Posts Tagged ‘belt line’

Marlee Ave

Posted: July 12, 2023 in construction, doors, locations, stores, windows and walls
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two toronto street signs on pole covered in ivy and other vines, Marlee Ave and Belgravia

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.

southeast corner of Marlee and Viewpoint, Toronto, strip mall, highrise in background

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

looking north at Marlee and Lawrence to shopping center

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

intersection of Marlee and with a plaza of stores,

stores on the lower level of three storey concrete building, offices above, parking lot below

metal sidewalk box painted with birds, a blue jay and a cardinal

line of two storey brick store fronts on Marlee Ave

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

front window of Filipino variety store

below: Odessa Russian (Ukranian) Market

window of a Ukranian grocery store

below: Seen in a convenience store window

signs in the window of a convenience store, photocopy, drumstick ice cream advert, winning tickets for lottery sold here,

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

sign saying that the barber shop is now open, black sign, beside sidewalk

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

laundry on the balcony of a small apartment building

small brick bungalow with a blue and white development notice in the front yard

a few houses on a side street with taller apartment buildings behind

in a vacant lot with a blue metal fence around it, blue and white development notice sign on the ground, daisies growing up beside it

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

at an entrance gate to construction site, beside a covered sidewalk, hand written sign says gate xxx

looking into a construction site, cranes lifting heavy object

low rise apartment building, brick,

rooflines houses, lowrises, and taller condo building

the back of a TTC bus on Marlee Ave by Ridelle Ave stop, a woman crosses the road, two storey brick houses

looking down a driveway between two small apartment buildings to the back of another residential building

a woman pushes a stroller past a small house on Marlee Ave

below: Mural painted for Kirsch Cosmetics by Jasnine

mural on the side of a white building, a grey tone portrait of a young woman in profile, long dark hair, with pink and purple blobs and floral shapes

hand written signs and posters on a utility pole, two of them are pray the rosary to end abortion, jesus is god

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

side split house from the 1960s or 1970s, now empty with a sign on the front hedge that says that it is about to be demolished

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

empty brick house, boarded up and painted black, all black

a balcony with a bike on it, also a garland of Canadian flags strung across the railing

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.

looking south along the Allen Expressway with the subway running down the middle, at Glencairn station TTC

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

below: A community garden on the Belt Line

a chainlink fence in front of a vegetable garden, spring, everything is beginning to grow
back of apartment building with concrete balconies, as seen from the Belt Line trail

Marlee ends at Eglinton Avenue

northeast corner of Eglinton and Marlee, empty building for lease on the corner, small apartment building in the background
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.

stores on Eglinton Ave West in Toronto, Spences Bakery, seafood, pastry,

double window shot, some reflections in the window, some seeing through the glass., empty storefront at Eglinton and Marlee

Express Car Wash, red building, on Eglinton West

looking inside the window of a plant store, a white table with plants on it

door to small apartment building, 5 steps up to door, potted plants on the steps

pink roses growing by a chainlink fence

bell telephone box on Eglinton Ave west

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

TTC bus stop pole, with graffiti, I love U Andrea

Dominion Coal and Wood

Posted: April 13, 2016 in history, locations
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The eastern end of the Kay Gardner Belt Line Park crosses over Yonge St and the subway just south of Davisville station.  It then runs across the north side of Mt. Pleasant cemetery.  It comes to an end at Mt. Pleasant Road where the trail merges into the roads that run through the cemetery.

In 2014 students from Greenwood School painted a mural at this location.  The mural has three main elements.  A train to represent the Belt Line, the name of the community that it is located in (Mt Pleasant Village), and the words ‘use Dominion Coal and Wood’.    The last part is because not long ago, on this site, stood the large concrete silos that the Dominion Coal and Wood company used to store coal and wood.   The shape of the black background is very similar to the shape of the silos if viewed from above.

below: Mural, with Mt. Pleasant Road above it.

blog_domiion_mural_greenwood

mural celebrating mt pleasant village and the old dominion coal and wood silos that used to be at that location. At the end of the belt line trail where it merges into mt pleasant cemetery

below: Plaque located on the site of the old silos (now in the bushes beside a condo)

City of Toronto historical plaque describing the history of the Dominion Coal and Wood silos that used to be on Mt. Pleasant Ave near the old Belt Line Railway tracks.

transcription of the Heritage Toronto plaque:

“Dominion Coal and Wood

Originally located on Danforth Avenue, the Dominion Coal and Wood Company was founded in 1912 by William H. Smith.  In 1929, the company opened a landmark facility on this site.  Its nine adjoining concrete silos were designed by E.P. Muntz Engineering Company.  Coal and wood were transported here by rail car along the former Belt Line Railway and then sold as heating fuel to local businesses and home owners.

Originally just one among many similar suppliers in the city, Dominion Coal and Wood outlasted most of its competitors.  The company expanded into building supplies as coal sales dwindled, but continued to sell coal here until the site was closed in 1999.  Although recognized as an increasingly rare type of industrial architecture, the historic silos were demolished in 2001. “

 

below: The nine silos, about 1972.  The photo is from City of Toronto Archives and was found online at JB’s Warehouse (a good source if you are interested in more information at Dominion Coal and Wood)

picture of the Dominion Coal and Wood silos on Mt. Pleasant, from city of Toronto Archives, taken about 1972. With an old Mt. Pleasant streetcar on the street by the silos.

below: I tried to replicate the above photo, about 42 years later.  The Mt. Pleasant streetcars are long gone as is the gas station on the NW corner of Merton and Mt. Pleasant.  A corner of the tall white apartment building on the right can be seen peaking from behind newer condo buildings.  Of course, the dominant part of the picture is the condo development that was built on the site of the Dominion silos in 2002.

condo building across the street, about 12 storeys high, made of brick and glass, a couple of cars are on the street