate:

Start With: www.alpca.org
and www.licenseplates.cc

I do believe that if this Ontario 1912 plate 2432 is in a collection or on a
vintage vehicle that we can find out if it still exists...

LI MIKE

I don't have a direct answer to the query, but the following information might tangentially assist, from a different direction. [and it may be of passing interest to readers]

Jane MacNamara posted a transcript of the first set of Ontario motor vehicle license assignments from 1903. Trivia fanatics: John Eaton had #1 and #2.

Although 2432 is not listed, MacNamara does cite the collection reference (RG14-48, microfilm MS 261) from which she transcribed the plate #s. If you were to go to the archives and ask if they had the corresponding records for 1912, you would then be able to look up this plate # -- assuming that the corresponding records are at the Archives and are easily locatable...

 

[adma]

I always thought that was one of the most god-awful buildings in downtown - but with the Awnings it looks very handsome. Maybe that was the original architects intention. It would be cool if they brought it back (we don't use windows for light anymore anyways...).

Don't forget something else that was present then that isn't present now: the cornice.

And in a way, the so-called "god-awfulness" *was* the architect's intention: it was a pioneering work of high-rise concrete construction, and all that horror vacuii of Edwardian quoining was meant to "express" its constructional novelty...

 

[Mustapha]

Then and Now for May 17, 2013.





Then. Richmond and Bay, NE corner. c1911.

Then. A little later. c1915.

Now. April 2013.

 

[nostalgic]

Awnings! And for a change Now looks better than Then. Is that the same hydrant? City Hall is cleaner now than it was just 12 years after it was built.

 

[Blovertis]

Wow, that 1915 building didn't last long -- what, 20 years?

 

[k10ery]

Jane MacNamara posted a transcript of the first set of Ontario motor vehicle license assignments from 1903. Trivia fanatics: John Eaton had #1 and #2.

Very cool, thanks! Among the Austins and Gooderhams etc. in the list, one name stood out for me: Shigesaburo Ubu Kata. A silk merchant from 1897, according to Tony Ruprecht.

 

[Earlscourt_Lad]

And by it's absence: Frederick Barnard Fetherstonhaugh, K.C., M.E.


Regards,
J T

Do explain.

 

[Goldie]

Then. A little later. c1915.

That's a marvellous selection of snaps, Mustapha.
I noticed Bowles Lunch in this shot (left side of photo-corner of Bay & Queen).
It must have lasted about 30 years after 1915 because I remember visiting in the 1940s.

 

[Goldie]

That's a wonderful piece of Toronto history, J T.
Congratulations and thank you.