old buildings | as I walk Toronto

Archive for the ‘old buildings’ Category

Queen East and a little bit Eastern

Posted: September 23, 2023 in construction, doors, intersections, old buildings, stores
Tags: architecture, Bareket, buses, Consumers Gas, Curtia Wright, doors, dutch love, Eastern Ave., Elicser Elliott, fence, flowers, Gales, ghost signs, Hebrew, houses, Leslieville, Mediah, murals, Queen Street East, redevelopment, signs, stores, trucks, vacant lots, welcome, Welcome Back to Main Street

These are some of the photos that I took the last time that I walked along Queen Street East – with a diversion or two down to Eastern Avenue. It was a wander around parts of the Leslieville and Riverside neighbourhoods. In no particular order….

below: Leslieville mural painted by Elicser Elliott, Queen Street East

below: Queen Street shops

below: Hebrew letters, part of a project called “Welcome Back to Main Street” from back in 2021. The Riverside Neighbourhood and Leslieville BIA collaborated with STEPS Public Art as part of the I HeART Main Street Challenge. The painting was done by local artists Bareket and Curtia Wright

below: … and nearby, “welcome” in Polish, witamy.

below: At 744 Queen East, the old white Bank of Commerce building with its bowed front facade, dates from 1905. The architects who designed the building were Darling & Pearson who were responsible for a number of bank buildings in Toronto and other Canadian cities.

below: Blessed Love Caribbean Grocery and Take Out.

below: A frenzied backdrop to a sidewalk patio.

below: Ghost sign at Queen and Coady.

below: More details from the past trying to hold on. The “blue box” has obliterated the old gabled roof structure that has probably been there for more than 100 years.

below: Canadian flag motifs on planters

below: Strange ducks on posters, a form of graffiti? Or just weirdness?

below: Sax player at the Duke

below: Mediah on Queen

below: on Broadview

below: Gales Snack Bar, Eastern and Carlaw.

below: Old row houses on Eastern – 4 in a row, 3 blue but 545 is in its original brown.

below: Something else that is old – an old style bus shelter close to an old metal Queen Street street sign affixed to the brick building.

below: And one last “you don’t see many of these anymore” – old parking meters. Anyone got coins?

below: Snapdragons

below: Lilies and hostas

below: More flowers, and a baby pram too. Did you know that pram is just a short form of perambulator? How British is that! Even better, the second meaning of perambulator is, “a person who walks, especially for pleasure and in a leisurely way.”

below: More than flowers!

below: Perambulating on Queen West!

below: Traffic on Eastern Ave, headed downtown.

below: No trespassing sign on one of the many vacant lots on the south side of Eastern.

below: This is one of the vacant lots on Eastern; it’s just west of Leslie. The containers are offices (?) for GM as in General Motors. They are sitting on a seven acre site that is otherwise empty. Starting back in 2016 there was talk that this site would be developed as a GM Mobility Campus but approval from the city was never granted. The previous buildings (film studios) were demolished and the lot lies vacant.

below: Another space is for storage of old buses and trucks, movie props and other remnants of film productions.

below: … which happened to be unlocked the day I walked past.

below: On Leslie Street, at Eastern, this whole building is for lease because….

below: .. as the letter states, the last tenant was locked out. They abandoned the premises leaving behind more than $100,000 in rent owing to the landlord.

below: The former Consumers Gas Company (now part of Enbridge) has had a large presence on Eastern Avenue for many years. This stone on the exterior of the building names all the Consumers Gas directors in 1907 (presumably when the building was built?). J.L. Blaikie was the president and A.W. Austin was the vice-president. The mayor of the city, E. Coatsworth, was also a director. There was a Sir W. Mortimer Clark on the list and, to no one’s surprise, the other names were all very anglo.

below: Queen West at the CNR tracks

below: Little red picket fence

below: Renovations

below: Note the many hydro meters all in a row – six units in what was once a single family home.

below: So far so good

below: Nice

below: You never know what you will find written on the concrete.

below: In memory of Karolina Huebner-Makurat who died on a Friday afternoon in August because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was caught in the crossfire during an altercation outside a supervised injection site. Senseless. Horrible.

Stay safe.

a tale of two bridges

Posted: September 15, 2023 in construction, locations, old buildings, transportation
Tags: Canadian National Railway, CNR, construction, dump truck, Eastern Ave., GO Transit, Leslieville, Metrolinx, Ontario line, Queen St. East, Riverdale, Riverside, street, traffic, train, trucks, TTC

Traffic on Eastern Avenue near Broadview has faced construction and traffic delays over the past few months. The slow downs are ongoing as work on the railway bridge progresses. This work is because Metrolinx is adding tracks to make room for the new Ontario Line. Like many parts of the city, there are many changes occurring in the area.

Demolition on the north side of Eastern, and poof, gone, one large 5 storey Self Storage facility at 356 Eastern. Removed to make way for new tracks. The beige house faces Lewis Street.

… and now sitting gutted on the south side is another not old building (South side of Eastern Ave between Broadview and the railway tracks).

South side of Eastern, from another angle.

West side approach to the Canadian National Railway bridge

Along with the new railway line, Metrolinx is building what they are calling the East Harbour transit hub. This involves a new Ontario Line station as well as a new GO station on the Lakeshore East and Stouffville GO lines. Eventually, plans are to have TTC streetcars or LRT link here (it is directly south of Broadview and there is a plan to extend Broadview).

below: Construction along the railway line, south of Eastern Ave

below: One side (the east side) of the railway tracks has been demolished. Ultimately the whole bridge will be replaced but it is being done in stages to allow GO trains and VIA rail trains to continue running throughout the process.

A constant flow of dump trucks back and forth, in and out, of the construction site south of Eastern (on both sides of the railway tracks). The 38 acre site that includes the old Lever Bros (Ponds, Sunlight etc) soap factory is being redeveloped at the same time – it extends south to Lakeshore and west to the Don River.

Looking west on Eastern Ave, back towards downtown.

405 Eastern Ave, immediately east of the railway bridge, is also under construction. It has nothing to do with transportation as it is a new Enbridge building. A large 3 storey building with both offices and industrial (computers?) will probably be built here.

Makes sense, gas pipelines on site.

Just north of Eastern Ave, the railway tracks cross Queen St East., crossing over a bridge of the same style and vintage. Once upon a time this was a level crossing with a railway station on the northwest corner, the Riverdale station on the Grand Trunk Railway. This is soon to be the location of the Riverside Leslieville station on the not yet built Ontario Line.

So far the bridge is still intact but it too will be completely changed by the time Metrolinx is finished. The station itself will be on the bridge (if their drawings & plans are to be believed).

Here there will be 6 tracks – 4 for GO Transit and 2 for the Ontario Line.

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?

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!

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…..

around the Distillery, June 2023 version

Posted: July 6, 2023 in locations, old buildings, people, public art
Tags: 6ix Art Outdoor, art, Balzacs, construction, cranes, Distillery District, heart, millstone, people, pride, sculpture, Terran McNeely, trees

below: The sparrows around Balzacs Coffee shop are as brazen as ever. If you decide to lure them away by throwing crumbs elsewhere, the pigeons will join in the fun.

below: East entrance to the Distillery, on Cherry Street. I suspect that everyone who visits the Distillery takes this photo.

below: Part of a display of some of the products produce by the Gooderham and Worts distillery over the years. The distillery complex built by Gooderham and Worts started producing spirits in 1862. At one time it was the largest employer in Toronto. It also once produce half the spirits made in Canada.

below: There are now many old photos of the Gooderham and Worts distillery from years past scattered around the Distillery District. This one is ” The Office Entrance”. The door is still there, as are many other features seen in the photo.

below: Approaching Parliament, with the large heart painted in rainbow colours for Pride month (June).

below: Home is Toronto

below: Old millstone from the windmill that pre-dates the dsitillery.

large stone, round with hole in middle, plaque attached, old millstone from the distillery, made in 1832

“This millstone brought from England on the schooner ‘Kingston’ to the town of York 1832 was used for grinding grain in the historic windmill of Gooderham & Worts. The windmill stood 52 feet southwest by south of this point. It was the eastern limit of the famous ‘Old Windmill Line” on which the original plan of the city of Toronto was based.”

below: Note on the bakery door – Please make sure that the pigeon doesn’t come in with you! Patty the pigeon wasn’t there the time that I went in.

below: The line of painted head and torsos is back. The shapes are all the same but each has bee painted by a different artist. They are part of the ‘6ix Art Outdoor’ exhibit.

below: Two of the sculptures still under wraps. This is at 6least the second time that they have been on display. They were lined up in same place last August. If you want more information about them, I blogged about the 6ix Art Outdoor last year. (follow link).

below: The inflatable couches are there because through July there are night time showings of various movies, Italian movies for the most part I think.

below: Painting by Terran McNeely for Pride 2023.

below: Development notice sign on Mill Street.

below: One of the buildings on Distillery Lane is being refurbished. Yellow crane is for new development on Parliament.

below: There is now a hole on Parliament!

below: … a very big hole!

below: And I’ll end this post with a sigh…. some people

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….

a little piece of Weston

Posted: February 5, 2023 in graffiti and street art, history, locations, old buildings, public art, stores
Tags: bicycle paintings, Bryan Bermudez, Elicser Elliott, houses, Jim Bravo, Johnny Bower, Mario Noviello, mural, Niel Yee, Pantelis Kalamaris Gardens, pedestrian bridge, Peters Barber Shop, railway tracks, residential, Rowena Kizito, sidewalk boxes, stores, Valentines, Weston Road, Weston Streetscape

This blog post is the result of a walk around the vicinity of Lawrence Avenue West and Weston Road. The latter was once Main Street in the village of Weston.

below: Approach to the Weston pedestrian bridge over the railway tracks. The Grand Trunk Railway was built here in 1856 (now Canadian National Railway, CNR).

below: Elicser Elliott’s paintings of cyclists over the years line the ramp to the bridge.

below: Looking back to the west

below: Looking south towards Weston UP station (Union Pearson Express) at Lawrence Ave.

below: A young girl outside on a sunny day in a bright and cheerful painting on a lone house. Next door is an Islamic Association and Masjid. Like so many other places in the city now, a larger and taller building fills the background.

below: Street scene and evolution – The oldest buildings are in the row of two storey commercial establishments that line Weston Road (by the traffic lights). Behind them are apartments that are a few decade old. Last, the most recent development is in the immediate foreground, right hand side.

below: Jerk Hut, Desserts, Juices, and Candy Cakes all squeezed into a little building beside (behind?) CashWay. And while you’re there, you can get your palm read upstairs.

below: Southeast corner of Weston Road and Lawrence Avenue East.

below: For all your vegan leather and faux fur needs – Honeyy dripp (I had to look it up!)

below: There is a series of pictures on these windows that was painted by Bryan Bermudez, Jim Bravo, Niel Yee, and Rowena Kizito in 2014. It depicts young people from three different eras.

below: ‘Weston Streetscape circa 1900’ by Mario Noviello, 1997-1998. Original concept by Eric Lee. A streetcar passes in front of Weston City Hall. On the right is the Central Hotel with the brick steeple of Central United Church just visible behind it.

below: Another bike

below: I think that someone is a Maple Leaf fan!

below: Peter’s Barber Shop is now on Pantelis Kalamaris Gardens. In fact, the street was named after Peter back in 2012, just after the 50th anniversary of the shop opening (which was in 1961).

below: And nearby is Johnny Bower Blvd. Bower (1924-2017) was a Toronto Maple Leaf goalie in the 1960s, a great decade for the Leafs as they won the Stanley Cup four times…. 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1967. Bower and his family lived on this street at the time.

I also saw many wonderful older brick houses, the kind that we aren’t building any more. Some of the styles were common to Toronto while some were more unique.

below: All decorated for Valentines Day.

The next blog post, ‘Out and About in Weston’, features a mural in Weston that was painted by Christiano De Araujo.

And after that is, Que Rock and Bacon in Weston, with even more murals on Lawrence Avenue East

farther west on Gerrard

Posted: February 4, 2023 in alleys, construction, graffiti and street art, locations, old buildings, reflections
Tags: alleys, cheese, Chris Perez, construction, garages, Gerrard St., graffiti, Homer Simpson, houses, laneway, murals, paste ups, redevelopment, residential building styles, row houses, slaps, stores, urban ninja squadron, vegetables, wheatpaste

A short while ago, I posted some pictures from Little India which is centered on Gerrard Street. If you travel farther west on Gerrard you come to what has become known as Chinatown East (as you approach Broadview).

below: Nappa, Chinese cabbage, and White radish,

below: Scenic Aqualium Co., Exotic Fish and Bonsai (yes it has an ‘L’).

below: Shoes, boots, and umbrellas.

below: Carrots and tomatoes

below: Pomegranates in boxes and forks on the wall

below: Aging price list

below: Old Lumberking ghost sign on the southwest corner of Logan and Gerrard

below: Broadview and Gerrard – looking east along Gerrard

below: Streetcar stop on the southwest corner of Broadview and Gerrard

below: Square and orange on top.

below: More stores – Jiahua Trading Company with its assortment of goods beside the Dai Kuang Wah Herb Market.

below: One Plus One Hair Salon, Tung Hing Bakery, and Sing Sing BBQ House – all adding to the eclectic mix of store fronts in the area.

below: House reflections

below: No more ‘Epoch Times’ in front of this store.

below: A get together of paper characters – The Incredible Raffa, Las Mujeres Vampiro, Life (that’s the one-eyed daisy), T-bonez got knifed in the back.

below: Peace, in red

below: White roses to heal with

below: Homer Simpson with 64 slices of cheese!

below: Santa Claus and a skeleton – covering more than one holiday at a time.

‘

below: Old mural street art painting in the alley (from 2016)

below: Infill – new housing being constructed in the alley

Dundas Street runs parallel to Gerrard, just a bit to the south…. and that is where you’ll find this dog sitting outside in rain or shine.

below: The Dundas Street Public School class of 2022 left their mark on the fence with their messages of love and peace.

below: As did the the class of 2021

This blog post may be getting too long so I will start to end it here with a brief survey of the older residential architecture on Gerrard and Dundas and the streets in between (for those of you who are interested in such things).

below: A semi with a shared central peak.

below: Little diamond windows

below: Details made with contrasting colours of bricks

below: Another semi detached house with a shared central peak.

below: Flat roofed houses with blues and reds.

below: Shapes – rectangles on top, rounded windows,

below: Cameras on the corner…. and a megaphone too?

And lastly, a shout out to Lamoon Thai Cafe where I stopped for a hot drink (great Thai tea!) and to get out of the rain for a few minutes.

Bayview intensification

Posted: January 21, 2023 in construction, locations, old buildings
Tags: Bayview Ave., bungalows, demolition, development notices, fence, houses, North York, residential, vacant lots

The temperatures this January have been warmer than usual but that means more grey skies and dreary weather days. I spent one of those grey afternoons in the fog on a stretch of Bayview Avenue near York Mills Road. It seemed like an appropriate time to see how many abandoned houses I could find.

Once upon a time, and not that long ago, Bayview Avenue in this part of the city was lined with large houses on big lots, often hidden behind trees. Slowly, each house is being replaced with 4 to 6 townhouses in line with a revised city plan. Toronto has many housing issues including a shortage of family homes.

below: Five years ago I posted a photo of this house in a post about empty Bayview houses. It was empty at the time too.

below: This house appeared in the same 2017 post. At that time it still had a red front door.

below: Development is rarely a quick process and things can often get convoluted – the sign on this property is for one of the newest plans – it was filed in 2022. There are websites advertising the 4 townhouses at 2621 Bayview for sale preconstruction. There is also a website that claims that 2621 Bayview is included in a block, 2617-21 Bayview that is/was for sale for $14,800,000. (MLS number C5438385).

below: This is 2019 Bayview, included in the 2017-21 block. At 14.8 million just for the land to get 11 units….. Toronto may have a shortage of units but it also has a shortage of affordable housing. What price is affordable these days? A quick search of properties for sale on Bayview shows that a vacant lot is priced above $4,000,000 (1/2 an acre) and that a newly built townhouse with 3000+ square feet is above $2,000,000.

below: Another house that has sat empty.

below: With an application filed in 2017. Five years. Is the process that slow? The city wants this intensification to happen and there doesn’t seem to be a lack of potential developers circling like vultures. Does a backlog of files that are 5, 6, or more years in the making suggest a flaw in the system somewhere?

below: Preparations for a new access road/driveway have begun where 2673 and 2675 Bayview once stood.

as I walk Toronto

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