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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

There's also some stones within the east transept door--but I notice that's been walled in lately, likely to ward off vagrants, vandalism, etc. (When did that start? During Occupy's stint in St James Park?)
 

I'm well and thanks for that Kodachrome slideshow - great viewing!
Photo #25, Elliot Erwitt - a photographer with a wonderful sense of humour - a Google search will reveal his many playful pix
Such as those at: http://jenhood.blogspot.ca/2011/01/elliot-erwitt-capturing-wistful-waggish.html

And while I'm at it - I just couldn't avoid recommending this additional site of a unique photographic project --------
These are "workplaces" just as the photographer found them: http://streetnine.com/Portfolio-II/Workspace-(2007-to-2011)/1/
 
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The First St. James in 1816:

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From the TPL:

After a wood engraving by Michael Hannaford in History of Toronto and County of York, 1885, vol. 1, opp. p. 222, and also in Landmarks of Toronto vol. 1, opp. p. 502. The Hannaford wood engraving is after a wood engraving in Ernest Hawkins, Annals of the Diocese of Toronto, London, 1848, which is after a pen & ink sketch by George W. Allan, 1847. Date Created decade accurate; year, month and day unknown for 191?
Inscribed in pencil, l.r.: Owen Staples.


The Second St. James in 1840:

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From the TPL:

Inscribed l.l.: ST. James Cathedral 1840.
Pen & ink drawing by Owen Staples?, ca 1889?, after "Drawing in Archives of Church". Reproduced in Evening Telegram series "Landmarks of Toronto" 6 July 1889 and in Landmarks of Toronto v.1, p. 507 & v. 4, p. 588.


Aftermath of the fire of 1849:

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1861:

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1906:

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It's difficult to comprehend our downtown Toronto covered by a forest 200 years ago.
The rapid "progress" to a forest of condos is amazing!

I agree. I find that when I look at those gravestones in the context of the old drawings and photographs, it's quite moving.


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Toronto was a good looking city back then. The streetscapes without the usual junk like overhead wires and massive wooden poles are quite elegant amidst the low-rise urban built form.
 
Toronto was a good looking city back then. The streetscapes without the usual junk like overhead wires and massive wooden poles are quite elegant amidst the low-rise urban built form.
Although, bear in mind that the above illustrations are the work of artists who may well have elected to leave various "unaesthetic" elements out of the picture.
 
Then and Now for November 12, 2012.






Then. Toronto's new bus terminal. Dec. 19, 1931.

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Now. June 2012. Oy, we need a new bus terminal.

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Although, bear in mind that the above illustrations are the work of artists who may well have elected to leave various "unaesthetic" elements out of the picture.


But also bear in mind that it was an era without the technology to excuse said "overhead wires and massive wooden poles".
 
In the old view on the left, of St. James looking se from Church St., you can just see one window of a building on the south side of King St. That would be 111 King St. E., where my great-great-grandparents lived when they moved to Toronto from Ireland (via Liverpool, where they had waited two years for suitable passage, and Buffalo). He had his business on the ground floor (Clarke Boots and Shoes) and they lived on the floors above. He’s listed in the 1859-60 directory (Frederick Clarke, shoemaker). In the 1858 assessment the value of the building and land is £900. Next door at 113 King St. (now a little park) was E.J. Palmer, photographer.

111 King St. E. is now La Maquette restaurant. I was there at a wedding reception some years ago when I remembered my father saying that his great-grandfather had lived across from the cathedral. That inspired my first foray into the city archives. Imagine my thrill at discovering that 111 King St. E. was my ancestors’ first home in Toronto. We went back for dinner several times for the bizarre feeling of imagining how it was with my family there more than 150 years ago. I was back at the archives every weekend all that winter to find out where else they had lived in the city. Of all the places they lived and worked in Toronto, later Hamilton, then Deer Park, 111 King St. E is the only building still standing.
 
Yes, that’s him. Thank you for finding this! After 111 King St E he moved the business to 86 Yonge St for a number of years. (I noticed a photo of 86 Yonge around page 561 of this forum but I think it must be the building after the one he occupied in the 1860s.) From 1864-66 he also had a store across the street at 101 Yonge. The family had a military bent (his father was a Colour Sergeant in the Royal Scots and fought at Waterloo; his son was secretary of the Queen’s Own Rifles) and I suppose he might have been supplying leather goods to the military (Queen’s Own Rifles fought at Fort Erie during the Fenian Raid). Around 1876 he moved the business to 211 Yonge St until the family moved to Hamilton in 1878. Their homes after 111 King St. E. were at 17 Richmond St. E. (1861), above the store at 86 Yonge for several years (1862-68), 155 Victoria St. (1868), 40 Carlton St. (1869), 18 Carlton St. (1870-72), 26 Carlton St. (1873-74) and 63 Isabella (1874-78). All were rented. A lot of moving! When his son moved back to Toronto (around 1897) he bought a house in Deer Park at 36 Rosehill Ave. My grandmother and younger siblings went to Deer Park school.
 
Yes, that’s him. Thank you for finding this! After 111 King St E he moved the business to 86 Yonge St for a number of years. (I noticed a photo of 86 Yonge around page 561 of this forum but I think it must be the building after the one he occupied in the 1860s.) From 1864-66 he also had a store across the street at 101 Yonge. The family had a military bent (his father was a Colour Sergeant in the Royal Scots and fought at Waterloo; his son was secretary of the Queen’s Own Rifles) and I suppose he might have been supplying leather goods to the military (Queen’s Own Rifles fought at Fort Erie during the Fenian Raid). Around 1876 he moved the business to 211 Yonge St until the family moved to Hamilton in 1878. Their homes after 111 King St. E. were at 17 Richmond St. E. (1861), above the store at 86 Yonge for several years (1862-68), 155 Victoria St. (1868), 40 Carlton St. (1869), 18 Carlton St. (1870-72), 26 Carlton St. (1873-74) and 63 Isabella (1874-78). All were rented. A lot of moving! When his son moved back to Toronto (around 1897) he bought a house in Deer Park at 36 Rosehill Ave. My grandmother and younger siblings went to Deer Park school.

And after 4 years, 4 months, 3 weeks and 5 days, this thread has reached 10000 posts. Thanks to all the contributors, and thanks especially to Mustapha for getting the whole thing started
 

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