development | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘development’

dense and denser

Posted: August 11, 2025 in construction, intersections, old buildings, public art, transportation
Tags: apartments, Canada Square, Catherine Widgery, condos, construction, demolition, development, Eglinton Ave., history, Ilan Sandler, KPMB, LRT, Mindshadows, North Toronto Collegiate, NTCI, Postal Station K, St. Monicas church, St. Peter, TTC, Yonge Street

…. another visit to Yonge and Eglinton

Of course, this is also the location of the Eglinton station on the mysterious Eglinton LRT. The underground walkways between it and the Yonge – University subway line are complete, as is the entrance on the south side of Eglinton. The latter is a large building and it will definitely help with the flow of traffic… but it sits idle.

below: All of the old Eglinton station bus bays are long gone.

below: Canada Square, home to Canadian Tire head office for more than 50 years, was built in the 1960s and 70s. It consists of two towers connected by a lower section – it is this middle connecting piece that has the vertical concrete slabs on the exterior. These verticals are on both the Yonge Street side (below) and this motif is repeated on the back of the building (see photo above, behind the new station entrance). Earlier this year, Canadian Tire announced that they had renewed their lease for another 20 years and that the building was going to be redeveloped/upgraded/modernized in the near future.

below: Northwest corner of Yonge and Eglinton

below: The Duke of York pub at Yonge and Roehampton

below: The old Postal Station K has been incorporated into a new condo development. The older building dates from 1936; it was built on the site of Montgomery’s Tavern (made famous in 1837 when it was the epicenter of William Lyon MacKenzie’s rebellion). It was a big square building but with Art Deco elements around the entrance. Because it was built in 1936, it actually featured (and still does) the Royal Insignia of King Edward VIII whose reign was very short-lived because he abdicated the throne only 11 months after being crowned.

below: North of Montgomery/Broadway more development. More cranes.

below: About 15 years ago, North Toronto Collegiate (NTCI) was rebuilt on Broadway. The new school was incorporated into a condo development. At the north entrance to the school is an artwork by Catherine Widgery’s called “Mindshadows”. It is a 20 foot high stainless steel cube on legs that is covered with numbers, letters, and words. Serene, provoke, laugh, loud, big, spirit, and up are some of the words.

below: View from Broadway of the North Toronto football field and track and some of the condos that surround it.

below: Looking north from Roehampton

below: At the south entrance to NTCI (on Roehampton) is another public art installation. “What’s your name?” by Ilan Sandler (2011) contains the first names of all the NTCI students since the school opened in 1912. Each name only appears once – but there are still 2053 different names such as Sven, Connie, Marlee, Janis, Lola, Ephraim, Bryan, and Snezana.

The neighbourhood that is north of Eglinton and east of Yonge has been the home of many apartment buildings for at least a few decades. A growing number of them have been replaced by taller glass and steel condo developments, especially since the city has targeted the area for “… tall buildings and an intense concentration of office, retail, institutional and residential uses…” (quote comes from Yonge Eglinton Secondary Plan, 2018)

below: Old style (1920s?) 4 storey walk-up apartments. There was a time when this type of architecture was common and these apartment buildings are (were) scattered around the city. There aren’t as many as there used to be although some, like this one, has been renovated and kept in good shape…. a testament to their good design.

below: Concrete building from the 1970s at 2323 Yonge …

below: … but it too has a blue and white development notice on the side of this building. Fifty eight stories with 40 car parking spots but room for 350 bikes.

below: St. Monicas church, an A-frame structure built in 1959, is set well back from the street with a parking lot in front.

below: One of the many stained glass windows inside St. Monica’s church. This image shows a window that features gold crossed keys which are a symbol associated with St. Peter. These are the keys to the Gates of Heaven. The church website describes this window as representing the (Catholic) Sacrament of Reconciliation (the pardoning of confessed sins).

below: Redesigned. From the KPMB website, this is rendering of the proposed new St. Monica’s church. It has been brought forward closer to the street which also allows for a new condo tower behind. That’s the plan.

below: Beside the church is St. Monica’s school. The original brick building was built in 1916. A few additions have been added over the years.

below: Changes are also happening to the west of Yonge Street. For instance, this building on Eglinton between Duplex and Henning is coming down.

below: Old, new, and in between

below: Remnants of what used to be.

below: As I am sure you are aware, I have blogged about Eglinton Avenue before. Back in 2015 (ten years ago!!) I posted this photo of Eglinton and Duplex. Both glass buildings are now gone. The Toronto Hydro Systems building (the short brick one) at the northwest corner of Duplex and Eglinton remains – it is the one with the coloured patches on the wall in the photo above.

below: Same corner, slightly different angle, taken this past week.

below: After the glass clad building on the northeast corner of Duplex and Eglinton came down, the backside of the Yonge Eglinton Center was exposed (on the right) as well as another tower (in an area that needs to be explored more!).

below: With thanks to my mother who walked with me that day.

around Wilson station

Posted: March 4, 2025 in construction, locations, public art, transportation
Tags: art, clandestinos, concrete, condos, development, Downsview airport, fourplexes, graffiti, houses, kiss n ride, murals, parking, redevelopment, Shalak Attack, street art, subway, Ted Bieler, tiles, TTC, Wilson Heights, Wilson station

Wilson subway station, on the University side of Line 1, opened in 1978 and was the end of the line until Downsview station just to the north opened in 1996. It is not a thing of beauty. Concrete. Austere from the outside. It’s entrance from under the Allen Expressway is dark, gloomy, and depressing.

below: Northwest entrance to the station, nestled up against the Allen Expressway.

below: Walkway to southwest entrance

That stretch of the subway runs down the median of the Allen Expressway.

below: Although the platform has a roof, it is open at the ends and in the winter it is cold. There are a few of these pod-like waiting areas, circular glass structures with benches for those wanting a tiny reprieve from the wind.

below: Inside the station a concrete wall sculpture by Ted Bieler entitled ‘Canyons’

What drew me here in the first place …. To help brighten up the area, some of the concrete, both inside and out, has been covered with murals by Shalak Attack, Bruno Smoky, and Clandestinos,

below: An owl and a woman’s face at the two south entrances.

below: There is a lot of street art along Wilson Avenue but most of it is under the Allen Expressway and is not well lit. Some of it is also looking very dirty.

below: Pink flowers inside the station

below: Circular “Kiss ‘n Ride” still exists.

below: Exit at Wilson Heights

below: Northeast side of the station, along with the Allen Expressway

I took most of these pictures back in the summer but I hadn’t taken the time to blog about what I had seen. When I drove past Wilson again recently, I noticed that the parking lot on the east side (towards Wilson Heights) is now fenced off. Now it is a snow covered vacant lot.

below: Parking lot before

below: … and after. You can still park your bikes here, but no more cars.

below: There is a City of Toronto development notice sign on the side of Wilson station. It looks like the city may be serious about affordable housing at this site. Apparently this has been in the works for a number of years but faced some opposition form those who wanted to keep the parking lot. Just shy of 1500 units in six buildings are planned on the site along with community space and a public park. The percent allotted to affordable housing varies from 35 to 48 percent, depending on the source of the information.

To the west of the station, on the north side of Wilson, is the remains of the Downsview Airport lands.

below: One of the four winners of the ‘XOXO Downsview, Talking Fences’ competition of 2023, is “Aandi wenjibaayan?” which translates to “Where are you from?” It was suggested by Lakhvir Sandhar. The other three winners have their words displayed elsewhere on the Downsview property.

vintage photo taken from low flying airplane of bishop-barker airplane limited,

Photo credit: Toronto Public Library online digital image archive

The south side of Wilson is retail and is now Wilson Village. It is also where you will find Billy Bishop Way named for Canadian pilot. It is nowhere near Billy Bishop Airport (that’s WAAAAY south, on the island, or the other one in Owen Sound) but is a nod to Downsview’s history as an airfield and its role in airplane manufacturing.

William Avery Bishop was born in Owen Sound in 1894. He was a Canadian flying ace during WW1.

below: Looking southeast past the old metal fence that surrounds the parking on the northwest side of Wilson station. Big box retail on the other side of Wilson, and newer midrise to highrise residential development on the other side of the Allen.

Very close to the planned “affordable housing” but on the south side of Wilson, there is already a new community being built.

There are many older single family homes to the east, in a quiet neighbourhood squeezed in between Wilson and the 401.

I even discovered an old moose hiding in the bushes! The “Moose in the City” project goes way back to 2000 when 326 life-sized moose sculptures found homes around the city. Each one was decorated by a local artist. I am not sure how many still exist but it can’t be more than a fraction of the original.

Other moose: Scarborough moose near Kennedy and 401, moose at St. Clair and Bayview. Any others?

To the east, Wilson is becoming a canyon of midrise buildings, replacing the older residences, often fourplexes and sixplexes.

The development is more intensive as you get closer to the Allen and the subway line…

… on both the north and south side of Wilson

signs of change

Posted: December 12, 2024 in construction, graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: condos, derelict, development, Eglinton LRT, GO station, Guildwood, Nigel Smith, parking lot, signs, street art, tire, vacant lot

…. from a walk on Kingston Road near Guildwood GO station.

below: First sign. Sign of distress, of times gone by.

Bob Johnston Chevrolet was on Kingston Road until it went out of business in 2007. The property became a used car lot. It backs onto the parking lot for the Guildwood GO station

below: A sign with no relevance. A sign that says “vehicles protected by security systems” but it’s been a long time since anyone parked back there.

below: Other, much newer, signs have appeared on the property. They are a street art installation by Nigel Smith that appeared a few months ago.

Funnily Enough

and Joking Apart

And last, a sign that tells another story – a Development Notice sign that dates from 2021. It suggests that 996 residences in 4 towers all with large podiums, will be built. Some will be rentals. Back in 2008, the original change of zoning from commercial to mixed commercial/residential allowed for buildings up to 8 storeys. The process limps along as the property changes owner and the height limits are appealed.

The process is also slow because of the people and organizations that get a say. Traffic studies, Urban Forestry opinions, as well as TTC and Metrolinx. Apparently there is a Line 7, the Eglinton East LRT that will (might?) run here. It has been proposed, accepted, and….. don’t hold your breath. The Eglinton LRT is 14+ years old and still not operational. If it gets off the ground in its present plan, it will run east from Kennedy (& Eglinton) to Kingston Road, then northeast on Kingston Road to Morningside. Finally, north to Sheppard (via UTSC) where it will loop back to join the Sheppard line. On that cheery note, I will leave you with a few images from around the property taken on a snowy December day.

a walk around Pape station

Posted: November 6, 2024 in construction, old buildings, stores, transportation
Tags: Addis Kidan church, construction, Danforth, development, Eaton Ave., halloween, houses, Metrolinx, Ontario line, Pape, subway, TTC

Have a seat! It’s a rather warm autumn this year, isn’t it?

below: A Hallowe’en spider caught in a rather thick web. It doesn’t have much to do with Pape subway station although you might feel inclined to put “scary” and “TTC” together.

Anyhow back to the main story…. Pape station is where the existing Bloor-Danforth line is going to meet the new Ontario line.

below: Do you remember when Pape station was being renovated? Now the site is a mess again.

Pape station is a short block north of the Greektown section of Danforth.

below: Looking south on Pape towards Danforth

below: Across the street from the subway station

below: See that bright white building in the picture above? I bet that it’s not white anymore.

below: My idea was to walk around the whole site. …

below: Looking back at the Danforth and Pape intersection, north side. The white stone Royal Bank building stands on the northwest corner. Behind it, the steeple and little green dome of Holy Parish church points upward.

below: Ontario Line construction along the Danforth, northside. Metrolinx seems to have a lot of property here.

below: Any idea what this is? What is happening here?

below: I wasn’t the only one taking pictures!

below: Eaton Avenue runs parallel to Pape, just to the east.

below: Northeast corner of Danforth and Eaton

below: Eaton Ave entrance to Pape station lined with plywood hoardings. This station isn’t that old – the update was completed in 2013. I think that it is being retained but it is hard to tell from the Metrolinx website. A brand new entrance is planned for the Danforth as well (and may be very large and very grand, not quite to scale with the present neighbourhood?).

below: Houses on Eaton Ave with Metrolinx construction behind them.

This area has been serviced by the Bloor Danforth line since 1966. In general, most of the residences are single family houses, often as some form of row housing. Smaller houses with small yards seems the norm… i.e. a fairly typical East York neighbourhood.

Exploring on Pape…..

below: Working on Pape, fixing a porch (or just watching)

below: Addis Kidan Church, Greek Gospel Church..

below: Tzatziki cafe with the painting above the entrance – interior restaurant scene

below: Mixed use – once a line of single family homes, now some are businesses.

below: There is also another construction site at Sammon

below: Looking north on Pape Ave from MacPhail. There is another station under construction at Cosburn, a few more blocks north but that’s for another day. (Updated 22 June 2025 – there is now an Ontario Line – North Pape blog post)

I’ll end instead the way I began – with a little bit of Halloween to distract you from the constant noise of construction.

booming Bessarion

Posted: June 23, 2024 in construction, locations, public art
Tags: apartments, condos, construction, Demakersvan, development, Ethennonnhawahstihnen, Inges Idee, Jax, Joep and Jeroen Verhoeven, Leaping Lamp, park, Pierre Poussin, subway, TTC

Bessarion subway station has always had the reputation of being one of the least used stations in Toronto. I haven’t seen any recent numbers, but I suspect that a lot more people are now using the station. There are a lot of development changes happening in the area so the numbers will only increase in the future.

below: South entrance to Bessarion station

below: A Stop sign sits in the middle of one of the entrances to the new development on Sheppard Ave East beside Bessarion subway station. If you follow the left fork in the road, you will end up in the parking lot of the Canadian Tire store. This store is all that is left from the original 50 acre site that was home to a Canadian Tire warehouse and distribution centre. In 2000 Canadian Tire filed a plan to re-develop the whole site, including a new head office tower for the company. Although the plan was approved, it never came to be. Instead, most of the land was sold to Concord who is now in the process of redeveloping it.

below: Concord has filled this community with a lot of public art including these colourful creations, “Jax” (2021) by Pierre Poussin

below: A few maple leaves forming a canopy – “Maple Leaf Trellis” by Demakersvan (aka brothers Joep and Jeroen Verhoeven)

below: Leaping Lamp by Inges Idee (a German artist collective)

below: There is also a rabbit (title: “Rabbit”), another artwork by Inges Idee. It’s made to look like a folded ribbon of highway; it sits next to the 401 highway.

below: Birds hanging out together between Bessarion station and the new community centre. They won’t be flying anywhere any time soon!

below: A small bird, a continuation of the tree full of birds, sits outside Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Community Centre (it’s pronounced Etta-nonna wasti-nuh and it means ‘where they had a good, beautiful life”)

below: Real trees ready to plant.

below: A line of towers with row houses on the lower level marks the south side. The 401 highway is behind. A new park, also Ethennonnhawahstihnen’, lies in front of the new residences.

below: Water feature in the summer, outdoor skating rink in the winter

below: The view from the southeast corner of the property – the back of IKEA and the 401!

below: At least there have been a lot of trees planted back here and some thought has been put into using the landscaping to mitigate the noise from the 401. But the fact that thousands of cars and trucks pass her every day can never be downplayed. I hope that the units are well sound proofed. Having stood on balconies on other buildings that overlook a major road, I can imagine how noisy it is here too.

below: Looking southeast from Burbank

below: South side of Sheppard

below: The north side of Sheppard Ave looks like this – a row of lowrise apartment buildings from the 1960s or 1970s.

below: There are 2 major redevelopments proposed along here, 680-688 Sheppard and 690-720 Sheppard. Both involve condo towers.

Just west of Bessarion station is Greenbriar Road. There was a small community of single family homes, duplexes, and small apartment buildings back here. Almost all of it is gone or on the way out

below: A single, lonely, holdout surrounded by newer residences.

below: No sign?!

below: Southeast corner of Sheppard and Greenbriar (12 storeys, 145 residences)

below: There is a development notice sign on the front yard of 25 Greenbriar (23, 25, 27 and 29 to be replaced with 10 storeys, 169 residences).

below: A little farther south on Greenbriar the fences are already up (22-36 Greenbriar, 24 storeys, 351 residences).

Extra note: The northeast corner of the old Canadian Tire acreage, at 1181 Sheppard Ave East, remains undeveloped. It is the last piece once owned by Canadian Tire. It is adjacent to the Metrolinx rail corridor, about 100 m from the new Oriole GO station. [ed note: Prime real estate by the sound of it!]. Two towers will probably get built here, once the heights are finalized.

of king and queen and in between

Posted: June 11, 2024 in construction, galleries, graffiti and street art, locations, old buildings, public art, windows and walls
Tags: Alex Bacon, Churchill statue, city hall, concrete, development, Dogman, Eaton Centre, facades, Gillie and Marc, Moses Znaimer Way, mural, Myla Borden, Nadya Kwandibens, photography, quilts, Rabbitwoman, Red Chair Sessions, redevelopment, reflections, sharks, signs, Susan Lawrence, Textile Museum, textiles

Also could be called, “Of bricks and stones and a lot of glass.”

I was recently telling a relative that one of the best ways to explore Toronto, especially downtown, is just to get off at a subway station or streetcar stop and start walking. There is always something to see. This walk is the result of taking my own advice and just getting off at Queen station and seeing where my feet took me. First stop was the Eaton Centre where Michael Snow’s birds still fly. “Flightstop”.

below: Interior, Eaton Centre where all the benches have been removed. Sadistic? Gone are the days when you could take pictures of the men sitting outside Victorias Secret.

below: As I walk around the city, I see more and more of this – the glass wall. This view is south on James Street as I walk between the Eaton Centre and Old City Hall.

below: Approaching City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square from the east you now encounter a conundrum. Did people hit their heads on the low ramps? Or were people camping out here? A poor, and I hope temporary, solution.

below: A few images from “The Red Chair Sessions”, photography by Nadya Kwandibens A series of 9 large photos is on display in the ground floor windows of City Hall (viewed from outside). On the right, Sage Paul, designer and artist, originally from English River; on the left, Mushkegowuk Iskwew from Peetabeck (Fort Albany Ontario).

below: Portrait of Ogimaa Kwe Bnes (aka Chief Lady Bird, her Spirit name) from Mnjikaning and Aura from Onyota’a:ka, posing under a mural that the two of them painted at Underpass Park.

below: The backside of Sir Winston Churchill as he walks away from City Hall – something to think about? The new court house is in the background.

below: New court house from the corner of Chestnut and Armoury.

below: Reflections in the glass of the new court house

below: Across Chestnut from the court house is an old hotel that is now part of U of T. Its older brick and concrete facade contrasts with the glass and steel of the newer building.

below: More concrete, the back of City Hall (completed 1965). This is not a view that is typically shown but I find it fascinating that there are no windows at all on the outer sides. As it turns out the back walls are made from 18 inches of reinforced concrete that allow for cantilevered floors which in turn make it possible to have an inner structure with few structural elements.

below: Also on Centre Ave is the Textile Museum. At the moment one of their exhibits is about quilts, “The Secret Codes: African Nova Scotian Quilts. Some of the quilts are older ones like this pair by Susan Lawrence (1931-2008) which is a variation of “square in square” pattern.

below: Other quilts are more contemporary such as these three by Myla Borden from New Glasgow NS

I first read about these quilts on a blog, junkboattravels.blogspot.com She has a more thorough description of the exhibit along with some pictures. I will add a few more of my photos at the bottom of this post, but if you are interested in seeing others, I recommend checking out the link above (and then scroll down a bit).

below: Looking north on Centre Ave to Dundas and beyond. The facade of the old brick building on the northwest corner is being saved. It was built in 1928 as an extension to McLean Hunter which was on University Ave. This Beaux-Arts style building has five storeys of offices and four storeys for a printing plant.

below: A closer look at the facade.

below: Also Centre and Dundas, but the eastside of Centre, a colourful spot… and a trendy way to liven the street appeal of a parking garage.

below: “The world is a little bitter. I want to give you a little sweet.” written on the inside. Tiles in a marvelous tessellation by the front door.

below: Reflections in the glass at the northwest corner of University and Dundas.

below: Crossing University Ave. while looking west on Dundas. There’s a curvy new building underway.

below: The old court house, or Toronto Courthouse, which was built in 1966 is on University Ave just north of Osgoode Hall. It is a 20th Century Modern building clad in Queenston limestone, a stone that you can also see on many other Toronto civic buildings such as the ROM and the . It is quarried in Queenston, near Niagara Falls, and at one point was the largest quarry operation in Ontario. You’d easily mistake it for concrete.

below: Cannons and yellow umbrellas

below: Behind the yellow umbrellas

below: A narrow passageway between buildings.

below: Old City Hall clock tower

below: The CN Tower sneaks into the photo. At Osgoode, Metrolinx has taken over part of University Avenue for construction of the Ontario Line across Queen Street.

below: Even Campbell House is behind scaffolding.

below: Just another Toronto street corner.

below: Another facade saved. This one is at Queen and Simcoe where a bank once stood.

below: The wide open mouth of the green monster reaches upward as it tries to grasp the red balcony between its jaws.

below: This is the bank in question, The Canadian Bank of Commerce, built in 1930 just after the beginning of the Depression. The photo was taken in 1931. Take a close look at the other buildings in the picture, the stores to the right. The structure with the Coleman Oil Burners billboard is gone but take a look at the next couple photos which are of this stretch of Queen West today.

below: Queen West struggles to maintain its character. The store in the middle is definitely in sad shape. It looks like it would collapse if the others weren’t there to support it.

below: There’s a little white “ceremonial” street sign, just below the blue and white Queen St. West sign, that let’s you know that this stretch of road was also named Moses Znaimer Way. Znaimer had a long career in the entertainment industry in Toronto including co-founding CITY-TV, MuchMusic, and more. In Toronto, a ceremonial street name is secondary to the legal name. I am not sure how many there are in the city and I haven’t gone down that rabbit hole to find out. Interesting idea though.

below: Queen and McCaul, looking west

below: Gelber Brothers ghost sign on Richmond Street.

below: The CN Tower… again! and Hooters (do they still exist?)

below: Murals in a parking lot. Both were painted by Alex Bacon.

below: Blue marine life, sharks circling. An ominous hook. This one of many Pangea Seed Foundation sponsored murals in the city. Some of the others appear in a much earlier blog post, “love letters in paint” (2016). Pangea Seed’s original mission was to use science, art and creativity to “inspire positive change around pressing ocean environmental issues”. This campaign has now branched out to increase awareness of the issues involving out fresh water lakes and rivers as well.

below: Restaurants on John Street.

below: A vacant building longing to be another restaurant. In the meantime it’s been painted black… and as I type those words I am reminded of the Rolling Stones song, “Paint it Black”. The song is a bit depressing and negative but then again, so is a blackened building.

older three storey building with mansour roof and upper gable windows, painted black, vacant, ad posters on it

The last stanza is “I wanna see it painted Painted black
Black as night
Black as coal
I wanna see the sun Blotted out from the sky
I wanna see it painted, painted,
painted Painted black, yeah

below: “We See You” shout out to the doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals that worked throughout Covid. “Thank you”. Painted by Elicser Elliott.

below: Variety on Adelaide. Bricks and stone and a lot of glass.

below: Looking east along Adelaide (a one way street with bike lanes and newly rebuilt streetcar tracks).

below: Looking down the middle of the glass and metal sculpture in Grasett Park. If you were to step back a bit, the sculpture takes on the shape of sails of a ship.

below: Looking through the netting/glass, same sculpture as above. The park is named after Dr. George Robert Grasett, a medical doctor (1814-1847). The park stands on the site of the Emigrant Hospital built in 1847 to treat “ship fever” (typhoid) and other sicknesses in the Irish immigrants who started arriving in greater numbers that year. Many died on the journey and many more were sick when they arrived. Dr. Grasett was appointed as Medical Superintendent of the hospital but he died of typhoid fever about a month afterwards. His name, as well as the names of the other doctors, nurses, and orderlies, (and one priest) are engraved on the benches in the park.

below: Designs in the pavement – etched into the granite is an 1842 map of Toronto.

below: Widmer Street, where a row of old houses has been preserved, but are dwarfed by the developments around them.

below: King Street, looking east from John Street.

below: It’s always there! The CN Tower again.

below: Southeast corner of King and John. Another glass wall.

below: Another row of preserved brick facades. This time on King West.

below: Rising above the Royal Alex Theatre

below: This is “The Poet, The Fever Hospital” (1992) by Bernie Miller in David Pecaut Square

below: Nearby is a new sculpture by Gillie and Marc and it has a very long title: “He was on a Wild Ride to a Safer Place with Rabbitwoman and a Dogman” (not the Dogman from the childrens books!). There is an empty seat at the back of the bike and it’s waiting for you to join them on their wild ride!

This post has grown. It’s longer than I had envisioned it when I started putting ideas together a few days ago. I am not sure whether to thank you or to congratulate you for getting this far! Maybe both. Anyhow, I hope that you’ve seen a few new things, or interesting bits, as you’ve scrolled through this post. Perhaps the pictures have brought back some memories? In the meantime…..

As promised earlier, more quilts to end the post.

quilt in a museum with a poem on it as well as black and white photos

“Sing poets of this beauty
Sing choirs of this inviolate pride
Make these moments precious to history
Let these scenes live in every eye”

Never tired of walking Yonge Street.

Posted: January 2, 2024 in construction, graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: 33wallflower33, Albert Paley, be a hero, Bloor, Christmas, Church of Scientology, condos, decorations, development, graffiti, Kenneth Lavallee, Lillian McGregor Park, reflections, Rocky Zenyk, Ryerson, slaps, stickers, tips it up, towers, Yonge, Zanzibar tavern

This is a walk that started with the Sherlock Holmes wall behind the Toronto Reference Library that I noted in a prior post. After a brief stop at Balzacs, we continued south on Yonge to Dundas. With all the new development on Yonge there was a lot to see. For the most part this is a documentation of the changes on Yonge Street and perhaps one day it will be part of “A history of” the area.

below: Asquith Ave, looking towards Yonge with the Toronto Reference Library on the right. New condos rise above the old brick facades from the 1880s.

below: Looking south on Yonge Street from just north of Bloor. Bloor Street West now gets lost in the canyon between tall towers. The one on the southwest corner of Bloor and Yonge is planned 91 storeys but is now between 1.2 and 1.6 billion dollars in debt. The ONE. Now with an uncertain future. The project was taken over by a court-appointed receiver back in October.

below: Looking east on Bloor from Yonge.

below: What was once new is now old.

below: The old Church of Scientology building remains empty and derelict. It’s boarded up at street level and many of the windows are cracked. The building has been empty since 2010. Back in 2014/5 there was talk that the organization was going to totally renovate the interior and exterior of the building; there are renderings online of the proposed changes. At that time they owed the city close to $100,000 in back taxes. “This building is designed in the International Style, with a clean facade and balanced proportions ” is the beginning of a description of the property on the ACO (Architectural Conservancy Ontario) website as it apparently has a heritage designation.

below: Vapes, vibes, and cannabis. A brief summary of downtown Yonge Street?

below: The northwest corner of Yonge and St. Joseph Street. Bake Code, Sacred Seed, and Pay2Day. Richmond Hill’s number one cake store is coming to the store on the south end. The pictures look yummy!

below: Southwest corner of Yonge & Wellesley

below: Same corner as the photo above, but from a slightly different angle to show the new curvy condo on the south side of Wellesley.

below: More condo development. This time on the north side Wellesley just west of Yonge. Centre Court.

below: A new park on Wellesley, Lillian McGregor Park, named for Dr. Lillian McGregor (1924-2012), of Whitefish River First Nation, who was a nurse and a community leader. She received many awards including the Order of Ontario and she was the first Indigenous woman to be awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Toronto.

below: Artwork by Winnipeg artist, a crane by Kenneth Lavallee in Lillian McGregor park.

below: Spotted along the way, two shiny small pieces of graffiti – shine shoes sir. By Rocky Zenyk.

below: But does it work?

below: Kiokii And, Unicorn Beauty, and ABC Books.

below: Menu in the window – potato noodles and ramen and more.

below: If Chinese cuisine is not your thing, there is always tandoori chicken or palak paneer nearby. “Come and enjoy your festive season with our specials”.

below: And then for something different…. for dessert you can try ‘chilled mango sago cream with pomelo’ or ‘the bath teddy bear’, or many other different taste sensations. I think that I need to start stopping at more of these places and actually sample some of these foods!

below: Kobi Korean restaurant and Metro Cigar along with one industry that is booming along with Toronto’s construction craze, the toilet rental business!

below: At the intersection of Gloucester Street and Yonge is this new red creation, a sculpture by Albert Paley

below: 33wallflower33 graffiti

below: Available…. one shiny red Christmas elf costume complete with silly hat. She doesn’t look very happy having to wear it!

below: A cheerful little bear welcoming you to College Park

below: Construction, and one lane blocked, near College

below: Looking north on Yonge towards College Street.

below: Different architectural styles.

below: .. with a closer look at some of the brick and stone details

below: More old architectural details seen on exterior walls along Yonge Street

below: Southeast corner of Yonge & Gerrard, now an empty shell surrounding a hole in the ground.

below: Reflection of the old Charles Tavern tower, now part of a new condo development.

below: More construction, northwest corner of Yonge & Elm where the facade of a building on Elm is being preserved.

below: The Zanzibar remains standing amid all the changes happening around it.

below: Reflections at Yonge and Gould (looking north)

below: Another view from Yonge and Gould, this time looking south to Dundas Street.

below: If you look closely at the photo above, there is a store on very right that looks like the name starts with Fun. This is Funduk, and if you look in the window, this is what you might see… Top row closest to the window is Special pomegranate with hazelnuts. Beside it is almond paste with raspberry. What choices!!

I’ll end this post with a selection of the small graffiti that I saw

below: Be a hero … or

below: Ride a broomstick … or

below: Comment on Republicans …

below: …. And wash it all down with an ice cream cone.

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…..

swirling around the Science Centre

Posted: April 30, 2023 in construction, landmarks, locations, transportation
Tags: building, concrete, Crosstown, development, Don Mills, Doug Ford, Eglinton, housing, LRT, politics, rock, Science Centre, transportation

Rumours swirling that is…. because the Ontario Science Centre has been in the news lately. Doug Ford (and the Provincial PC’s) have said that they are going to move it from its Don Mills and Eglinton location to Ontario Place down by the Exhibition Grounds. What then becomes of the Science Centre LRT station? It hasn’t even opened yet and its already obsolete? And needs a new name? …..that’s assuming that the Eglinton Crosstown LRT ever gets done. But hush, no one is talking about that, that’s a secret……

below: Behind fences, the new Science Centre LRT station and transit hub remains unfinished. It is a very quiet construction site. Not a soul to be seen.

One of the arguments for moving the Science Centre is to open up the land for housing. Let’s ring some bells and say ‘housing’. Who can oppose housing, right?

below: This is southeast corner of Don Mills and Eglinton where a development notice stands. Apparently two towers are planned for this location – 26 and 48 storeys high. (The Science Centre is on the west side of Don Mills Road).

In fact, on the east side of Don Mills Road, south of Eglinton (i.e. across the street from the Science Centre), there are two other properties with development notice signs.

Four new towers, as infill, have been proposed for these sites.

AND

What is now the upper parking lot for the Science Centre is already on the books as new housing. This is at the southwest corner of Don Mills and Eglinton. The sign may have been flattened but that doesn’t make the plan disappear!

below: Blocked sidewalk on the south side of Eglinton, upper parking lot is on the left side in the picture

below: View looking south from the upper parking lot towards the Science Centre

AND (Yes, there’s more)

There is a 60 acre development on the northwest corner of Don Mills and Eglinton (the old IBM/Celestica site) that is in the midst of being transformed into the Crosstown neighbourhood.

below: This is a picture that I found (and have blatantly swiped from) on an Urban Toronto web page – It shows the development and infill at Flemingdon Park among the existing structures. The planned buildings are slightly transparent – perhaps 14 of them?? (and that doesn’t include all of Crosstown) The Science Centre is bottom centre.

So which developer whispered sweet nothings in Doug Ford’s ear?

Who thought that moving the Science Centre was a good idea?

Who owns the land now? Did you know that 81 acres of the land that the Science Centre is on is owned by the TRCA? That’s the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority. The rest of the land (a tiny sliver along Eglinton & Don Mills) is owned by the city of Toronto. TRCA and the City of Toronto jointly leased the property to the Ontario Science Centre for a 99-year term, expiring on June 30, 2064.

The TRCA owns the land because of the terrain – steep slopes, ravines, and waterways – i.e. not land suitable for housing. Doug Ford’s announcement came as a surprise to the TRCA – but does that surprise anyone?

below: Another image that I found online that describes the area better than any words that I could write. This is a map of the area showing who owns what. Source: TRCA website

BUT

What else is happening here?

The new subway/LRT line, the Ontario Line, Doug Ford’s favorite line, is also being built here. It is the transit line that runs south from the Science Centre to close to the lakeshore before turning west through downtown (Queen Street closed for 4 years for construction!!) and ending at Ontario Place.

Work has already started in the ravine south of the Science Centre where there will be stops for both Flemingdon Park and Thorncliffe Park. The whole north section of the Ontario Line will be elevated. Between the Science Centre and Flemingdon stations it will run above the street and sidewalk (Don Mills Rd). At some point between Flemingdon and Thorncliffe Park there will have to be a bridge over the West Don River.

below: Where the Science Centre meets the West Don Trail

Some other photos from the area

below: The Science Centre has interesting trash bins on its grounds. Maybe they could teach the city a thing or two?

below: West side of Don Mills Road

below: The southwest entrance to the Science Centre station from another angle

below: Looking west on Eglinton towards Don Mills

below: Walking home after school

It was four years ago that demolition of the old IBM buildings began. On the surface it doesn’t look like much is happening.

Out of Service. Nothing happening here.

Sorry, but I have a few more questions and comments about this thing I encountered at Don Mills & Eglinton ….

What is this? A phallic rock in a concrete circle …. or Doug Ford giving the city the finger? To those who design and build public art (if that’s what it is)…. that concrete circle is just a large garbage can. It will collect trash. It will fill with rain water. It will be an unsightly mess. It’s too low for a bench and it blocks the sidewalk. There’s no sign and no explanation. I can’t find anything about it online either.

early morning Parkdale

Posted: January 11, 2023 in alleys, graffiti and street art, history, old buildings, windows and walls
Tags: alley, architecture, buildings, changes, Christina Mazzulla, Christmas, demolition, development, gables, globe, graffiti, Heather & Little, Jim Bravo, Jimmy Chiale, lanes, Lula Lumaj, mural, murals, Peter Dykhuis, Queen St. West, sculpture, stickers, storefronts, street scene, T-bonez, tibetan, Tsampa, urban ninja squadron, World Peace Monument

below: Pink faced, orange leopard spotted blast of colour…. A mural by Christina Mazzulla.

Settlement in what is now Parkdale began before 1850. In 1879 it was incorporated as a village and ten years later it became part of the city of Toronto.

below: Mural by Jim Bravo and Lula Lumaj from 2015, celebrating the history of Sunnyside Park. In the early years, part of the attraction of living in Parkdale was its proximity to Lake Ontario and such features as Sunnyside Beach and Sunnyside Amusement Park.

below: Christmas wreath on the globe outside Parkdale Library. This is the World Peace Monument, a globe surrounding a fountain. It was designed by Peter Dykhuis and fabricated in copper and bronze by Heather & Little in 2005. The metal sculpture has aged well but as we should all know by now, the city does not do water features well (i.e. I’ve never seen a fountain there; have you?)

In July 2022, City council adopted the Parkdale Main Street Historic District Plan. It covers Queen Street from Dufferin west to Jameson/Macdonell including this block of three buildings. It hopes to preserve many of the two and three storey brick buildings that line Queen Street and in turn, the character of the area.

below: Map of proposed Parkdale Main Street HDP. This map was found on a City website where you can also find other information about the project if you want.

below: Southeast corner of Queen and Dunn

below: A happy black and white bear to greet you

below: And a cow in a tea cup

below: Looking south on Lansdowne. Note the car blocking the bus stop.

below: Someone’s happy this morning

below: Looking south on Noble towards Queen

below: Northeast corner of Brock and Queen

below: “No Justice No Development” in the window of this former store.

below: Row houses. Each house shares a gable, or a peak, with one beside. Gables were very common in Toronto architecture, especially in the Victorian era, but in those houses each had its own gable. As people have decorated their houses, the resulting mix of colours, materials, and textures forms its own picture. This is not unique to this street – there are many other places in Toronto where homes with shared gables (both semis and rows) have been renovated such that the two halves look very different.

below: Bay and gable houses

below: Parkdale has always had a mix of many different building styles, both commercial and residential. The Tsampa Tibetan restaurant has an octagonal turret.

below: From rows of two storey houses to walls of glass and steel (on the other side of Dufferin, and the other side of the railway corridor).

below: Until a few years ago, this was Designer Fabrics store. The block of buildings was built in 1881 by J.C. Mussen, a Parkdale businessman. It was originally six storefronts. In 2020 there was a plan to build a nine storey condo on this site.

below: Like the building beside it, this grey building at 1354-356 Queen West may be demolished to make way for a condo development. There has been a long line of retail businesses in this space, from John Wanless’s hardware store in 1881 to Designer Fabrics (1950s to 2018). For more information about the building, see the website of Architectural Conservancy Ontario.

looking across Queen Street West, small tree and bus shelter on the south side, older buildings on the north side including a two storey brick building with front windows papered over

below: One person’s trash is another person’s treasure…. I had to double check just to make sure that it wasn’t real!

below: The bottom right section of a black and white mural by Jimmy Chiale.

below: “Danger – Restricted Area” says the sign

below: Nothing changes

below:Another demolition – this one is on Noble, immediately north of Queen Street West. An 8 storey condo has been proposed for this site.

below: Another building, another blue and white sign, another condo. As it turns out, this is immediately behind 1354-13656 Queen West (that grey building a few images above) which means that the 9 storey condo here will front on three streets: Queen St, Brock Ave, and Abbs St..

below: The struggle against colonialism continues

below: After a while there are just too many of these. It can get a bit disheartening. This sign sits in front of 1488 Queen Street West which is already empty and looking derelict at street level. The snails pace of development doesn’t help – neglected properties are a liability. They look horrid and contribute nothing to the neighbourhood.

below: Scan for nonsense

With thanks to @designwallah for helping to identify the artists of some of the murals in this post.

as I walk Toronto

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