construction | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘construction’

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

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…

The building has also become a canvas for some graffiti including some protesting redevelopment in general and condos in particular.

below: Toronto vs Condos

below: “I told you that… with guns get what they want”. Some of the words are covered but the meaning is still clear.

below: Poster – Who can afford to live here? Which one of you can afford this?

below: Large one-eyed daisy by Life© (life in the streets)

below: Liars – Doug Ford (Ontario Premier) and John Tory (ex-Toronto mayor).

below: Happy little family? Pasteup by 33wallflower33

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.

opened! – the first new Port Lands bridge

Posted: October 7, 2022 in construction, locations, transportation, waterfront
Tags: bridge, Cherry Street, CN Tower, Commissioners Street, construction, Lake Ontario, Port Lands, redevelopment, reflections, streets, traffic, traffic lights, trucks, water

The middle of three new bridges built for the Port Lands redevelopment has just been opened to traffic.

The bridge may be open to traffic, but the area is still a construction zone!

Eventually Cherry Street will be realigned so that there is no jog in it at Lakeshore. At this point in time, the south part of the realignment is closer to completion. This is where the new bridge is.

Commissioners Street has been extended westward to join the new segment of Cherry Street.

below: This is the east intersection of Commissioners and Cherry (looking east). Yes, it’s a mess! There are traffic signals even though only two of the four approaches are open. If you are traveling south on Cherry, you have to turn right onto Commissioners.

below: Same intersection, looking west.

below: New part of Commissioners Street

below: The west part of Commissioners ends here

below: If you stand in the same place as the above photo but turn to your right, this is the view that you see. This is the new part of Cherry Street being realigned to match the section north of Lakeshore Blvd. The new bridges over the Keating Channel are in place but there is still a lot to be done before this part of Cherry Street can be opened.

below: Looking south… It is the middle bridge that has been opened to traffic first. It is located approximately where the T ‘n T grocery store used to be. An interesting line of large boulders!

below: This is the view from the new bridge looking west. The large white crane structure predates the construction. The channel has always been here as it provides water/ship access to the Lafarge cement site on the south side of the waterway. What is new is that the channel is being extended eastward to join the mouth of the Don River.

below: Traveling northbound

below: Looking east from the bridge. Pinewood studios in the background on the right.

below: Another view to the east but slightly more south. This time Pinewood Studios is more to the left in the photo. A pedestrian bridge is already built to span the new water channel that is under construction.

below: Looking north up Cherry Street towards the Distillery District. The old, and now closed part, of the street is being torn up. The new street and bridge are to the left in this photo.

below: To the south, the lift bridge on Cherry Street is being refurbished but not replaced. This part of Cherry Street is not being moved.

intersections – Yonge & Bloor

Posted: July 16, 2022 in intersections
Tags: Bloor, buildings, construction, downtown, hoardings, Ron Arad, Safe Hands, street, Ukraine, Ukrainian flags, Yonge

below: Looking west on Bloor towards Yonge. The pink flags fly in front of Holt Renfrew. One Bloor East with it’s curvy vertical lines and 76 storeys dominates the sky. The blue structure is the top of ‘The One’ at 1 Bloor West – It may be short now but it won’t be for long. There will be 82 storeys once it’s completed (maybe in 2023?)

A few minutes at Yonge and Bloor in mid-July

below: Hoardings on the south side of Bloor Street

below: Construction. Blank whiteness on The One as it slowly rises.

below: Hanging Ukrainian flags on the southwest corner of Yonge and Bloor.

below: South side of the intersection. At least the facade of the older buildings on Yonge Street are being preserved.

below: Looking south on Yonge from Bloor.

below: Looking east on Bloor from just west of Yonge Street. Rising 88 feet above the sidewalk is the metallic ‘Safe Hands’ sculpture by Ron Arad.

below: Anti-Putin protest, northeast corner

below: Waiting for a green light, northwest corner (more construction!)

Another circular route

Posted: May 15, 2022 in alleys, construction, graffiti and street art, intersections, old buildings
Tags: 33wallflower33, Broadview, construction, Don Valley parkway, DVP, Eastern Ave., foundry, Garfield, graffiti, heritage, hoardings, paste up, sketchrat, underpass park, urban ninja squadron, visual noise, water tower

From the West Don Lands, across Eastern, north on Broadview and then back west on Queen Street East to Parliament and the Distillery District.

below: Saved! Demolition of the old foundry building near the Distillery District. More on this story in a previous post from almost exactly a year ago. Also a paste up by 33wallflower33 of a well dressed woman throwing out Doug Ford’s head and paraphernalia such as beer can with “buck a beer” in it.

below: Signs of celebration on the fence around what ostensibly will be Eastern Avenue Affordable Housing (i.e. We’ll wait and see…)

bottom right: “Here’s why people are rallying to protect this Toronto heritage site from demolition. The provincial government has paused demolition of the Foundry site in the West Don Lands after an outcry in Toronto” From Toronto NOW.
bottom left: “Province starts demolition of heritage buildings in West Don Lands despite community backlash. Tearing buildings down ‘outrageous’ councillor says.” CBC News

below: A simple statement; a red paper heart tied to a tree.

below: Not all of it was saved… but at least they didn’t tear the whole thing down as originally planned…..

below: Ukraine symbol on a boarded up window

below: Smack! Urban Ninja Squadron paste-up along with a musical sketchrat.

below: The house with the two green cubes is still standing. Truth at the base.

below: A painted pillar in Underpass Park, with the pedestrian ramp up to Eastern Ave in background

below: A row of large rocks

below: The underside of the roof over the entrance to the condo is very reflective. It ‘mirrors’ the reflective ceiling of Underpass Park next door to it.

below: View from, looking east over Corktown Common, the south end of the Don River, as well as the ramp from the Gardiner Expressway to the Don Valley Parkway.

below: Eastern Ave and the DVP. Looking east.

below: Garfield the Cat just lying around

below: Northeast corner of Broadview and Eastern.

below: A row of old houses on Broadview still stand empty. It’s been years now since anyone has lived in them.

below: Just a bit north, at Queen Street East, another boarded up building. But this one is now in the middle of an active construction site.

below: In an alley behind Queen Street East.

below: A new view of Queen Street East has been opened up with the demolition of some of the buildings on the south side.

below: Northeast corner of Broadview and Queen East, once the home of Dangerous Dan’s.

below: Danger due to hole. On Queen East. The pyramid shaped roof is part of the Broadview Hotel at Queen and Broadview.

below: More danger…. watch out for spooky skeletons!

below: Riverside Common, a new public space on Queen Street East.

below: Looking back across the Don River from the bridge at Queen Street East.

below: Passing southbound under Queen Street East.

below: Looking north up Lower Bayview from Queen Street East

below: From almost the same vantage point as the photo above, but looking more west than north.

below: An Uber5000 yellow birdie on the wall of the Toronto Humane Society at Queen and River.

below: Painting of two fencers where the red wine seems to be winning.

below: Where Eastern Avenue meets Front Street, looking west towards downtown. The old brick building is now Toronto Police Services Division 51 headquaters. In a previous phase of its life it was Consumers Gas Station A, designed by Bond & Smith and built in 1898. Beyond Parliament Street and in the background is the blue Globe and Mail building.

below: The Porsche dealership on the northwest corner of Front and Parliament is now empty.

below: The southwest corner of Front and Parliament is entirely surrounded by plywood hoardings.

below: Another 33wallflower33 paste-up. This time she’s pinning Putin’s head to the ground.

below: And back to the Distillery District – and the new construction that is taking place at Front and Trinity, just north of the historic buildings.

way up Yonge Street

Posted: April 14, 2022 in construction, history, intersections, locations, stores
Tags: Arzon Super Market, businesses, Centerpoint Mall, Communist Party, construction, Cummer Ave., development, graffiti, Happy Nowruz, multicultural, Newtonbrook, Papa Cafe, posters, Seoul Plaza, signs, stencil, stores, Tirgan, Ukraine, vacant lot, Yonge St.

between Steeles and Drewry/Cummer.

Once it was the hinterland but now it feels like the city just goes on and on and on….

below: In 1955 this was the view looking south on Yonge from just north of Cummer/Drewry. This was the center of the community of Newtonbrook, named after the Newton Brook Wesleyan Church founded in 1857. A general store and post office were opened here in 1863 on the northeast corner of Yonge & Drewry (possibly the buildings on the right side of this photo).

black and white photo of yonge street looking south from Cummer

photo credit: James Victor Salmon, found on Toronto Public Library website (public domain).

below: It’s not taken from exactly the same viewpoint (traffic!) but this is what you see looking south on Yonge Street now.

below: Looking north up Yonge Street from just south of Cummer/Drewry. The large house is on the southeast corner of Cummer and Yonge.

old black and white photo of yonge street,

photo credit: Tim Chirnside, found on Toronto Public Library website (public domain)

below: The intersection of Yonge and Cummer (to the east) and Drewry (to the west) today. The large house in the black and white photo above would be on the far right of this picture.

below: Yonge Street is also Provincial Highway 11.

below: It is a major transportation/transit route.

below: Happy Nowruz! or in other words, Happy New Year! It is the Iranian New Year; the beginning of spring; a new day! The banners were by sponsored by Tirgan, an organization that “promotes cross-cultural dialogue between Iranian-Canadians and the global community at large.”

below: There are many other cultures that are well represented in this part of the city.

below: Like so many parts of Toronto, there is a lot of redevelopment taking place. Blue and white development notice signs are everywhere.

below: To be (possibly) replaced by 25 storeys, 347 residences and a daycare.

below: Seoul Plaza with it’s Korean BBQ restaurant and other businesses (not all Korean) – also with a development notice sign in front. I’m not sure of the size of the development but it looks like your average 20ish storeys on podium condo.

below: Looking south from Moore Park Ave

below: Looking north to the intersection of Yonge and Steeles. Steeles Ave has been the northern boundary of the City of Toronto since 1953. All of the tall buildings in this picture are north of Steeles and are in Thornhill (York Region).