There is no theme to this blog post. I never really had a purpose in mind as I walked yesterday. I walked to enjoy the spring day. I walked wherever my feet took me… and they took me on a route that wove between Bay Street and University Avenue and from Grenville south to Dundas.
below: “Jimmy Mount Rushmore” mural on the side of Jimmy’s Coffee featuring four famous musical Jimmys: Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jimmy Buffet and Jim Morrison.
below: ‘Inner City Gate’ by Kosso Eloul. 1978. A balancing act of stainless steel boxes on the lawn of the R. Fraser Elliott building (part of the old Toronto General Hospital), Elizabeth Street.
below: A blight on the sidewalk, so-called information pillars that are really just a sell-out to Astral Media. They needlessly obstruct the sidewalk and obstruct the view of cyclists and motorists. Unfortunately they are part of a 20 year contract that the city has with Astral Media which doesn’t expire until 2027.
below: Incised into limestone blocks on the Edward Street side of McClelland House (originally the McLean Hunter building) is half of an artwork by Elizabeth Wynn Wood (1903 – 1966) called “Communication”. The woman is sending a message to a man who is apparently shown on the other side of the building. Sadly, I missed the man so there is no photograph of him here. When the work was completed in 1958, the incised lines were inlayed with gold colour.
below: Across the street from the ‘floating woman’, 480 University Avenue is getting a facelift.
below: This picture shows most of the front of 480 University and you can see the different stages of the recladding process. At the top of the building, the precast concrete grille that was part of the original 1968 Global House office tower is still in place while new glass panels have already been installed on the lower floors. It is interesting to watch the metamorphosis of an 18 storey office building into a 55 storey condo tower. Four levels of underground parking have also been added to the site and a new indoor entrance to St. Patrick subway station is in the works.
below: Abstract in blues and greys
There is a lot of building and redevelopment in the area where I walked.
below: Womens College Hospital is totally new.
below: The corner of College and Bay, looking southeast, is now a wall of glass.
below: The new wing of Sick Kids Hospital dwarfs the older buildings on Elm Street.
below: The old and the new integrated into one building, Princess Margaret Hospital.
below: Even the street is being redone. The center of Bay Street from Dundas to Elm is torn up because of TTC streetcar track replacement.
below: Little quirky details: First, the cross shapes made of contrasting brick on the back of the Red Cross building. Second, the workings (or barrier?) of the compressed gas tanks that have been made to look like ice.
below: Another piece of public art, ‘Liquid Echo’ by Catherine Widgery, 1999, is in front of 750 Bay Street. They look like stiff and lifeless frozen metallic fountains… or maybe just 12 pencils 🙂 . Circular vent shafts for the underground parking have been incorporated into the artwork.
below: A lovebot watches over the people passing through the bus station, unaware that he is there.
below: And last, a colourful collection of squares and rectangles. Blue and green. Red and white.
as I walk Toronto 