Posts Tagged ‘Manulife centre’

changes, again… and again….

Posted: May 15, 2026 in construction, intersections, locations, stores
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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.

glass doors on Bloor street, entrance from subway to street, woman entering, blue hoardings outside because of construction on bloor street
construction on Bloor street near Yonge
construction on Bloor street near Yonge

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).

construction site on bloor takes over sidewalk in front of royal bank, beside old Hudsons Bay Co, the Bay, concrete building

bloor street, looking east towards yonge
gray haired senior women walking west on bloor towards yonge intersection, with construction fence beside them, north side of bloor

below: Upwards at Yonge & Bloor

looking skyward at yonge and bloor, stops of three glass towers

Of shorts and strawberries, and hoping for spring .  So far it’s been a cool (or rather cold) May.

large stuffed strawberry in a store window, clothing store, summer clothes including shorts

Shorts!

man standing on sidewalk waiting to cross street, wearing black t shirt and grey shorts, dark grey car on street, across from Eataly restaurant on Bloor Street

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.

manulife centre on bloor street, older concrete levels above with newer glass facades at street level

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?)

vintage photo, faded colour, from City of Toronto Archives, manulife center at Bay and Bloor (southeast corner), concrte brutalist architecture

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.

bloor street, south side, looking east towards yonge

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.

large blue tiffany ad with word love spelled in large capital letters, surrounded by image of a gold necklace, traffic lights in front, intersection of bay and bloor.

below: Looking west on Cumberland Street

Cumberland Street

view looking up to top of buildings and trees, from cumberland street, looking west

below: But there are things that don’t change – like cars getting stuck in an intersection on a red light.

Avenue Road and Bloor intersection, in front of the ROM, people crossing on green light, car stopped in intersection

below: Never ending renovations at the Royal Ontario Museum

construction at entrance to ROM, Royal Ontario Museum,

looking south on University towwards Queens Park Circle, construction

two people outside the museum near museum subway station entrance, that has two blue porta potties sitting beside it

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.

The Planetarium, beside Royal Ontario Museum, empty, is being prepped for demolition, front view

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.

The Planetarium, beside Royal Ontario Museum, empty, is being prepped for demolition, back view

below: Museum subway station is getting a new elevator entrance from the sidewalk on University Avenue in front of where the Planetarium is/was.

museum subway station is getting a new elevator entrance, from sidewalk on university avenue

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.

purple blue spring flowers among the grass by a brick gate post,

below: Part of University of Toronto Law School.

university of toronto la school, flavelle house

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?)

side of Annesley Hall residence, Victoria University, red brick building

below: Charles Street West where a few original houses remain steadfast.

Charles st east with variety of architectural styles including a row of second empire homes

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….

loking skyward, on Charles st east, to tops of highrise buildings
looking east on Charles street east

below: “La Scala”by by Canadian sculptor and architect William McElcheran.  The women are walking up the stairs, or walking around in circles…

sculpture, black metal cutout figures mounted on a cement pole, looks like a person walking around, or climbing up, the pole,

below: A peak at what is behind – lots of balconies and stairs and even an upper level addition.

back of buildings on charles street, balconies, stairs, additions, parking lot,

below: St. Nicholas Street runs parallel to Yonge, one street west.  It runs south from Charles Street to Wellesley.

St Nicholas Street, looking south

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.

St. Nicholas street, looking north around number 81

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.

The Diners Corner, closed Jamaican restaurant, window

doorway of hair salon, now closed, with metal gate covering the entrance

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!

sign advertising soy milk volcano buns for sale, bakery, small shop, on Yonge Street

stores on Yonge Street, three storey red brick building with Popeyes and a vape shop, beside painted brick building with British candy store, jelly belly candies

in the window of a chinese bakery, lettle dumpling boy

a red mailbox on the side of a building, with graffiti, girls face, on it, yonge street scene behind

cyclist on Yonge street, through intersection, while pedestrians wait on the other side of the street for a green light

yonge street scene, blue trash bin overflowing, people walking on the sidewalk

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.

Charles St, just east of Yonge, large mural

 

around Yonge and Bloor

Posted: August 25, 2020 in construction, events, history, old buildings, public art, reflections
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and red and white danger due to sign, danger due to covid-19

below:  He may be sitting on the bench but this hockey player is prepared.  He’s practicing social distancing and he’s got his mask on just in case.  He’s also a reminder that the NHL playoffs for the 2019-20 season are being played in a bubble here in Toronto at the moment… but the Maple Leafs didn’t make the cut.  After having to take a few months off because of Covid-19, the NHL scheduled the playoffs in only two cities, Toronto and Edmonton.  Games started at the beginning of August and are scheduled to finish the first week of October.   There is talk that maybe the 2020-21 season can begin after that but like everything else these days, who knows.

a metal statue of a hockey player in Toronto Maple Leaf blue sits on a bench outside a gallery, wearing a covid face mask, as a man walks past

below: ‘Love Negotiation’ on Scollard Street by Gillie and Marc.  Dogman and Rabbitgirl share a few minutes over coffee.   They too are outside are are socially distanced… or perhaps they have been isolating together are have escaped their tiny downtown condo for a bit of fresh air.  ” Rabbitgirl and Dogman invite the world to sit with them symbolically at their Table and take the first step to understanding and loving each other. The sculpture is where we sit, discuss, and solve problems. The world has reached a crisis where our differences are causing hatred and division.”

 

male dog in blue and female rabbit in red sitting face to face at a table with coffee, sculpture on Scollard street

sculpture on Scollard street, a dog in blue, sits at a table with a cup of coffee in his hands

below: The William Sexton houses on the NE corner of Bay & Scollard are being preserved and incorporated into a condo development.  They were built by Sexton in 1890 in a style similar to the Queen Ann Revival style.  Although it looks like one large brick house, it is actually a row of 4 houses.  In 1974 they were added to Toronto’s Heritage Register.  That was also the last year that all four were used as residences.

Bay and Scollard, old building boarded up with new construction behind

below: A slightly fuzzy 1974 photo of William Sexton houses.

photo from 1974 of William Sexton houses at the corner of Bay Street and Scollard in Yorkville, 4 row houses that together look like one large brick house

windows on the west side of William Sexton houses on Bay street, white paint is peeling to reveal brick below, rounded tops of window frames in black trim

below: Another hole in the ground.  I liked the bits of orange and black hanging around.

orange and black shreds of plastic along the edge of construction hole in the ground

below: Reflections of the clock tower on the Yorkville Firehall, the oldest firehall in the city, in one of the newer glass walls across the street.

reflections of Yorkville clock tower in the glass condo across the street

Yorkville fire hall clock tower and flags

below: Looking east on Yorkville Ave towards Yonge Street and the large Toronto Reference Library.

the Toronto Reference Library at Yonge and Asquith as seen from the west along Yorkville Ave

below: The Starbucks on Yonge Street just north of Bloor is now closed.  The sign in the window says “thanks for your loyalty over the past 20 years.”  For those of us who still remember Albert Britnell’s book store at that location it is a bit of a shock to realize that 20 years has past.

people in front of a closed Starbucks on Yonge street

below: Yonge Street at Hayden

some of the stores on Yonge at Hayden

below: looking northwest from Charles Street on the east side of Yonge.  The older black and grey building is the CIBC tower on the NW corner of Yonge & Bloor.  The cranes are working on the SW corner of that intersection.

backs of buildings on Yonge and Hayden, plus construction, looking northwest

below: Condo construction at the southwest corner of Yonge & bloor continues.

a man wearing a covid face mask walks past a construction site at Yonge and Bloor, black and white construction photos on the hoardings, old brick building in the background as well as a newer apartment building

reflections in a store window, legs of mannequins in cut off jeans, white cars traffic on the street

a workman sits outside beside hoardings on Bloor street in front of Holt Renfrew

below: One of the entrances to the Manulife Centre on Bloor Street.   It was decorated in flowers as part of a Fleurs de Villes event.

one of the glass entrances to the ManuLife center on Bloor street, decorated with flowers

below: Inside the Manulife Centre there were many mannequins decorated with flowers

mannequin in green and pink dress and pink hat, pinks are made of roses and she is holding a bottle of rose wine from the LCBO

a mannequin decorated with flowers stands at the bottom of an escalator at the Manu Life center, as part of Fleurs de Villes project

As the summer winds down but the covid lingers on, stay safe and stay sane

a white wall with an orange stripe on which graffiti words are written, coronavius and lime disease go great together, a play on corona beer and lime