Gardiner Expressway | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘Gardiner Expressway’

walking towards the Pinnacle… and beyond

Posted: November 21, 2025 in construction, locations, old buildings
Tags: Alexandros, bearded prof, Between the Eyes, CIBC building, CN Tower, Dean Drever, dowtown, Gardiner Expressway, Harbour Commission Building, Pinnacle Group, Queens Quay, Richard Deacon, Royal York hotel, Scotiabank Arena, Sky Tower, Yonge St.

….with a group of friends on a grey November morning.

below: From Union Station, there are now plenty of routes to take indoors and we explored some of them (some for at least the second time but there are always changes or points of view that you miss the first time around).

below: Union Station has connected to Scotiabank Arena for a few years now.

below: And within the last year or two a pedestrian bridge over Bay Street has connected Scotiabank Arena with the new CIBC Square development on the other side of the street. This picture shows the exterior stairs of that new CIBC building as seen from the south side of that bridge. That’s a lot of climbing! So glad for escalators.

below: There is quite a view from the new CIBC Square park area including this one looking mostly southwest to the top of Scotiabank arena. The architectural details (some sort of overhang?) are on the new CIBC building

below: Looking north up Bay past the shiny sparkly gold RBC building to Old City Hall that’s almost hidden behind the newer towers.

below: You can also see the Royal York hotel on the other side of the railway tracks.

below: Cranes and the CN Tower make for a very downtown Toronto photo. Again, this is the view from the new CIBC Square. If you are interested, a year ago I posted more photos from this new park – Above the railway tracks at CIBC Square.

below: Work continues on the Union Station expansion and upgrades on the south side of the station. This work will provide the infrastructure needed for increased GO train service (more trains, more often). Comparing this photo to one taken a year ago there don’t seem to be many changes so I hope that most of the work has been inside (or else it’s going to be a very long time before this project is completed).

below: It is also possible to continue walking indoors through to the new GO Bus Terminal. This is the glass wall at the south entrance of the terminal on Lakeshore Blvd.

below: This is the view southwest from the corner of Bay and Lakeshore. Just beyond the exit ramp from the Gardiner is the Toronto Harbour Commission Building on Harbour Street – named as such back in the day when this was close to the shore of Lake Ontario. It was built in the Beaux-Arts style and was completed in 1917.

below: Harbour Commission Building, 1923, just over a hundred years ago. Photo from the Toronto Public Library, found online in their digital archives. Harbour Street was right on the shore! Everything that exists toady south of Harbour Street is built on landfill. That includes most, if not all, of the developments on Queens Quay.

below: A few steps later as we walked down Bay – this photo is now looking northwest back towards Scotiabank Arena and the Gardiner Expressway. So many new towers! The Telus building on the right is on York Street and immediately south of the tracks. On the left are twos tall building with an almost round structure on the top (with holes in it) – these are the ICE condo towers at 12 and 14 York.

below: On Queens Quay, a contrast between the Brutalist type of architecture of the textured concrete Westin Hotel and the newer glass and steel condo tower beyond it.

below: Also on Queens Quay (on the north side of Queens Quay between Bay and Yonge) there is a water feature at the horribly named Residences of the World Trade Centre

below: The same complex is also home to this mis-shapen peanut thing that is a sculpture, ‘Between The Eyes’, by Richard Deacon. Also, the brown building on the left is the old Toronto Star building at 1 Yonge Street. It was to be redeveloped into a condo tower but the market for condos is trash at the moment. The owner/developer, Pinnacle Group, has announced that they might try to convert the building into a hotel instead.

below: Now under construction is Sky Tower at Pinnacle One Yonge (on what was the parking lot behind the Toronto Star building).

below: 106 floors!! Final height will be 352 metres. May they never have elevator issues. May the underground garages never have water issues. The tallest completed building in the city is Aura at Yonge and College at 272m. A couple of others at Yonge and Bloor are under construction but even once they are finished, this Sky Tower will be the tallest. Remember that picture of the Royal York Hotel – when it was built in the late 1920s it was the tallest building in the city, and the first one over 100m.

below: When I was looking for older pictures of this area, I found this intriguing photo from 1984. Not that long ago, right? The Gardiner Expressway runs across the top and you can see the Toronto Harbour Commission building in the top left corner. The Westin Hotel is there (the two towers on a triangular base, bottom left). The rectangular tall building is the Toronto Star building at 1 Yonge. In other words, this is almost a map of part of our walk. A couple of things of note – first look how much surface parking there was! And second, what is that circular thing in the middle (and top) of the picture!!! On closer examination, it’s just an old ramp for the Gardiner and all the wasted space in the center. Harbour Street follows the curve on its south side. An incredible amount of space is devoted to the car.

below: Walking up the west side of Yonge. The blue building with all the diamonds and triangles is the back of CIBC Square – we have almost completed a circle.

below: More redevelopment and construction to the east of Yonge on Harbour. Harbour then merges with Lakeshore Blvd.

below: You should recognize the purpose of the exterior bracing on the brick building. The facade of this 1950s brick LCBO headquarters and warehouse is being saved during its transition to ‘Sugar Wharf’ with new towers, a hotel, a park, and more. A very familiar story that seems to play in a never ending loop.

below: North on Yonge

below: Under the Gardiner

below: Bird in flight but stuck to the concrete – a paper paste-up on a Gardiner Expressway pillar

below: I don’t think that this is Finch West.

below: Another bird in flight is ‘Eagle’ by Dean Drever, 2018. His beak is pointing to another new pedestrian bridge over Yonge Street that hasn’t opened yet. It is part of the CIBC development and will become part of the PATH system.

below: CIBC Square, north side construction. In the distance is Union Station; we have come close to walking in a circle. It wasn’t a very big circle but there were many changes and quite a few things happening. The CIBC Square development includes two towers on the east side of Bay, one on the south side of the tracks and one on the north. In case you didn’t realize it, the one acre “park” that they have developed is actually over the railway tracks. It’s a wonderful use of the space. I hope that the city sees that it is feasible to create public space this way. There has been a lot of chatter about how the city should create a park over more of the tracks and I hope that this spurs them on.

This walk was the 16th Anniversary walk for the Toronto Photowalks group. It was a rather large group of us that started from Union Station last Saturday morning.

Toronto Photowalks have walked twice a month since November 2009 with some exceptions during Covid lockdowns and restrictions. I first walked with them in early February, 2012. There have been 334 walks and most streets and alleys in the city (and sometimes beyond) have been covered at least once. Some weeks the group is small while at other times the numbers are a bit overwhelming but all in all, it’s a great group!

below: I am sure that the Bearded Prof is saying “Thanks for joining us!”

another downtown loop

Posted: May 12, 2025 in construction, locations, people, public art, transportation
Tags: boats, Carlton, construction, Destinie Adelakun, downtown, Gardiner Expressway, glass, harbour, Harbourfront, Heritier Bilaka, Jordan Sook, June Clark, Laura Donefer, Love Park, Maple Leafs, owl, Queens Quay, reflections, Segun Caezar, steetcars, Transit Through Time, TTC, Union station, York Street

Good morning! The weather forecast said that there was a chance of drizzly rain and they were right but it wasn’t that much and it didn’t last for long. Not the best day for sunny blue sky photos of the city, but since when has that held us back?

below: You probably don’t recognize where this photo was taken (unless you are familiar with the Victoria Hotel). This is Yonge Street, just south of King subway station, and it is also where I started walking the other day….

below: Contrasts of old and new at the corner of Yonge and Wellingon. Architectural trends as well as the material used are a product of their time.

below: The old stone entrance with a large circular window over the door and an arch that matches those over the other windows. There are also little details in the stonework that you just don’t see in modern buildings.

below: The more recent development to all glass buildings with oversized (i.e. extra tall) ground floor levels.

below: But such extensive use of glass is not entirely new. Downtown skyscrapers have been built using steel frames and glass since the 1960s. I think that the TD bank tower was one of the first, if not the first, in 1967. But that’s not this building… this is part of the large RBC complex on Bay Street between Wellington and Front. The bright pink plants along the sidewalk are wonderful!

below: The south part of the RBC building is very photogenic! Its gold coloured glass as well as its angles and nooks make for some interesting pictures. The older stone Union Station is hiding in the bottom left corner.

below: A recent addition to the streetscape in front of Union Station are these bland blocks of concrete. Such imagination! So much thought went into their design! Really? That’s what someone thought would be a great addition to Front Street?

below: There were some complaints about the older ones… the Jersey barriers that were meant to be temporary but then never went away…. in fact, many of them are still here….

There are 2 art installations in the West Wing at Union Station. The first is a group exhibit, “A Transit Through Time” featuring six Black artists – Destinie Adélakun, Pixel Heller, Segun Caezar, Heritier Bilaka, Rico Poku and Camille Kiffin. Each artist is responsible for one panel…

below: The picture in the foreground, the woman with a red head scarf and blue blouse, is the work of Segun Caezar.

below: “Gelede Queens” by Destinie Adelakun – people in ornate costumes pose in front of a large fireplace and mirror. According to UNESCO, “Gelede is performed by the Yoruba-Nago community that is spread over Benin, Nigeria and Togo. For more than a century, this ceremony has been performed to pay tribute to the primordial mother Iyà Nlà and to the role women play in the process of social organization and development of Yoruba society. “

below: “Self Knowledge” by Heritier Bilaka

below: This large butterfly, by Jordan Sook, is part of another installation called, “Nothing More, Nothing Less”. Apparently there are more butterflies around Union Station. Have you seen any?

below: Ontario Square between Queen’s Quay and the waterfront where a large image from Alex McLeod’s “Liquid, Gold” can still be seen. I wrote a blog past about this picture and others from this series a year ago, “Liquid, Gold and other matters“

below: This “Carnavale Amulet” basket is made of glass and was created by Laura Donefer. It is on display at Harbourfront along with several other of her pieces.

below: A few boats are docked in the harbour. The bridge over the harbour is no longer just blocked, but is now severed.

below: Protecting the young trees

below: Dead and not alive; dead and dead. Patio season on the waterfront hasn’t begun yet.

below: On the south wall of the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery a very large photograph by June Clark still hangs. This is left over from last year’s CONTACT Photography Festiva.

below: Getting ready to clean up the city?!

below: Still quiet now, but getting ready for summer…. water taxis to take people to Centre Island.

below: Patriotic red and white, but a very sad Canadian flag.

below: Love Park on the southeast corner of York and Harbour is now complete. This public space was created when the exit ramp from the Gardiner to York Street was removed. It is difficult to see from ground level photos, but the pond is heart shaped.

below: A beaver has made its home in the pond.

below: There is also an owl that has a great birds eye view of the park. Someone else has a great view too!

below: Looking north on York from Harbour Street towards the Gardiner Expressway and beyond. Love Park was behind me to the right when I took this photo.

The old multi level parking garage at Lower Simcoe and the Lakeshore is on its way down. Demolition is well underway.

below: Dwarfed by the new condos around it, the stairwell and elevator shaft from the garage stands on its own. Whose picture is at the top? Someone blowing a giant bubble – must be quite the wad of gum!

below: The other stairwell.

below: “Don’t trespassing”!

below: The demolition as view from the other side of Lakeshore Blvd.

below: A lot of concrete! Under the ramp to the Gardiner

below: The northeast corner of York and Lakeshore

below:

below: York Street at Lakeshore Blvd where the old green Gardiner Expressway travels directly above the Lakeshore

below: Just after taking the above photo, there was much noise from the honking of horns, as this black car decided to take a short cut to the ramp by going north in the southbound lane on York Street.

And last, a shout out to the Toronto Maple Leafs as I walk through the Scotiabank Centre back to the subway. As I write this, the Leafs tied at two games apiece with the Florida Panthers in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Go Leafs Go!

below: Carlton in his regular blue and white attire as well as in his St. Pats costume. Love the curly wig and the clover leaf shaped glasses! You can catch Carlton in the store at Scotiabank arena (along with a lot of other Toronto team paraphernalia!).

a blustery winter day

Posted: January 23, 2024 in locations, public art, reflections, waterfront
Tags: Anique Jordan, boats, CIBC Square, Empire Sandy, Gardiner Expressway, ice, John McEwen, kraken, Kuumba, Lake Ontario, Legends Row, Maple Leaf Square, Maple Leafs, Mycelium, Nicolas Baier, photography, Queens Quay West, roller skating, Scotiabnk Arena, Stephen Tayo, streetcar, Union station, water, waterfront

Hum dum dum ditty dum
Hum dum dum

below: A Porter flight approaches the island airport

below: The Empire Sandy moored at the waterfront, with the Toronto fire boat in the distance.

“Oh the wind is lashing lustily
And the trees are thrashing thrustily

And the leaves are rustling gustily
So it’s rather safe to say

That it seems that it may turn out to be
Feels that it will undoubtedly
It looks like a rather blustery day, today”

as sung by Winnie the Pooh

below: A kraken is taking over the boat!

below: A large photograph, on the south wall of the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery is “These Times 2019” by Anique Jordan which has been on display since the CONTACT Photography Festival last spring.

below: “Kuumba”, Photography by Stephen Tayo is on display outside at Harbourfront

below: Also at Harbourfront, orange ties blowing in the wind. These are remains, and a reminder, of Orange Shirt Day on 30th September.

below: Looking east on Harbour Street, parallel to the Gardiner Expressway, toward York Street and the wedged shaped building that has been squeezed into the space.

below: Waterfront ReConnect: Pixel Story is a “temporary creative intervention” located under the Gardiner Expressway at Lower Simcoe. Crowd-sourced stories and memories of the waterfront each on a little blue square. Making constructive use of a space that has been neglected for so long; adding colour and interest to what was grey and slightly foreboding.

blue squares arranged in a grid as part of a public art installation. some squares have simple white pictures and some squares have words written in white

“Railways arrived on Toronto’s waterfront in the 1850s. To accommodate, a southward extension of the shoreline via infill was required. The ground where we stand now is close to the original shoreline of the lake.”

below: On the north side of the Gardiner – still a little darkness lurking there.

below: City of Toronto sign says Tree Protection Zone. I don’t think that I believe it.

below: At this point I had had enough of the cold; it was time to check out a warmer route! So underground I went, down into the PATH system. The lobby of ICE at 12 York has this large circular skylight over the escalator.

below: And then there is this long black, white, and chrome tunnel that connects the ICE condo and the PATH system. The walls on both sides are reflective and it’s a bit disorientating. Is this supposed to represent walking through a block of ice, or black ice?

below: PATH, the underground rabbit warren of tunnels that connect downtown buildings to each other. Usually I get lost down here.

below: I found myself in a grocery store

below: And I discovered that the PATH sometimes goes high, not low. I found myself on the upper level of the Scotiabank Arena.

below: There is a great view of Legends Row from up here – that’s the statues of all the Maple Leaf Captains from the past.

below: And inside, a collage of Leaf players hangs on the wall.

below: There’s even a portrait of Justin Bieber, behind glass, wearing a Maple Leaf jersey with a Captains C on the shoulder.

below: This is also good vantage point for all of Maple Leaf Square

below: Including a close up view of the rusty metal things… Actually it’s “Search Light, Star Light, Spot Light” (1998) by John McEwen.

At Scotiabank Arena, the PATH splits into two possibilities. One route is through Union Station and the other is up the escalator towards the new GO Bus Terminal.

below: Four (or five?) John Tavares’s to give directions to the new GO Bus Terminal. Happy to oblige!

below: There is now a pedestrian bridge over Bay Street that connects the Scotiabank Arena and Union Station Bus Terminal to the new CIBC SQUARE building. This is the view looking south on Bay

below: Along the north wall of the bridge is a work by Nicolas Baier called “Mycelium”. It is a network of LED lights and it is visible from outside as well.

below: At CIBC Square there is a new rooftop garden/park that has a tall skinny metallic tree, along with some real trees. There is no access to it yet but it will probably be a more welcoming in a few months.

At this point I retraced my steps back through Scotiabank and then walked through Union Station where I learned that a small space has been set aside for a temporary roller skating rink. Free rentals. Free entry.

below: He still stands outside Union Station with the flock of birds flying around while the sun reflects off the gold tinted Royal Bank Building.

below: Steamy Yonge Street on a cold day

below: Development notice outside 69 Yonge Street.

below: C’est tout. Fini. Time to go home.

a summer day, a city meander

Posted: September 13, 2022 in construction, people, transportation, waterfront
Tags: Alanna Cavanagh, Cherry St bridge, CN Tower, condos, Corkin Gallery, development, Gardiner Expressway, lake, Lake Ontario, Lakeshore Blvd., parliament st., peppers, Pioneer Tour boats, queens quay east, St. Lawrence market, sugar beach, sunflowers, vegetables, waterfront

Another day, another walk through the city starting at the Distillery District and heading west towards the waterfront and downtown Toronto.

below: Posing under the heart, Distillery District.

below: Posing with the LOVE locks.

below: Flowered Dress Madonna” by Ann Agee, 2021 as seen in the Corkin Gallery in the Distillery District.

below: Looking east on Front Street from Berkeley. Police Division is the old brick building. Both sides of Front are lined with black hoardings as redevelopment of those sites started recently.

below: Berkeley St., south of Front

below: Another hole in the wall; another vacant lot waiting for redevelopment on Parliament Street. More tall buildings coming to the Distillery District.

below: Looking south from the end of Parliament Street and across Lakeshore Blvd to the start of Queens Quay East. Many changes here!

below: The CN Tower peaks through the gap created by one of the onramps for the Gardiner Expressway.

below: No Parkin’, Victory Soya Mills in the background

below: Looking east towards the Port Lands redevelopment. The new Cherry Street bridge is in the background.

below: From the same spot on the waterfront as the above picture, but looking in the other direction.

below: Queens Quay East

below: Relaxing by the lake.

below: Sugar Beach, spectator section, in the shade.

below: On the rocks, Sugar Beach

below: I am not sure who this is or why he’s on the waterfront. He’s made of wood – someone constructed him and left him here.

below: Closed – ramp to the the eastbound Gardiner at Lower Jarvis.

below: Lower Jarvis

below: A bucket full of bright and cheerful sunflowers on the sidewalk by St. Lawrence Market.

below: Market Street closed to traffic at Esplanade.

below: Marvelous peppers and other veggies for sale at St. Lawrence Market

below: Someone’s looking a little distraught. Remember how your parents used to say that if you frowned too much, or you made too many weird faces, your face would freeze in that position? That is what this poor fellow reminded me of. “Frozen” in time on the side of St. Lawrence Hall.

below: In a window. The title of the painting is “Alone” so perhaps she is alone in the city albeit surrounded by flowers. Unfortunately, they are yellow and blue flowers so I suspect that there is Ukrainian symbolism at play here and that ‘alone’ has a much deeper significance.

below: Leader Lane ends at Wellington.

below: Mama elephant and her two little ones are still walking through the courtyard behind Commerce Court. They haven’t reached the pool yet (but at least there’s water in the pool now).

below: This is one of the five Big City Blooms murals found around the city (west side of Commerce Court). The big bold and cheerful flowers in reds and pinks are the work of Alanna Cavanagh.

below: Same Commerce Court building as the above picture but from a slightly different angle.

below: Melinda Street

below: Narrow city alley views, framing the gorgeous stone and brick work on the older building with its arched windows.

below: There appears to be a forest path in the middle of Brookfield Place. It is actually a photograph that is part of an exhibit called, “Take Your Seat With the Group of Seven, Nature the Inspires Us”. (now gone from Brookfield Place).

below: In this exhibit, locations used by the Group of Seven in their paintings were revisited. Photos were taken using a red director’s chair, placing the chair in the artist’s position. In this set of images, two small paintings from Coldwell Harbour are paired with a large photo of present day Coldwell Harbour – the chair is small but you should be able to see it on the rocky outcropping. The harbour is on Lake Superior near the town of Marathon.

***

Commissioners to the Gardiner

Posted: September 24, 2021 in construction, locations
Tags: bridge, Commissioners Road, construction, cranes, DOn River, fence, Gardiner, Gardiner Expressway, Port Lands, skyline, trucks

more changes, more demolition

From Leslie to Cherry, Commissioners Street runs through the middle of the Port Lands, or at least it used to. The re-making of the mouth of the Don River involves a new waterway that cuts Commissioners into two sections. This blog post is a quick look at the east side.

below: TTC streetcar leaving Leslie Barns at Leslie and Commissioners- celebrating 100 years.

below: There are a lot of cement mixers in the area!

below: Canada Post has a large presence in the area too. A series of images of stamps featuring Canadian birds, such as this black-capped chickadee, decorate the exterior wall of one of their buildings.

below: Portlands Energy Center on the other side of the Shipping Channel. This is natural gas powered electricity generating facility. It also has a steam turbine generator that allows it to make electricity using steam from waste heat.

below: Commissioners Street now ends at Saulter

below: The new bridge has been delivered and sits at the western end of Commissioners, on the other side of the gap. Soon(?) that gap will be part of the new route of the Don River.

below: Looking north on Saulter Street towards Villiers Street. Metal beams from the Gardiner are being lowered to the ground.

below: New utility poles on Saulter, with another view of the Gardiner demolition.

below: Saturday traffic on Villiers. The Lakeshore is closed on the weekends to facilitate the dismantling of the Gardiner. Yes, it does cause traffic issues and confusion!

below: Looking north on Don Roadway from Villiers

below: Some of the concrete bents from the Gardiner still stand as does the curved elevated ramp from the Gardiner to the DVP.

below: An abrupt end

below: Crane demolishing a concrete bent beside the Keating Channel.

below: An older photo from 2015 showing the Gardiner Expressway on the north shore of the Keating Channel with the Lakeshore below. The yellow crane in the image above is close to where the blue barge is in this picture (but on the shore side!). The supports for the Gardiner over the mouth of the Don River are metal (the greenish coloured two on the right side of this photo), not concrete like the others. These metal supports is at the right edge of the photo above.

from 2015, photo of Gardiner along the north shore of the Keating channel

photo taken in 2015

below: When the steel beams are removed, they are first trimmed and cut in half.

below: They are then hauled away to another site where they are cut down even more.

below: Standing in the middle of Lakeshore Blvd and looking west. Remains of the Gardiner.

below: Side view, Lakeshore with remnants of the Gardiner rising up beside. Soon to be gone.

north of the Keating Channel

Posted: March 10, 2021 in history, locations, old buildings, transportation, waterfront
Tags: British American Oil, concrete, DVP, electricity, Gardiner Expressway, history, Keating channel, Lakeshore Blvd., pipes, Port Lands, ramp, street art, water

The other day, later in the afternoon, I was driving along the Lakeshore when I noticed that perfect lighting on the south side of the Keating Channel. I’ve done blog posts about the Port Lands development but I hadn’t looked at it from the other side. A quick change of plans – a parking spot nearby and a walk along the Lakeshore. This is some of what I saw that day.

below: At the bottom of Cherry Street

below: At the corner of Cherry and Lakeshore.

below: Along the Lakeshore, looking south towards Port Lands at Cherry.

below: The Gardiner curves slightly northward as it aligns with the Keating Channel. Lakeshore Blvd takes a wider turn and comes out from under the Gardiner for a few brief moments before slipping back under as both roads parallel the channel.

below: On the south side of Lakeshore, there is no sidewalk here but the grassy area is wide enough…..

below: Walking here offers a different view of the Port Lands. The “smokestack” on the right is the old Hearn Generating station.

below: Some of the buildings that remain on Villiers Street.

below: Panorama of Keating Channel being developed, 1916, before there was much on the Port Lands and Cherry Street was just a one lane dirt road.

below: Keating Channel, 1916

The original plan for the diversion of the Don River called for a more curved mouth of the river before it joined the Keating Channel. But the British American Oil Company who owned the land fought that idea. Instead, the 90 degree turn that still exists today was built to avoid crossing B/A property.

below: A few years after the channel was upgraded (1934)… From vacant land to a forest of BA oil tanks. There are railway tracks along the edge of the channel. From Wikipedia: “In 1908, with 8 shareholders, B/A built Canada’s third refinery on 3 acres on the eastern waterfront in Toronto. The company refined imported crude oil and its main product was kerosene; a then-useless by-product was gasoline, which was dumped into a swamp.”

Photo by Arthur Beales. Toronto Port Authority Archives, PC 1/1/10769. Found at Wikimedia Common

below: BA refinery with the Don River on the right, 1931. There were still storage tanks here in the 1960s when the city was building the Gardiner Expressway.

1931 photograph, vintage, black and white, of British American oil refinery just north of the Keating Channel and just west of the Don River,

Photo source: Library and Archives Canada, online

below: This rusty “fence” isn’t going to hold anyone or anything back. I had visions of tumbling into the icy channel if I went near it. I think that just looking at it made it wobble.

below: There are still places to tie up your boat

below: A big tap? It’s attached to a pipeline but is it functional? (It doesn’t look like it). There is a lot of infrastructure buried under the Lakeshore, sewer lines, water mains, electricals, etc., but this looks like a piece of history. Pleased correct me if I’m wrong! Also – if you plan to explore here, there are stretches where the only option is to walk right beside the road.

below: Likewise, the box structure is probably there to protect the rest – but what are they? Valves of some kind?

below: Looking north to Canary District and West Don Lands development. The oil tanks are long gone.

below: Looking up from Lakeshore, under both the Gardiner and the ramp from the DVP

below: Looking west from Don Roadway along the Keating Channel to the new Cherry Street bridge.

below: Intersection of Lakeshore and Don Roadway.

below: Two metal transmission towers standing side by side. Geometrical, straight lines, yet lace-like.

below: From the Don Roadway, northbound and homeward

remnants of our industrial past

Posted: February 23, 2021 in construction, history, locations, old buildings, waterfront
Tags: A.J. Maldo, Canary Distict, construction, demolition, dog, Dominion Wheel & Foundry, Eastern Avenue, Gardiner Expressway, graffiti, King Street East, Lakeshore, Lower Sherbourne, Old Foundry building, Pam Lostracco, protest, queens quay east, silo, stickers, underpass park, Victory Soya Mills

I first started walking the streets with a camera sometime in 2011. At that time Instagram was still a baby; the photo sharing platform of choice at the time was flickr. Flickr still exists but there are many more choices now. Back in the day there was a Toronto flickr group that had meetups once a month. The meetup, there’s another concept that has exploded with the internet. There are now meetup groups for any photography genre that tickles your fancy. Ten years ago, you met through flickr and that is how I found Toronto Photo Walks. They walk (or walked pre-COVID) on alternate Saturdays, rain or shine, somewhere in the city. My first walk with them was February 2012, almost exactly 9 years ago. If you check their website, you”ll see that COVID-19 has played havoc with their group and there haven’t been any walks for a year now. I miss my phellow photogs so the other day I walked with one and this is where we ended up.

below: If you’ve been in the Distillery District this winter (or any of the past few winters), you might recognize this cheerful fellow.

below: At Mill and Trinity, the omnipresent blue and white Notice sign. Apparently a developer has applied to build a 31 storey building (on top of the existing old brick structure) with 392 hotel rooms. I wonder if they are happy that they didn’t just finish this a year ago? Ontario hotel occupancy rate hit a low of 15.3% in April 2020 and had barely started to recover when the second lockdown hit. As an aside – if you like stats, you’ll like the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Sport research pages!

below: One industry that is booming is the film business. Often you can see movie trucks at the corner of Mill and Cherry. This land is owned by the province and is awaiting an affordable housing development of some sort.

below: The old Foundry site, actually a group of heritage buildings at the former Dominion Wheel and Foundries Company on Eastern Avenue that are more than 100 years old.

The problem? It sits on provincially owned land. The province can pull stunts like changing the zoning without city approval (or knowledge). It can turn one foundry building into 3 towers of max 141m high (30 storeys is approx. 100m so 141 m is TALL!). One of them has to be rental apartments but can’t have parking – there’s to be a commercial parking structure instead. Hey let’s build affordable housing by making them pay for parking! Here is the government website with the proof – Ontario Regulation 595/20

Fast forward to late January. Demolition of the foundry begins with no warning to the neighbourhood. There is a rezoning order but no actual plans drawn up or developer named. As far we know, the province still owns the land but refuses to say exactly the plan is because, well, probably because there is no plan or because the province is selling out to a developer. Name your poison. The province just says “affordable housing” and we’re supposed to go oooh and ahhh.

Just around the corner (on Mill Street) three towers of 761 rental units are being built at the moment (no photo, it’s all behind hoardings so far).

below: Heritage Toronto plaque, 2012, Dominion Wheel & Foundries Ltd., Manufacturing Complex

plaque at former Dominion Wheel and Foundries Company on Eastern Avenue

These four buildings were once part of a larger Dominion Wheel & Foundries Ltd. complex. By 1913, the company had constructed its first building, 169 Eastern Ave. on this site. As a manufacturer of railway equipment, rolling stock, and foundry and machinery supplies, Dominion Wheel & Foundries expanded with the growth of the nearby railway companies. By the 1940s, the buildings stretched from this location to Cherry Street, replacing two former residential streets. The firm’s remaining warehouse (#169)m foundry building (#153, built 1951), office building (#171, built 1930), and machine shop (#185, built about 1935) are now among the few remaining reminders of the extensive impact the railway industry had on this area.

Anyhow, lots of protest, lots of noise. Demolition was halted. An Ontario Divisional Court justice temporarily stopped the province from demolishing the heritage buildings.

below: Just behind the Foundry, an almost completed condo.

below: Workers remove the protective layer from the mirror-like panels on the underside of the overhang (see yellow area near the bottom of the condo in the above photo). This feature parallels the mirrors on the “ceiling” of Underpass Park which is close by.

below: Poster paste up graffiti at Underpass Park (you can see the new condo I mentioned above in the upper right corner). Good advice whether you take it literally or as a metaphor.

below: Looking northwest at the corner of King and Sumach

below: A few metres further west along King. Traffic passes under Richmond and Adelaide streets.

below: Looking northwest from Sackville Park.

below: ghost sign

below: Waiting for the streetcar.

below: Architectural detail on a corner of St. Lawrence Hall. That’s quite the expression on the poor fellow’s face. The harrowed look of someone who has spent too much time in lockdown?

below: In contrast, this guy looks like he’s having a great time!

Did you ever think that we’d still be mired in this pandemic a year later?

below: A reminder that this pandemic has been hard on a lot of businesses – sign on a window, “Dear Customers”

Dear customers, We have decided to close this weekend to re-assess for the future…

below: Lining up to buy groceries, masked and keeping distanced.

On a storefront window, something positive: hearts for the things we love – “my dog”, “mac & cheese”, “movie popcorn”, etc.

below: Pam Lostracco artwork on hoardings.

below: View of the CN Tower from Lower Sherbourne, just north of Lakeshore/Gardiner and immediately south of Hydro One’s Esplanade Transformer Station. Unfortunately, that is not a public path; it is behind a locked gate.

below: Chairs in the median.

below: Queens Quay at Lower Sherbourne, looking west towards downtown.

below: Queens Quay at Lower Sherbourne, looking east towards the old Victory Soya Mills Silos. They were built for Canadian Breweries’ soya bean processing plant in 1944. Ten years later the site was sold to Proctor and Gamble who renamed them the Victory Soya Mills Silos. One last change of ownership occurred in 1980 when Central Soya Mills purchased them. They have been empty since 1991. Other buildings on the site have been demolished but the silos remain, now a heritage building but surrounded by a large vacant lot.

below: The mill with its three silos before it closed in the early 1990s. The silo that still stands is the one in the back, not the two closest to the water. In this picture, you are looking southeast; the Port Lands are in the background and the Cherry Street bridge is on the left at the very edge. There isn’t much traffic on the Gardiner Expressway!

below: Sugar Beach

My thanks to Vicki for walking with me that day. We’ve walked many miles together in the past but I don’t think that we’ve ever walked alone (maybe?)

below: As an aside, after walking with Vicki, I looped back around to my car. This construction site is on Adelaide where the brick facade of the old building is being preserved. More to explore another day!

Port Lands update

Posted: April 6, 2020 in construction, locations, waterfront
Tags: asphalt, bridge, Cherry Beach, CN Tower, Commissioners Street, construction, digger, dirt, Gardiner Expressway, Hearn, laker, NACC, Portlands Energy Centre, RCYC, shipping channel, ships, streets, Unwin Street, Villiers Street

Work continues on the Port Lands redevelopment with more buildings being demolished to make way for the new mouth of the Don River.

below: Cherry Street bridge

below: Don Roadway looking north. The southern part is now closed (south of Lakeshore Blvd)

below: Villiers Street at the Don Roadway. A couple of old buildings remain on Villiers but many structures between Villiers and the Keating Channel are now gone, especially at the east end of the channel near the present mouth of the Don River.

below: Commissioners Street, looking east. Everything in that block, on the south side, has been levelled – the blue and white building is on the other side of the Don Roadway.

below: The west end of Commissioners street

below: Commissioners Street, north side

below: T’nT grocery store is now closed. The red sign by the door advertises Chinese New Year specials.

below: The same boat, the NACC Argonaut, but from the south, from Polson Street. NACC = Nova Algoma Cement Carriers. She was built in Japan in 2003 and converted into a cement carrier in 2017. The next year she entered service on the Great Lakes.

below: As you can see more clearly here, the Argonaut was actually parked beside the Lafarge facility. T’nT is behind the Lafarge Cement round towers (building on the left).

below: Shipping Channel

below: There are quite a few old railway crossing signs in the Port Lands for tracks that have been torn up or long unused. I am surprised that no one has stolen them.

below: Boats of a different kind – RCYC (Royal Canadian Yacht Club) on Cherry Street.

below: Cherry Beach

No construction affects the beach but these days, people are keeping their distance. Since taking these pictures the beach may have been closed, I’m not sure. The parking lot will be closed for sure.

below: Unwin Street, looking east towards the old Hearn Generating Station

below: Another Port Lands view from above. North of the Gardiner is the construction site for the rebuilding of the Gardiner. To the south is the Port Lands with the tall smokestack/chimney of the Hearn. The white building with the two chimneys on the far left is the Portlands Energy Centre, a natural gas powered electricity generating station.

below: The entry to the Portlands Energy Centre which is the property of Hydro One.

making lemonade in the grey

Posted: November 6, 2019 in locations
Tags: bathurst st., bridge, canoe landing park, condos, construction, Douglas Coupland, Fort York Blvd., Gardiner Expressway, highrises, library, school, train

BlogTO had promoted a Day of Dead march on 2nd November, starting at Spadina and Fort York at noon. It was a grey and miserable day but a few of us went to see what was up. What we found at that location at noon was a few other photographers standing around in a sheltered spot wondering if anything was happening. At 12:20 we started to leave – and that is when a group of about maybe 20 people dressed like the men below showed up. But half of them were carrying advertisements for Westjet. It was just a publicity stunt. Boo to BlogTO for promoting it as an event.

It has been a long time since I was in that neighbourhood with a camera so perhaps a short walk around would be a good idea. The new Canoe Landing Centre is taking shape at the corner of Fort York Blvd and Brunel Court.

below: The view from Fort York Blvd

below: The view from Canoe Landing Park. The centre also includes includes two elementary schools, Bishop Macdonell Catholic and Jean Lumb Public Schools, and a day care centre.

below: Making use of the park on a grey Saturday afternoon.

below: Douglas Coupland’s red canoe art installation is still there, jutting out over the top of the hill.

below: One of the views from the canoe, cars entering the canyon of highrise glass & steel condos along the Gardiner Expressway.

below: Working hard at the library at the corner of Bathurst and Fort York.

below: Bathurst Street as it crosses the railway tracks.

below: Chill! Stay warm until next time!

downtown with no particular plan

Posted: June 14, 2017 in construction, general Toronto, reflections, transportation, windows and walls
Tags: 3D signs, Artport, Bobbie Rosenfeld, Canada 150, Canada Square, CN Tower, Coastal, condos, construction, Dai Skuse, Fastwurms, Gardiner Expressway, glass, Harbourfront, images, Johan Hallberg-Campbell, Kim Kossi, metal, photography, pictures, ramps, rust, skywalk, Union station

Monday’s walk was a meandering route downtown, once again going where my feet and eyes take me. No particular plan in mind and no set destination… just trying to explore where I haven’t been recently. No theme jumped out and tapped me on the shoulder but a few “stories” emerged.

below: There is now a 3D sign between the CN Tower and the Aquarium that says Canada 150.

below: …and another 3D sign by the CN Tower (you can see part of the back of the Canada 150 sign through the tree). I wonder how many there are in this city now? Another bit of information (trivia?) – this area is called Bobbie Rosenfeld Park and has been since 1991. Fanny (“Bobbie”) Rosenfeld was a Canadian athlete who won two track medals in the 1928 Olympics. She also played softball and hockey in the 1920s and 30s. When arthritis force her to stop playing she turned to sports journalism, working for the ‘Globe and Mail’ until her retirement in 1955.

One of the routes from the CN Tower into the downtown core of the city is via the Skywalk, a glass enclosed elevated walkway over the railway tracks. The next few photos were taken as I walked that route.

below: A Toronto species of woodpecker in its native habitat – a forest of glass and steel. This artwork was completed in 1997 and is the creation of Dai Skuse and Kim Kozzi who together are known as Fastwurms.

below: The above photo was taken from a quiet little terrace that I accessed from the Skywalk. Now you can see just how big the woodpecker is! The ‘tree trunk’ pole is 30m high. What you can’t see is the second woodpecker who is on the other side of the pole and slightly farther down it.

below: The glass of the Skywalk creates some interesting reflections and shadows. The glass was fairly clean the other day when I walked through it. I have seen it when it’s been quite dirty and it’s not a pretty sight.

below: Union Station, looking east from the Skywalk. The new roof over the station platforms is taking shape. Someday soon I’m going to have to take a look at the insides of the station; I can’t wait for all the renovations to be completed.

below: Part of the south “wall” along the railway tracks.

below: Looking east from lower Simcoe along the south edge of the Gardiner Expressway. The podium of the new condo under construction at 10 York Street is quite the wedge!

below: I played a bit on google maps street view and this is what I found for the above scene (taken Nov 2016). If you compare the photos (above & below), it’s obvious that one of the ramps for the Gardiner Expressway has been demolished. The eastbound exit to Yonge/York/Bay was removed a couple of months ago. If you are a regular user of the Gardiner, I’m sure you have already experienced the consequences of this!

below: Standing on the same spot, but turning around 180 degrees – looking west from Lower Simcoe. An old ramp in the foreground…. and what looks like new construction in the background. Those are new bents (the structures that hold up the road).

below: To get a closer look at what was happening here, I ventured around to the other side . This is the view from closer to Rees Street. There is car on the old ramp so it must still be open (onramps still functional, just the offramp was removed).

below: The trees are growing at Canada Square (Harbourfront), but so are the condos. Yes, this new building is the same one with the wedge shaped lower floors.

below: Also at Canada Square, there are three large photographs by Johan Hallberg-Campbell, a series called “Coastal”. This one of them:

below: More of Hallberg-Campbell’s work can be seen inside in the Artport Gallery (Harbourfront building) – here, many photographs with simple wood frames are mounted on a wall that is covered with large images. “Coastal” is the product of the artist’s travels to coastal areas of Canada, from Newfoundland to northern Manitoba to British Columbia and many places in between. Life on the edge, so to speak. (Note: gallery show ends 18th June)

below: It’s not art but sometimes the line between public art and advertising campaigns is fuzzy.

Not all is shiny and new. And that’s the way it should be.

as I walk Toronto

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