Posts Tagged ‘Finch Ave.’

I heard that there was a new mural near Finch and Morningside which of course means that I have to try and find it.  In doing so, I found three murals.  This is their story.

Blue and white Toronto street sign for Staines Rd, top part is sign for Morningside Heights, naturally beautiful

This is Morningside Heights at the far eastern side of Scarborough.  The Rouge River, the border between Scarborough and Pickering, is not far away.  The Toronto Zoo is also nearby.

below: Bus 133, Neilson Road, waits at a stop on Finch just west of Morningside.  The houses that you see in the background are on Morningside.

TTC bus parked on Finch just west of Morningside, route 133 Neilson. A row of houses in the background, on Morningside

The Canadian Pacific railway tracks run on a diagonal at this intersection.  They cross Morningside south of Finch and they also cross Finch just west of Morningside.  The bridges, and underpasses, are very close to each other.   In this photo, the train is on the bridge over Finch.  Do people often stand outside the front of a train?

Canadian Pacific railway engines pass over bridge over Finch Ave. A TTC bus is waiting in the foreground, as well as a man standing at the bbus shelter.

In the above picture, the wall of the underpass on the left is unpainted.  The wall on the right, the one that you can’t see has a mural by Mediah.

under the bridge, part of a mural by Mediah IAH Digital, train underpass on Finch Ave in Scarborough

It is called “Interoh Gale” and Mural Routes was a partner in its development last year.

part of a mural by Mediah IAH Digital, train underpass on Finch Ave in Scarborough

maple leaf and stripes, under the bridge, part of a mural by Mediah IAH Digital, train underpass on Finch Ave in Scarborough

below: west end

west end, part of a mural by Mediah IAH Digital, train underpass on Finch Ave in Scarborough

orange maple leaf

below: east end

part of a mural by Mediah IAH Digital, train underpass on Finch Ave in Scarborough

below:  Construction has begun on the southwest corner of this intersection. The site plan, approved last year, shows a Shell gas station with retail on three sides of it.  Leases are available! (you’ll have to google it).

construction site

dump truck leaving a construction site

below: There is a pond with a walking trail around it almost directly across Morningside from the above construction site.

pond with Canada geese, backs of houses on the far shore,

below: Two people, after being on the trail around the pond, walk south on Morningside via an underpass that has murals on both sides.  This is mural on the east side.  It is older than the others but it is in reasonably good shape.

two people walk past a mural on a railway underpass

below: A boy on a skate board and a girl doing what?  The two green signs say Love and Malvern.  I don’t know Scarborough well enough to know if the buildings in the mural represent real ones.   Malvern is just to the west.

end of a mural underpass, sloped concrete with railing on top

mural, picture of a growling bear's head

below: MFRC is Malvern Family Resource Centre and there is a picture on their website of the unveiling of this mural in September 2015.

old mural on concrete wall, of a person on a bike on a path, someone playing basketball, in the mural,

below: This is the newest mural.  It is called “Colour Outside the Lines” and it is the work of Lacey and Layla Art (aka Lacey Jane and Layla Folkmann)

a mural with three large kids faces in purples, pinks, and blues,

part of a mural by Lacey and Layla called Colour Outside the Lines, a young girl looking upward, a child's drawing of a girl in with a curly yellow line around it

mural, two large girls faces, under a railway bridge, on Morningside, by Lacey and Layla

part of a mural, a large face of a boy in pinks and blues, with a yellow crown drawn on top of his head

below: Looking north on Morningside from Finch.

looking north up Morningside Ave fr4 land road with a wide boulevard in the middle, small trees have been planted on the boulevard. Row of houses on the righ, east, side of Morningside. om Finch,

On the northwest corner of this intersection, there is a large piece of vacant land.  The railway tracks run along the west side of it.   I can’t find any information about it online.  There isn’t the usual blue and white Notice of Development sign.   The website on the billboard shows some of the houses that they have built/remodeled but there is nothing about this particular project.

billboard advertisement for development property on vacant land, rovillage coming soon it says

Once it was fenced in by the looks of it. Not much of the black cloth remains.  It looks a bit creepy, as nature undoes man’s work.

remnants of a black cloth fence that has rotted, outdoors, hanging off of posts, vacant, land, weedy,

But now it’s for sale maybe?  LOL. A cliff hanger ending for this post!

a for sale sign half hidden in the overgrown weeds

 

a gold coloured weather vane with a rooster on it, bright blue sky in the background

Once again, it seems that no matter where in the city you go there will be construction.  There will be the demolition of single family homes to make way for condos or at the minimum, blocks of rowhouses.   The area around Yonge and Finch is no exception.

apartment building in the background, a street of single family dweelings in the foreground, early spring so no leaves on the trees, a few cars parked in driveways

I am not sure if it serves any purpose, perhaps it’s futile, but I’d like to think that documenting what we are removing is worthwhile.   The houses on Finch Avenue East like the one in this picture are small, but the lots on which they sit are large.

small white bungalow with brown roof, on large piece of land, car in driveway

That means that a developer can demolish four houses and turn around and build 17 townhouses in the same space.    That is what is happening near Finch and Willowdale.

three small white bungalows with windows and doors boarded up, small trees overgrown around them.

Although the properties were not fenced off, all access to the houses themselves was blocked, sigh.  It looked like a local garden centre was using the backyards of a couple of the houses.

side door of a white wood house with rickety porch and steps. three trees growing besie it, door is boarded up

below: View to a new development on the other side of Finch Avenue.  This is the type of development that the area is now zoned for.  A lot of these townhouses have been built in the last few years and I suspect that eventually they will replace all of the single family homes.

view looking down a driveway, two empty houses - one on each side of the driveway. Can see across the street to new townhouse development on the other side.

single family homes and large trees on Finch Ave

single family homes and large trees on Finch Ave

Between Willowdale Avenue and Yonge Street, there were a couple of other houses that are boarded up and empty. I am not sure what the plan is for them (there was no development proposal sign posted, instead there was a sign advertising the company that is providing the financing – for what?).

small bungalow with blue door, windows boarded up, large tree in front yard, apartment building behind,

The internet can be a wonderful thing.  In case you are interested, the development is the Ava Luxury Residence and it calls for heights and densities that are vastly over what is zoned for in the area.  For example, at 9 storeys it is 37 metres tall in an area zoned for 11 metres.  The plan was first filed in 2016 but because of the size of the development, it requires a zoning by-law amendment, official plan amendment, and site plan approval to effect the proposal – all which take time.   An OMB appeal pre-hearing was scheduled to occur a few days ago, with a hearing slated for June.  MM170085 is the OMB case number if you want to dive down that rabbit hole.

small bungalow with blue door, windows boarded up, large tree in front yard, sign in front yard advertising financing

This is 50 Finch East.  As you can see, there is a taller building on the other side of Kenneth Avenue.  Kenneth was to be the dividing line – keeping the higher buildings, and denser development, closer to Yonge Street.  I’m not sure what side of the development battle you’re on, but what’s the point of having a plan if the developers (with help from the OMB) keep disregarding it?

small bungalow on a corner lot, with windows and doors boarded up, larger apartment building behind.

As I walked back to my car, I chose to walk on a side street instead of on Finch.  As I turned a corner, I happened upon a house being demolished.  Fortuitous.  Serendipity.

a yellow digger loading rubble from a house demolition into a dump truck

It doesn’t take long to reduce a house to rubble and dust.  “Another one bites the dust” springs to mind.

close up of a digger demolishing a house

And so it goes.

Today’s blog post comes from slightly farther afield than I usually venture.   I went northwest to the Jane and Finch area.  As I drove north on Jane street, I spotted some eye-catching paintings on the walls of the Driftwood Community and Recreation Centre.

below: ‘Unique’, a vibrant heart painted by Girls Club

A mural of a large multicoloured heart with peace symbols in circles floating around it. Words: by Girls Club 2013, 'unique'

below: ‘Rooted’ trees by Lil Bruxas and part of ‘United Freedom’ on the back wall

murals on three walls at the Driftwood Community Centre, two trees and a large face

below: ‘United Freedom’ by Essencia

A brightly coloured mural on a brick wall. A large oval face with music symbols on the left and butterflies on the right. Called united freedom and painted by essencia.

part of a mural on a brick wall, multicolour butterflies

below: A blackburn traffic signal box sits on that corner.  Straight from the jungle.

A metal box on a street corner, a leopard by street artist blackburn

close up of street art painting of a greenish grey leopard with blue eyes, nose and mouth

A little father south there are a couple of high rise apartment buildings on the northeast corner of Jane and Finch.   Each has a mural painted around one of the entrances to the building.

below:  ‘Be Inspired, Love Yourself, Educate Others’ by the BeLovEd movement,
painted by Shalak Attack and Fiya Bruxas, 2011.

mural painted on a wall of an apartment building at Jane and Finch titled 'Beloved', painted by Shalak and Fiya Bruxa in 2011. People doing various things.

Part of a mural

part of a mural by Shalak and Fiya Bruxa

blog_two_faces_blue_yellow

part of a mural by Shalak and Fiya Bruxa

part of a mural by Shalak and Fiya Bruxa, a young woman holding a new born baby in her hand.

***

below: ‘Strong Women, Strong Community’ also by the BeLovEd Movement surrounds a doorway.  Although there is a sidewalk that leads directly to the corner of Jane and Finch, no one was using this entrance.  I was alone when I walked around this building from the parking lot by the main door.

mural across the lower level of a high rise building, surrounding an entranceway

part of a mural on the lower floor of a grey brick apartment building, women, one holding flowers, one resting her head on her hand, one sitting on the grass.

Strong Women, Strong Community are the words written on a mural, people painted on a wall

blog_mural_finch_family