After I got off the subway at Bloor but before I got to the street, the first construction change of the day hit me in the face (luckily not literally!). Bloor Street East is now a mess.
below: “The Bay” sign has been removed from the old store. Founded in 1670 to control the fur trade in the area, the Hudson Bay Company used to lay claim to being North America’s oldest continuously operating company. The company went bankrupt late in 2025 and all of their stores have closed including this one. The complex (includes 34 storeys above) was opened in 1974 and was referred to as the Hudson Bay Centre. Now it is just 2 Bloor St. East. The next question is how does one re-purpose a large windowless space on a busy street? (personal aside – I started by honeymoon at the Plaza II which was the original hotel in the complex. I won’t tell you how long ago that was, but the Quebec Nordiques were in a playoff game that day).
below: Upwards at Yonge & Bloor
Of shorts and strawberries, and hoping for spring . So far it’s been a cool (or rather cold) May.
Shorts!
below: On the south side of Bloor is another concrete building from the 1970s, the Manulife Centre, which has undergone a transformation at street level in recent years.
below: Found on the City of Toronto archives website, a photo from its early days. (As another aside, after graduating from high school, I worked for a few months at a store in the basement – back in the day when Ashleys, Creeds, and Birks had stores there. Bay Bloor Radio may be the sole survivor?)
source: Fonds 200, Series 1465, File 750, Item 14
below: A contrast between the Manulife Centre and the new towers on the south side of Bloor (east and west of Yonge)… even the upper levels of the Hudson Bay Centre can be seen in the distance.
below: A little farther west on Bloor…. another concrete building with recessed windows. Very much the style at the time!
below: Northwest corner of Bay & Bloor with yet another concrete building from the 1960s and 1970s (1200 Bay Street was built in 1966). The last time that I walked here, the lower levels were boarded up and painted black. Now they are hiding behind a large expanse of Tiffany Blue. There are rumblings of an 87 storey tower being built here. Dutch Dutch developers Kroonenberg Group and ProWinko filed a development application with the city to build such a tower back in 2020.
below: Looking west on Cumberland Street
below: But there are things that don’t change – like cars getting stuck in an intersection on a red light.
below: Never ending renovations at the Royal Ontario Museum
below: It has been sitting empty for years. The McLaughlin Planetarium closed in 1995 after the provincial government cut its funding. It wasn’t even thirty years old at the time; it opened in 1968. It is a big cement box with a large dome on top and is not very photogenic! It was sold to the University of Toronto back in 2009 but it is only now that redevelopment is about to occur.
below: Backside view. This post has been difficult to write – so many changes. One of the reasons that I started this blog was to document the changes happening in the city. I hadn’t expected those changes to be quite so relentless. Never ending. A perpetual motion machine of changes. Are we tired of winning yet? This picture is already out of date – there are photos of the demolition popping up online now that show the dome broken open and disappearing.
below: Museum subway station is getting a new elevator entrance from the sidewalk on University Avenue in front of where the Planetarium is/was.
below: Little blue signs of spring dot the lawn. Emmanuel College (U of T) is in the background. It is affiliated with the United Church of Canada and is one of the members of the Toronto School of Theology.
below: Part of University of Toronto Law School.
below: Annesley Hall, Victoria University, U of T,was built in 1903 in the Queen Anne Revival style. Annesley Hall was the first university residence built for women in Canada and is still used as such. (What?, no changes?)
below: Charles Street West where a few original houses remain steadfast.
below: Still on Charles Street – but it is a perspective that is now very common around the city as everything moves upward, taller and taller. Egos get stoked and massaged as yet another “tallest” tower gets built, only to be outdone by someone else down the line….
below: “La Scala”by by Canadian sculptor and architect William McElcheran. The women are walking up the stairs, or walking around in circles…
below: A peak at what is behind – lots of balconies and stairs and even an upper level addition.
below: St. Nicholas Street runs parallel to Yonge, one street west. It runs south from Charles Street to Wellesley.
below: 81 St. Nicholas is this red brick building with the interesting contrasting brick detail across the top. It was built in 1912 and is known as the Robert Barron Stables. In 1889 Robert Barron built a store at Yonge and Charles. A few years later he added this building, his stables, behind the grocery store.
below: There are stretches of Yonge Street where there are many closed storefronts. This usually indicates that a developer is sitting on a chunk of properties and is in the process of accumulating more… or is waiting for approval to redevelop what he already has. Nothing moves quickly. It’s just sad to see the emptiness and decay in the meantime.
below: Filed under “learn something new everyday” is the fact that there is such a thing as soy milk volcano buns. I assume that they are $7 each and not $70!
below: Charles Street East (just east of Yonge). The large mural on the side of the apartment building is “Toronto & Stadt Frankfurt Am Main” and it was painted by Justus Becker (aka COR). The reflection within the glasses depicts the skylines of both Toronto and Frankfurt and represents the sister city relationship between the two cities. See that orange and white awning? That’s a gelato place – a fabulous gelato place!… and that is where I ended my walk, almost a circle back to Yonge & Bloor.
as I walk Toronto 