history | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘history’

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.

Royal York to Kipling

Posted: July 11, 2025 in construction, graffiti and street art, locations, transportation
Tags: Alfio Bartoletti, Bloor st. west, construction, fountain, graffiti, history, islington, Kingsway, Mimico Creek, Moises Frank, murals, Nate Galbraith, new buildings, parks, reflections, residential, sketchnate, street art, subway, TTC, workmen

This walk started from Royal York subway station. In general, I walked westward first along Bloor Street (to Islington) and then on Dundas West. The stretch of Bloor West at Royal York is part of The Kingsway neighbourhood.

below: Squares of yarn, some crocheted and some knit, cover a red frame heart similar to others that ShowLoveTO have placed around the city.

below: There are more yarn decorations around the metal frame protecting this tree on Bloor Street West.

below: Also, a little Zen Garden Planter to support the CNIB since June was Deafblind Awareness Month – the planter accessories were provided by The Gardener, a local flower store.

below: Bloor West – bike lanes, sidewalk patios, and construction. Welcome to summer in the city!

below: Bloor West glass towers

below: One wall of Brentwood Library and the small garden on the north side of the building.

below: Old gnarly tree with Kingsway Baptist church in the background

below: Just west of Royal York, at Montgomery Road, the subway emerges from underground.

The Mimico Creek passes under Bloor between Royal York and Islington. Tom Riley Park follows the creek on both sides north of Bloor until it then passes under Islington close to the intersection of Islington & Dundas West.

below: Another angle of the subway at ground level. Here is looking east as it runs through Tom Riley Park (and if you could see further, you could see where it goes back underground at Montgomery)

below: Islington subway station and bus bays. A very large parcel of land on the northwest corner of Islington and Bloor is taken up. Opened May 1968.

below: A messy corner, at Aberfoyle & Islington (just north of Bloor)

below: Just north of Bloor, Islington passes under railway tracks.

below: Islington Towers with a fountain in front. The parts of the fountain that are brown were once blue. It was designed and constructed by Alfio Bartoletti in the 1960s.

below: Across the street from the Islington Towers, a highrise with a more modern design (for better or worse, your decision!).

below: Corner of Cordova and Central Park Blvd with new condo development

In this part of Toronto, Dundas is north of Bloor.

Now you are in Islington village, home to over 20 murals depicting scenes from the history of the neighbourhood. I documented these back in 2014 in a blog post, Islington Heritage Murals. The murals are still there and are in good shape.

Are cars always getting in the way of public transit?

below: Not a heritage mural, but painted by Moises Frank for a collaborative project between Arts Etobicoke and the City of Toronto, the Dundas West #NoVacancy project.

below: On the same building as the above mural, is this painting. Once it was the Chinese Food Gallery, now it is vacant and surrounded by a fence. A development notice sign on the fence says that a permit for a five storey mixed use building has been applied for.

As you walk west on Dundas, you approach the intersections of Dundas, Bloor, and Kipling. There is a lot of construction, happening here, mostly condos.

below: A park, Dunkip Park, is also being created. Dun as in Dundas plus kip as in Kipling.

below: A very big hole in the ground.

below: Kipling Street bridge over the railway tracks

below: Looking east along the railway tracks from on top of the bridge at Kipling (back towards Islington).

below: Kipling subway station is the west terminus of the TTC Line 2 and was opened in November 1980. It connected Line 2 of the subway with GO service to the west. Pictured here is part of the south side showing three of its twenty concrete arches. These are similar to the arches at Islington station, but not identical to them.

below: North side of Kipling station, back in 1980 when it first opened, north side bus bays

below: Graffiti stickers in the parking lot. A well-suited duck in a hurry by giacco.ca and a boxy snail by Sketch Nate (aka Nate Galbraith)

below: Eastbound out of Kipling station. The older Line 2 subway trains still have a window that you can look out.

along the St. Lawrence

Posted: July 7, 2025 in galleries, history
Tags: 401 Richmond, albumen, Alexander Henderson, Artspace TMU, Dawson Cox, history, photographers, photography, photos

In 1869, Canadian photographer Alexander Henderson (1831-1913) was commissioned to take a series of photos along the route of the new Grand Trunk Railway between Montreal and Toronto. These images were for a travel book, “All-round Route Guide” to sell to tourists and settlers along the route. This Montreal to Toronto section followed the north shore of the St. Lawrence for most of its route. The railway had opened in 1856 and more routes had been added (to Portland Maine! to Sarnia!) or were planned.

below: Lumberer’s Shanty, Lievre River, Quebec, before 1865

A recent exhibit at Artspace TMU (at 401 Richmond) showcased albumen prints of some of Henderson’s photos along with photos taken by Dawson Cox. All of Cox’s images were mounted on particle board. The exhibit was titled, “Like the Seams of a Coat”.

below: Camera store, corner of Clark and St Antoine, Montreal.

below: Victoria Square, Montreal, about 1872

below: Group shot

below: Group shot, 1870s style – G. Company of 78th Highlanders, taken by Alexander Henderson

Coat seams are usually hidden but they are essential to holding everything together. Important yet unseen.

below: Cox’s photo of torn graffiti on an old brick wall

below: Lake, Saint Bruno Mountain, Quebec, before 1865

old photo of a lake and st Bruno Mountain in Quebec, 1860s

photo of a stuffed fox, mounted standing on all fours and seeming to walk

below: L’Anse a l’Eau, Saguenay River, Quebec, 1868

old black and white photo, a lone scrawny pine tree on a rock overlooking the Saguenay River in Quebec, with village below, village of L'Anse a L'Eau

nuns and weddings…

Posted: June 15, 2025 in galleries
Tags: bride, CONTACT, Contact photography festival, couples, film, groom, history, images, nuns, photography, portraits, TMU Image Centre, weddings

… and a few things more from TMU Image Centre exhibits.

First, the main gallery of the Image Centre is showing a collection of the work of Clara Gutsche, winner of the 2024 ScotiabankCONTACT Photography award. One of her series features photos of Quebec nuns, “The Convent Series”, taken before 1999. Hence “nuns” in my title – The “weddings” in the title comes from another exhibit here – a collection of portraits of brides and grooms over the years.

There are other series of her work also on view including some taken inside a Catholic high school.

This is only a small sample of Gutsche’s work. You can see more at the Image Centre until 2nd August 2025 – The originals look better than my copies!!

Let’s move on to the happy couples….

“Something Old; Something New – The Wedding Photography Collection of Stephen Bulger and Catherine Lash” is the full title of the exhibit. The title says it all. The exhibit gives a glimpse into the history of photography and the techniques used to produce images. It also takes a look at a sliver of social history… especially with respect to clothing styles. All the photos were donated to the Image Centre by Bulger and Lash in 2023.

below: “Meilleurs Vaux pour votre Bonheur”, 5th of Jan, 1910

Unfortunately the exhibit has ended.

a common enemy

Posted: July 21, 2024 in galleries, history
Tags: history, humour, ink, Peter Borckmann, photography

One of the pieces on display at TMU’s The Image Centre is this is pen and ink drawing signed by “Fun & Borckmann” from about 1895. It is part of the exhibit, “Hypervisibility: Early Photography and Privacy in North America, 1839-1900.” The drawing is on loan from the collection of Stephen Bulgar and Catherine Lash. As you can see, across the top is the title, “A Common Enemy of Mankind”. If you start at the first panel on the top left, you might think it is etiquette suggestions for photographers, but on closer inspection, is it?

Let’s take a look!

Panel 1 (below): ” The amateur
Photographer
A cheerful sort of nuisance is.
Does it occur To him – or her –
He shouldn’t take what isn’t his

Panel 2 (above): A man whose life
Has been one strife
Against appearances of wrong,
Can’t kiss his wife
Lest lenses rife
On negatives his kiss prolong

Panel 3 (below) – along with “The other fellow’s girl!”
“Where’er one goes
To seek repose
Far from the city’s heat and din
Be cannot doze
In wooded close
But that a snap-shot takes him in.”

Can I call him a jaunty looking fellow with his striped blazer and the polka dot band on his hat?

Panel 4 (below): “Sometime mayhap,
A city chap
May linger in the moonlight fair;
He hears the tap
Of shutter-snap
And knows too well he’s pictured there.”

Panel 5 (below): “Or in the street,
If he should meet
A former friend of single days,
It’s not meet
His smile so sweet
Be captured in actinic rays.”

Panel 6 (above): “But in default
Of dungeon vault
In which to lock this modern pest,
A plain assault
Might cause a halt –
But then, perhaps, a gun were best.”

Life’s little indiscretions now preserved in little snap-shots! Please don’t shoot the photographer!

Extra litte note or two: Peter Borckmann was an artist whose pen and ink drawings appeared in the “New York Fun Magazine”. In the 1880s and 1890s, this art form became very popular as demand for humorous illustrations grew along with the increasing popularity of magazines and journals at that time. The “Fun Magazine” was published in the 1880s and early 1890s.

Oh, in case you were wondering about that word ‘actinic’. I looked it up….According to Merriam Webster: “of, relating to, resulting from, or exhibiting chemical changes produced by radiant energy especially in the visible and ultraviolet parts of the spectrum.” Sounds a lot like old-fashioned, pre-digital, light hitting chemically treated film, photography to me!

working on the windows

Posted: May 20, 2024 in graffiti and street art, old buildings, public art
Tags: bridges, history, John Norbrega, laborers, murals, Trinity Bellwoods bridge

On the west wall of Revival Nightclub at Shaw and College is a series of paintings by John Nobrega that recall some of the history of the area.

below: The image at the bottom is the bridge over the Garrison Creek at Crawford Street, about 1915. It has been since covered over (in the northwest part of Trinity Bellwoods Park).

below: Trinity Bellwoods Park and wooden bridge in winter

below: The credits and descriptions:

window in a brick building covered with blue. White text on the blue describing the artwork elsewhere on the building.

“These mural represent our changing city and the structures that once existed in the neighbourhood. It is dedicated to the laborer, many of them immigrants, who helped build Toronto.”
1. Garrison Creek, late 19th century
2. Crawford bridge, under construction, 1915
3. Wooden bridge that stood in Trinity Bellwoods Park
4. Harbord Street Bridge
5. Trinity Bellwoods bridge in Winter
6. Crawford Bridge, on the current site of Metro
John Nobrega, 2021

Note: The Harbord Street Bridge mentioned above was also over the Garrison Creek. It still survives today but only the top part is visible, between Montrose and Grace. Bickford Park is to the north and Art Eggleton Park is to the south. Both parks are where the Garrison Creek ran.

Moving Toronto

Posted: May 12, 2023 in history, public art, transportation
Tags: 100 years, history, old buses, old streetcars, Pape station, people, photographs, platform, posters, Pride bus, subway, subway train, TTC

…for 100 years. At the moment there is a selection of old TTC photos on display at Pape subway station in celebration of 100 years of Toronto Transit.

below: Already lining the walls at Pape Station are images of Pape station itself and the surrounding neighbourhood. This is ‘Sources/Derivations’ by Allan Harding MacKay. You can see the reflections of one of the old TTC photos in this section of MacKay’s artwork.

The TTC posters are at platform level between the westbound and eastbound trains so you can look at them while waiting for a train.

below: First Pride bus, 2008

below: People waiting for the North Yonge bus at Eglinton station, 1950s

below: Waiting for the subway. “Line 1 customers ride the higher capacity Toronto Rocket (TR) subway train on its 2011 launch. By 2017, Line 1 had grown by 8.6 km.”

below: Two posters, two eras. On the left: “A chartered TTC bus circles outside Rosedale station in 1961 as it awaits passengers. Only one other station, Davisville, from the original 12 was a surface station.” On the right: “Rushing to catch a Peter Witt streetcar along its Yonge Street route on a summer day in 1930.

below: “A TTC car picks up scholars with disabilities outside their school in the 1920s.” A couple with their COVID masks on sit in front of more images from ‘Sources/Derivations’ by artist Allan Harding MacKay.

below: “On a warm day in 1994, customers eagerly wait to board an Articulated Light Rail Vehicle streetcar along Queen Street at University Avenue.

‘Out and About’ in Weston

Posted: February 5, 2023 in graffiti and street art, public art
Tags: bakery, children, Christiano De Araujo, dancing, history, kissing, Out and About, people, restaurant, soldier, wartime, Weston, Windows of Time

‘Out and About – Windows of Time’ is a large mural by Christiano De Araujo that features scenes from the social history of Weston village. Unfortunately, the (painted) young man who is sitting on the sidewalk and playing a guitar is hidden by the (real) car parked in front of the mural.

This post is actually a continuation of today’s other post, “A Little Piece of Weston”. You’ll find other murals and street art there as well as a few little odds and ends about the Weston neighbourhood.

Parkdale Provincial Park

Posted: January 8, 2023 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: art, Brock Ave., fence, history, horses, LCBO, Ontario Parks, parkdale, protest, rangers, redevelopment, signs, social, supportive housing, UNESCO, vacant lot

notes here

There’s a new provincial park in Toronto!

… but sadly it’s just a vacant lot

The city has owned the land for a few years and has already torn down the LCBO that used to be here. The plan is to build supportive housing for those in need. So far nothing else has happened – has the project stalled?

sign on a metal construction fence around a vacant lot with title 40 homes 2023, description of fight to build affordable housing

“We are in a housing crisis.
Parkdale needs permanent supportive housing.
Three years ago in December 2019, the City of Toronto purchased 11 Brock (this site) from the Province, with a purpose to redevelop it as affordable rental homes for some of Toronto’s most vulnerable people.
In December 2022, Municipal Councillor Gord Perks’s office shared that it will be funded by the Rapid Housing Initiative, a Federal program. But bids for a non-profit haven’t started and plans aren’t yet made. Why? NP Remind Councillor Gord Perks, Federal MP Arif Virani, and each other that we remember the human right to housing.”

handmade sign that looks like a provincial heritage plaque, description of history of Brock Avenue LCBO, now a vacant lot

11 Brock Avenue LCBO
1891-2016
Construction of this edifice began in 1889 to celebrate the annexation of the Village of Parkdale into the City of Toronto. Originally a “Barber Shoppe and Purveyor of Fine Elixirs”, it was the finest destination for the procurement of alcoholic spirits and haircuts. The Shoppe fell on hard times in 1916 with the advent of prohibition and the reduction in haircuts due to the famous poorly times Toronto head lice outbreak. Ostensibly becoming Toronto’s foremost storage facility, bootlegged moonshine was sold in a hidden speakeasy carved into a 125 cubic meter block of ice. Attracting patrons from across the city for both alcohol and ice alike, this enterprise allowed the neighbourhood to prosper and directly led to the construction of Sunnyside Beach and Amusement Park. Not coincidentally, 1927 brought the first electric household refrigerator into the market, the end of prohibition in Ontario, and the creation of the LCBO. 11 Brock became one of the first 18 LCBO stores that opened on June 1, 1927.

Getting there: 11 Brock Avenue, just north of Queen St. East

Accommodation: none (or bring your own sleeping bag)

Food & Drink: Check out Sam James bakery right across the street from the park entrance (if there was one).

a little bit of Yonge

Posted: September 28, 2022 in history, locations, old buildings, people
Tags: ads, billboards, Dineen Coffee, Eaton Centre, history, people, rain, reflections, stores, streetcar, Temperance St., tourist, TTC, umbrellas, Yonge Dundas Square, Yonge St.

Walking up Yonge Street on a grey damp September day – from Adelaide to Dundas

below: Southeast corner of Adelaide & Yonge: the (sort of) dome shaped entrance way with the stained glass roof is under renovation.

below: Walking his bike up Yonge Street

below: Looking north up Yonge Street from Richmond

below: Looking west on Temperance Street towards a wall of glass

below: Dineen Coffee on the ground floor the old building on the northwest corner of Yonge and Temperance streets. The coffee company took its name from the building – the Dineen Building, once home to furriers W. and D. Dineen Co. (until the 1930s). The building was built in 1897 and was added to the City of Toronto Heritage list in 1973. Ceilings in it were made of bronze and aluminum plates; this was the first time that aluminum was used as a building material in Canada.

below: Dineen Building, 1927. The 2012 restoration was very faithful to the original facade.

vintage 1927 black and white photo of the Dineen Building in Toronto, source, TPL, Toronto Public Library

Source: Online, Toronto Public Library Archives. Unknown photographer for the Toronto Star newspaper.

below: Streetcars on Queen West under the redesigned pedestrian walkway.

below: Looking north from Shuter Street. Since the late 1970s, the west side of this block has been dominated by the Eaton Centre. When the mall was first completed, it destroyed any street scene that had existed there. Subsequent alterations have improved this block at street level a bit.

below: Looking north up Yonge Street from Queen back at a time when the new Eatons store at the north end of the Eaton Centre was built (at Dundas, completed 1977) but the old stores on the west side of Yonge hadn’t been completely demolished. This photo was found online on blogTO – here’s the link to their site if you are interested in the history of the Eaton Centre construction.