construction | as I walk Toronto

Archive for the ‘construction’ Category

Union Station and beyond

Posted: August 19, 2023 in construction, locations, people, public art, transportation
Tags: Bremner, construction, David Rokeby, John McEwen, Legends Row, Maple Leaf Square, Maple Leafs, Pixel Cube, Scotiabank Arena, signs, statues, Union station

Welcome back!

below: Posing with the men of Legends Row

below: The CN Tower peaks out from behind glass buildings on Bremner.

below: A slightly different angle, but still looking west on Bremner towards the Rogers Centre, which of course everyone still calls the SkyDome. The very east end of Bremner is also known as Raptors Way in celebration of the Toronto Raptors NBA Championship win in 2019 (that’s basketball for those of you who don’t follow such things).

below: Maple Leaf Square. The three rusted metal cones form “Search Light, Star Light, Spot Light” (1998) by John McEwen. At night, light shines through the thousand star shaped holes in the metal.

below: South entrance to Union Station.

below: More public art with lights can be seen in the foyer at 25 York Street (enter at Union Station in photo above and turn left). Thirty thousand lights suspended from the ceiling and they are constantly changing colour. This is David Rokeby’s “Pixel Cube”.

below: If you had turned right instead of left into 25 York, you would find yourself in the foyer of Scotiabank Arena, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Pictured, larger than life on the wall, are 90 Ryan O’Reilly, 16 Mitch Marner, and 88 William Nylander.

below: Russell Peters gives directions?

below: Although much of the Union Station renovation is complete, there are still mystery parts behind temporary walls and plastic barriers.

below: The walk from the railway side of the station to the TTC portion is now covered. No more dodging the elements!

below: Construction on Bay Street, immediately north of the railway tracks.

below: A typical day in downtown Toronto? Construction vehicles caught in the gridlock.

below: Intersection of Bay and Front (that truck is still there!).

below: At street level, something is happening with the gold tinted glass windows on the Royal Bank building. No opportunities to play with reflections in the angled glass walls. As an aside, if you want to discover how many plainclothes security people are lurking in the area, put your camera over the wall and aim it at the building. Then smile.

below: Heading north, Bay and Wellington

Let’s start with A

Posted: August 11, 2023 in construction, locations, old buildings
Tags: anthropology, Knox College, Louis B. Stewart Observatory, Philosophers Walk, purple prairie clover, Que Rock, Queen Alexandra Gateway, Thomas Haskell, Trinity College, U of T Art Museum, University College, University of Toronto, Walter Yarwood

In this case A is a very fancy letter and A is for Alexandra – as in Queen Alexandra. This is a post on one side of the Queen Alexandra Gateway at the north end (at Bloor Street) of Philosophers Walk. A little bit of history – This gate was built by the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire to commemorate the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall in 1901. Originally it stood slightly to the east, at the north end of Queens Park Drive (at Bloor). The names and relationships of the British monarchy can get confusing! The Duke of Cornwall was also Prince George (who later became King George V). Queen Alexandra was his mother – the wife of King Edward VII

on a stone gate pillar, two metal pieces, a crown and the letter A, gatepost is for Queen Alexandra Gateway

Or maybe A is for Architecture.

below: There is plenty of that as you walk along Philosophers Walk including this juxtaposition of old stone and new glass. The reddish structure was built in 1897 to house the Toronto Conservatory of Music. The glass addition to the now Royal Conservatory of Music opened in 2009.

below: The aged copper at the top of Trinity College (built 1920s) is another example of the architectural details to be seen here.

… and now A is for Academia as we find ourselves surrounded by the University of Toronto.

below: Front of Trinity College

below: Ivy covered walls.

below: Hart House – financed by Vincent Massey and named after his father, Hart Massey (of Massey Ferguson). Vincent Massey was the 18th Governor General of Canada (Feb 1852- Dec 1859).

below: “He came and preached peace. ” Faces and felines above a Knox College window.

below: Impressive stonework around a University College door.

below: University College window.

below: Purple prairie clover in front of University College (and no, sadly it doesn’t start with A).

below: Not all University buildings are old and built of stone. This is the McLennan Physical Laboratories building (originally from 1967 but with many updates).

A is for Art.

When I walked this route, the Art Museum at the University of Toronto (in University College) was showing a few artists including the graduating projects of the 2023 Master of Visual Studies graduate students Durga Rajah, Nimisha Bhanot, Omolola Ajao, and Sarah Zanchetta. That exhibited end on the 22nd of July (I am a bit behind in posting). Here is an example – I leave it to you, A the Audience, to decide if it is A for Art in this case.

below: Title: “@ranaayyub Proud of the Muslim women in India who are sticking their neck out and speaking against the tyranny of the Indian state, (Rana Ayyub)” 2023 by Nimisha Bhanot. The image is taken from a short video posted on Instagram in April 2022 by Rana Ayyub who is a journalist at the Washington Post (born in Mumbai India).

A is for Anatomy. But yikes, the anatomy is not where you’d expect it to be!

below: Part of “Consuming Caribbean” series by Thomas Haskell.

A is for Artefacts although I may be grasping at straws here…. (Art -efacts perchance?)… “Resurgent Artefacts” is the name of another of the installations at the U of T Art Museum. It consists of words written on the wall as well as spoken plus a visual aspect. The words begin with: “this morning, a hole appears in your stomach. you rinse dishes that roll inward. sprinkle flowers which disappear. your heart beat ragged like stems rotting in still water. it is no small devastation. sprung without antecedent or count in. just a slow sink. a mossy bog.”… there is more, 8 feet high. Full text on artist’s instagram page

below: The visual part of Jasmine Gui’s “Resurgent Artefacts”, floor to ceiling designs on Japanese paper. A single picture probably doesn’t do it justice.

A is also for Astronomy.

Or in this case, the Louis B. Stewart Observatory on Hart House Circle. The original building was the Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory. From Wikipedia: “The original building was constructed in 1840 as part of a worldwide research project … to determine the cause of fluctuations in magnetic declination. Measurements from the Toronto site demonstrated that sunspots were responsible for this effect on Earth’s magnetic field. When this project concluded in 1853, the observatory was greatly expanded by the Canadian government and served as the country’s primary meteorological station and official timekeeper for over fifty years. The observatory is considered the birthplace of Canadian astronomy.”

A is for Anthropology. That’s the study of humanity, or what makes humans human. You could say it’s the study of cultures and societies and how they develop or interact. Here someone from the Anthropology Department has planted food? I am not sure what is growing here….

below: Also outside the Anthropology building is this cast-bronze sculpture called ‘Cedars’ (1962) by Walter Yarwood.

A is for Anishinaabe

It is also our last stop on this wander through part of the University of Toronto. Now we are at Spadina, just north of the Daniels Building/Architecture faculty where this design was painted on the large north window in November 2021 by Que Rock.

Anyone for B?

a quick check on Osgoode

Posted: August 6, 2023 in construction, locations
Tags: construction, cyclist, Metrolinx, Ontario line, Osgoode station, pedestrian, sidewalk, sidewalks, street, subway, traffic, transit, transportation, University Ave.

At the end of last year there was some controversy about removal of some of the trees from the park in front of Osgoode Hall to make way for Metrolinx and the new Ontario Line subway. (see post here – tree removal ).

Well, the trees did come down and subway construction has begun. The northbound lanes on University Ave north of Queen are closed and of course traffic chaos has ensued.

below: One entrance to Osgoode station on the southwest corner of Queen and University (looking north). On the Metrolinx website, the old building that now houses Rexall will become a new entrance to the subway. Or at least the facade of the building from 1929 is being retained. Before it was a Rexall drug store it was a CIBC branch.

below: Pedestrians crossing Queen Street, east side of University Ave (looking south)

below: The other entrance to Osgoode station is on the northeast corner of University and Queen. (Looking south in this photo.) A new entrance is planned for this location too except that it will be within the black wrought iron fence that surrounds Osgoode Hall. This frees up space on the busy sidewalk.

below: The bike lane on westbound Queen Street comes to an abrupt end and the corner is quite dangerous.

Walking north on University Avenue

below: Looking south on University from Armoury Street. This is the section of University that is closed to traffic.

below: University Club of Toronto, a Georgian building, with just one edge of the US Consulate General visible on the left side of the photo.

below: Weaving of traffic at Armoury Street (in front of the US Consulate General).

Finch West

Posted: July 21, 2023 in construction, public art, transportation
Tags: Brandon Vickerd, construction, Duke Heights, Finch Ave., Finch West station, LRT, Metrolinx, Norfinch, people, reflections, sidewalk, stations, transit, transportation, TTC

I have blogged a few times about the new Eglinton LRT/subway line that may or may not ever get finished in our life time. As well, I have shared some pictures of the construction that is the beginning of the work on the Ontario line through downtown. But apparently, that’s not all that Metrolinx is up to – I have heard rumours of another LRT line under construction in Toronto, the Finch West line. So I went to investigate.

below: Waiting on the platform at Finch West subway station.

Like so many transit projects in the city, the history of the Finch LRT has not followed a straight path. In 2009 the provincial government announced a new subway/LRT line along Finch from Don Mills to Humber College. But that promise was shortlived – the eastern end was removed a year later. Next, mayor Rob Ford cancelled the whole project after taking office at the end of 2010. City Council reinstated it (the western portion) in 2012 and construction was to begin in 2015 for a 2020 completion date. Work began a little later than planned but at least it actually started. The new LRT line goes from Finch West station at Keele to Humber College, 10.3 kilometres in total. It’s behind schedule but I don’t think that that surprises anyone.

My walking plan was to take a Finch bus westward along the new route and then walk back…. Traffic, of course, was horrible and by the time we got to hwy 400 I was ready to get off the bus. It didn’t help that they were repaving parts of Finch Avenue.

below: Like many plans, changes had to be made along the way since the sidewalk kept coming to an abrupt end….

below: .. and intersections weren’t always easy to navigate.

below: At the eastern end of the new LRT, on the east side of the intersection of Keele and Finch is a new public art installation. This steel structure is 40 feet high and represents Elia Public School which once stood at this intersection. It was designed by Brandon Vickerd. In the photo below, the building behind seems to be another Metrolinx building – that T symbol is on the new LRT stations as well.

below: Also at Keele and Finch – there are already two buildings to access the subway. It seems to suggest that TTC and Metrolinx have structures on three of the four corners of that intersection. Finch West station is on the section of Line 1 (Yonge-University) that opened late in 2017. Pictures from those days can be found at “to the end of the line”

below: Most of the LRT runs above ground. In order to provide easy access with the existing subway line, the LRT goes underground just west of Keele.

below: New LRT trains parked at the new Finch West Maintenance and Storage Facility just west of Jane and Finch.

below: No one will be able to say that they can’t find the stations along Finch. This is Driftwood station.

below: Walking past Norfinch Oakdale station.

below: Track work at Tobermory station.

below: Looking west from Romfield

starting at Queen and Sumach

Posted: July 15, 2023 in construction, history, intersections, locations, old buildings
Tags: abandoned, Ashby Place, Canadian flag, Cherry St., Dominion Pub, Elicser Elliott, heritage, historic, houses, Inglenook school, mural, Rowell Soller, stores, Sumach St., Sweet Marie, terrace houses, the Magic Building, William George Storm

First, let’s get our bearings….

below: This was, until recently, the Dominion Pub. It is on the northwest corner of Queen St East and Sumach. It was a popular spot with a decent patio. When I saw that the Dominion was closed and the property for lease I decided that I’d better document the area. There is just so much happening, or about to happen, here in terms of development.

below: Directly opposite, on the northeast corner, is this row of buildings – 502, 506, and 508 Queen Street East. The buildings appear to be empty but there is no development notice sign. Only 502, Sweet Marie Variety, is considered of any historic value.

below: Just to the east, more of the same. One is for sale – It’s just over 1600 sq ft, and can be yours for $1,800,000. These pictures were taken on the 1st of July and as I write this almost two weeks later, it is still on the market. Care to be a commercial landlord? Or maybe hold onto it in hopes that a developer wants to buy you out?

below: One more change of viewpoint… South side of Queen, looking west to Sumach Street

below: Stepping back in time (can anyone date the cars?), to the same intersection but from the other side, Queen Street looking west at Cherry Street.

black and white vintage photo of Queen street, looking west, at Cherry street

City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1488, Series 1230, Item 2285, plus some enhancing with Photoshop

below: The building on the corner with the mansard roof is still there. The bright green part of the building lost its roof in a fire a few years ago. Both buildings date from before 1884.

below: The fire also destroyed one of the row houses immediately beside, leaving a vacant lot in its place. 469 Queen is a terrace house built in 1877. The ivy covered building (the Magic Building) faces Sumach Street.

below: The brick warehouse/factory at 489 Queen Street East was built in 1884. This building has been renovated and turned into office space.

below: Just east of the old warehouse is another short row of terrace houses from the same time period.

below: A little further east

below: And a little more…. a row of flat roofs on two storey brick store fronts. They also all have three narrow windows on the upper floor.

Jumping back to the start, the Dominion Brewery opened in 1878 and was in operation until 1936. The original owner was Robert T. Davies who bought the site in 1877; he had worked previously at his brother’s brewery, Don Brewery which was only about two blocks away. A large part of this structure still stands, especially the part facing Queen Street. The lower right corner of this image shows the Dominion Hotel which was attached to the brewery but wasn’t part of it.

below: The Dominion Hotel as it appeared in 1945. The little tower and fourth floor no longer exist. The hotel was built in 1889 by Robert Davies (same as first owner of the brewery).

An older black and white photo of the Dominion Hotel. Once upon a time it had a tower.

This image was found on Wikipedia but is originally from the City of Toronto Archives, listed under the archival citation Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 520. (public domain).

below: Painting by Rowell Soller on Queen Street

below: From under the scaffolding in front of the Dominion Pub.

below: The front entrance of the Magic Building on Sumach Street, south of Queen (that’s the ivy covered one a few photos above).

below: Not only does the building have a lot of ivy on its walls, it also has a painting by Elicser Elliott with a red-capped man at ground level.

below: The box on the sidewalk across the street from the wizard painting has also been decorated by Elicser Elliott.

If you walk south on Sumach, it is a short block to King.

below: Looking down the alley to another street of row houses, Ashby Place, with newer Corkdown developments behind that.

below: A closer look at a couple of the houses on Ashby Place – they’re small!

below: This is the northeast corner of King and Sumach. This intersection has more than 30 of poles, or at least I lost count at 30. Most of them are for the 504 streetcars.

below: Southeast corner of King & Sumach… a mix of old and new

below: On the northwest side of the intersection are a couple of old brick houses that still survive.

below: When I looked for old photos of the area, I found this one…. If I am not mistaken, it is the same location as the photo above but from a different angle. The building that looks like it’s going to collapse any minute has been replaced by Central Auto. On the right hand side of this photo there is a striped brick building in the background. This is a church at the corner of King and Bright.

old vintage black and white photo of housing at King and Sumach

Housing – Nov 3, 1936, 472 and 474 King St. and 42 Sumach. City of Toronto Archives, Series 372,

South of King Street, Sumach curves to join Cherry Street at Eastern Avenue. As you travel south, Inglenook School is on your right. Between 1834 and 1890 this site was the home of Lucie and Thornton Blackburn, refugee former slaves from Kentucky who started Toronto’s first taxicab company. The school was designed by William George Storm (1826-1892) as Sackville Street School. Storm also added the tower to St. James Cathedral and designed the wrought iron fence around Osgoode Hall amongst other things.

white car parked in frontof an old school building, brick, two storey, with condo development going on behind, is now Inglenook community school.

Inglenook School’s claim to fame is that it is located in the oldest continually-operated school building in the Toronto District School Board.

From here Sumach Street becomes Cherry Street. The Distillery District is the next attraction on the route before Cherry crosses the Lakeshore (closed at the moment) and heads through the Port Lands to Cherry Beach. But all that excitement will have to be found in other blog posts!

Marlee Ave

Posted: July 12, 2023 in construction, doors, locations, stores, windows and walls
Tags: barber shop, belt line, doors, Eglinton Ave West, filipino variety store, Glencairn, graffiti, houses, Jasnine, Marlee Ave., residences, stores, street, ukranian grocery market

Marlee Ave runs parallel to the Allen Road, one block west. It is like a lot of streets in Toronto – it’s a place where people live, shop, and/or work but it’s not a place where you’d visit otherwise. As it turns out, it is also a street in the midst of many changes… and that too is true of so many streets in the city.

It’s north end is at Lawrence Avenue where there is a large shopping center.

below: Marlee is a mix of residences and commercial buildings such as this small plaza.

below: DGA Filipino Variety store – Imported Beauty Products, Homemade Kakanin, Special Halo-Halo & Gulaman Sago, Money Remittances, and much much more!

below: Odessa Russian (Ukranian) Market

below: Seen in a convenience store window

below: As you can see, the barber shop is now open

below: Laundry on the balcony of one of the many sixplexes (six apartments in the building) on Marlee.

below: Someone has a sense of humour – Gate XXX. It must be restricted.

below: Mural painted for Kirsch Cosmetics by Jasnine

below: Another house waiting to be demolished (demolition notice on the fence).

below: One developer has painted all the houses that are empty and boarded up – they are all black

below: Glencairn subway station on the University Line, midway between Lawrence and Eglinton. This section of the subway runs above ground down the center of Allen Road.

A few blocks south of Glencairn, the Kay Gardiner Belt Line crosses Marlee

below: A community garden on the Belt Line

Marlee ends at Eglinton Avenue

This section of Eglinton Avenue West suffered through years of construction mess – lane reductions and sidewalk closures – while the Eglinton Crosstown LRT was being built. The whole process started in 2011. It’s still not running and no one really knows when (if??) it will become operational. The different groups involved in this fiasco are arguing amongst each other and the lawsuits have begun. Until recently, there was a website where you could get updates on the Crosstown, thecrosstown.ca, but it has disappeared.

below: Someone loves Andrea! … and on the lovely note I will end this post. Love to all!!

from the Distillery to Nathan Phillips

Posted: July 9, 2023 in alleys, construction, locations, old buildings, public art
Tags: 60 Queen St. East, Cherry St., city hall, construction, Darwin Peters, development, Frantz Brent-Harris, hoardings, Jamii, Mashkiki, Mill St., Morningstar Quill, nathan phillips square, old city hall, Ontario line, people, Queen St., sign, St. Lawrence market, subway, walking dogs, West Don Lands, Yonge St.

My previous post was about wandering around the Distillery District which by the way is 20 years old now. Back in 2003 it was surrounded by a part of the city that seemed to have been forgotten. In 2015 the PanAm games were held in Toronto. Athletes Village, i.e. housing for the athletes competing in the games was built new in what was now being called the West Don Lands. After the games, this housing was converted to “746 market-priced condos, 41 market-priced town homes, 250 affordable-rent apartments, 257 student dormitory units for George Brown College, office and retail units, and a YMCA recreation centre.” (Wikipedia) Development in the area continues on all sides of the Distillery.

below: Southside view of the new development on Mill Street (east of Cherry).

below: Northeast corner of Mill and Cherry. Part of this complex is a new Anishnawbe health centre.

below: Eastbound on Eastern Avenue at Trinity Street

below: Fire hydrant in a field of chicory, vacant lot surrounded by a fence.

below: Down and out. Grounded. Election signs left over from the recent by-election for mayor.

below: A large section of land at Parliament and Front that will become the site of Corktown station on the new Ontario Line is surrounded by hoardings. From here the line goes northwest to a new Moss Park station at Queen & Sherbourne – or it goes southeast to the existing railway tracks by the Lakeshore where it surfaces before a new station, East Harbour, at the foot of Broadview ( south of Eastern).

below: Nicholson Lane

below: There is a new mural on the St. Lawrence Community Recreation Centre painted by Darwin Peters from Pikangikum First Nation..

below: On the Esplanade

below: Photography exhibit along the Esplanade, “Mashkiki” by Morningstar Quill about life in Pikangikum First Nation. This photo shows a group of young women making ribbon skirts.

below: The exhibit was produced with the support of Jamii, a non-profit arts organization.

below: For those hot summer days when we’re all looking for a bit of relief!

below: Post more Bills

below: Working on the new north market building, St. Lawrence Market.

below: Looking westward from Front and George streets.

below: Lower Sherbourne

below: McVeighs Irish pub in an old building that is now surrounded by new developments, Richmond and Church.

below: The steeple of St James Cathedral peaks through the gap.

below: This is “Afrophilia”, an installation at the Toronto Sculpture Garden by Frantz Brent-Harris, a Jamaican artist now based in Toronto.

below: A closer look at two of the heads.

below: Crossing King Street.

below: Queen Street East

below: The present state of the northeast corner of Queen and Church (60 Queen St. East). Before becoming a placeholder for yet another condo development, it was a Shawarma’s King restaurant. That old yellow building may be living out its final days – since 2018 a very tall (54 to 57 storeys) building has been proposed for this site. The original proposal had the usual blah glass and steel at street level as shown on the condo website (queenchurch.com) but in November 2020 the existing building (and a couple of nearby buildings on Church St) was added to Toronto’s Heritage Register.

below: Queen Street is now closed at Church Street for work on the new Ontario Line subway. Rumour says that it will be closed 4 (5?) years. Yes, years. The subway will run under Queen Street and connect to the Yonge line at Queen and the University line at Osgoode.

below: Peering over the fence?

below: Looking west along Queen Street towards Yonge (behind the hoardings).

below: Trying to look west along Queen at Yonge.

below: The glass roof of the Eaton Centre is also being renovated and updated. Scaffolding now dominates the upper level of the mall.

below: More Queen Street closed… the closure runs as far west as Bay Street and Old City Hall.

below: Feeding the pigeons at Nathan Phillips square.

below: Group shot! A school group visiting City Hall.

below: Constructing a rainbow heart

below: …. which became an attraction before it was finished

below: Empty planters. Ugliness on Queen Street, right in front of Nathan Phillips Square and City Hall. Neglectful. Toronto can build it but Toronto can’t maintain it.

below: Mayor Gao for mayor! I don’t think that this was a serious candidate?! But then again, there were 101 people on the ballot in that by-election so maybe he was…..

Senlac Road

Posted: June 21, 2023 in construction, locations, nature
Tags: apartments, Bogert Ave., construction, hotel, houses, old cars, park, politics, Poyntz Ave., ravine, redevelopment, Sheppard Ave., signs, stores

The north end of Senlac Road is at Finch Avenue. It runs south through the middle of York Cemetery and the Lansing neighbourhood towards Sheppard Ave. .

below: Addington Greenspace (or Addington Greenbelt) is a small park on the west side of Senlac, or rather it is an access point to the city’s ravine system. In this photo, the trail back up the hill to the street ends by a bus stop.

below: The greenspace follows a creek and passes under Addington Street before it meanders southwestward towards the Don River close to Sheppard and Bathurst.

below: Protest signs on lawns. Back in May City Council tried passing a new bylaw that would limit what signs you put on your lawn and how many. There were more than 30 amendments to the Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 693 (Signs). Most of them were adopted on the 14th of June except (if I am reading it correctly) for all amendments concerning “advocacy signs”. The council agenda item history is online. If you check it out and find that I am wrong, please let me know!

below: Although the main part of Senlac ends at Sheppard, there is a small two block section south of Sheppard slightly to the west.

below: Beware of the zombies!!

below: Most of the area is residential – 1950s and 60s suburbia.

below: Like all older neighbourhoods in Toronto, many smaller houses are being upsized.

…. or torn down and redeveloped totally.

below: An empty house. As I was taking these pictures, a woman passing by remarked that they had been empty for seven years. I hadn’t meant for this walk to turn into yet another redevelopment story but even here there are blue white signs along with boarded up buildings.

below: This development dates from 2016. It proposes townhouses along Sheppard but 5 multistorey (11-25 storeys) buildings behind. Part of the reason for the delay is that the project also involves tearing down existing rental accommodation. In June 2022 the City Planning Division recommended that City Council approve the Rental Housing Demolition application that accompanies this development. It is 14 pages long but if you are interested in what happens when developers want to tear down rental units, click on this City of Toronto link

below: Hiding behind a massive shrub, both a house and a development notice

below: This bungalow is actually on Sheppard West. The proposal here is not for a condo, but for a 38 room hotel (in 6 storeys).

below: Also Sheppard West.

Dupont Street scenes

Posted: June 10, 2023 in construction, graffiti and street art, locations, old buildings
Tags: altered sign, Ave Rage, Average Art, basketball, boom lift, construction, Dupont station, graffiti, guns, houses, Joe's convenience, lovebot, Megan Oldhues, murals, redevelopment, reflections, rose, signs, stores, T-bonez, TTC, urban ninja squardon, windows, workmen

Another sunny spring day and another walk in the city. This time we walked along Dupont with the occasional diversion to an alley or side street. First stop? First Last Coffee. Always start with coffee! In general, this blog covers Dupont between Spadina and Ossington and as usual, there may not be much order to the photos!

below: The transparent domed Dupont subway station at the northwest corner of Spadina and Dupont

below: Because of the redevelopment along Dupont (some buildings have been demolished but their replacements are still holes in the ground), Casa Loma can now be seen from the street.

below: Northwest corner of Dupont and Shaw

below: Someone’s comment on the construction….

below: … And another comment – he’s so happy to have a gun that he’s drooling.

There are quite a few construction photos, maybe more than you’d like, but construction plays a large role in the scenery along Dupont these days.

below: Joe’s Convenience chaos.

below: Reflections in a restaurant window

below: Dispensary of a different kind

below: Cyclists waiting for the lights to change.

below: No energy today (all sold out?)

below: Looking at the northeast corner of Dupont and Dovercourt. The interior of this old industrial building has been renovated and part of it is now a basketball school.

below: View through the window

below: The billboard at Dupont and Dovercourt features an image by Maggie Groat and was part of the CONTACT Photography Festival. More of her work is on display at Ontario Square (on the waterfront) and can be seen in a blog post, Double Pendulum, from a few weeks ago.

below: Silver Star Car Wash – I could say that it’s all washed up but considering the time that it takes for the development process – especially in a case like this where the application involves an amendment to the Official Plan and the Zoning By-law.

below: Although it looks like a gathering of praying mantises, it’s really a symbol of a booming construction industry, boom lifts for rent.

below: 888 Dupont (at Ossington) is one of the next buildings to be redeveloped but that is for another story on another blog post.

below: An old rusty sign on the side of a building in an alley just off of Dupont tells us that J.F. Spencer, Sheet Metal Worker, once worked there.

below: Looking along Dupont from Delaware Ave

below: Probably the most affordable house on the street!

below: Some people have rose bushes in their front yard…

below: … and some people have horses.

below: A seaside Nova Scotia scene by Megan Oldhues.

I’ll end this post with a few photos of the graffiti that I saw starting with this old Lovebot.

below: A pinkish red portrait of a young woman.

below: Voodoo Ninja, brought to you by Urban Ninja Squadron along with Ave Rage (or maybe it’s Average) who gets to play the victim.

until next time…. stay focused! … if possible….

888 Dupont

Posted: June 7, 2023 in construction, history, intersections
Tags: 33wallflower33, Aked, car, construction, daisy, doors, Dupont St., graffiti, life, Ossington, pasteups, posters, protest, redevelopment, slaps, windows

below: 888 Dupont Street is at the northeast corner of Dupont and Ossington. The building was designed by Canadian architect William George Hunt and was built in 1921. The first owner was Thomas Oswald Aked whose company Aked & Co (or Aked Worsted) was in the yarn spinning business.

After World War I, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind established a broom, brush, and mop-making business to provide employment for servicemen who had lost their vision in combat. In 1952 this business, Blindcraft, moved into 888 Dupont.

below: The entrance to 888 Dupont is now behind a construction fence.

In recent years the building became home to many artist studios. Although the building was never deemed residential, some artists used it as a place to live. They have now been evicted to make way for condo development by TAS Design.

below: Through a gap in the window…