Some new people that I saw in a couple of alleys this week;
Ladies in the Milky Way and gentlemen behind College Street.
below: Six naked women can now be found in the Milky Way
below: And now for the men. Back in April I posted a few photos from this location, at the end of Cyril Lane and running behind the north side of College Street just east of Borden. The cartoon like mural on the wall of the Kaisar Guesthouse (to the right) was there then. The other faces are newer additions.
A few things seen while walking Dundas West (and the alleys behind it) near Dufferin Street.
below: Dundas Street West, looking east from Dufferin Street, March 2015
below: At the corner of Sheridan Ave and Dundas West.
below: A mural by Jarus
below: Solicitors will be fed to the chihuahua
below: Kick out the jams
Murals and street art seen in a nameless alley in Kensington Market area,
near Kensington Ave and St Andrew Street.
It’s the alley that Mona Lisa watches over the entrance to.
Let’s talk about this couple
If you ride the Toronto subway you’ll probably recognize them from the walls of Queen station.
A couple of weeks ago I was standing beside them when I overheard a woman telling the man she was with that the people in the mural were Lord and Lady Simcoe.
I was fairly certain that she was wrong so I checked. This is a picture of John Graves Simcoe.
There could be some resemblance and John Graves Simcoe did play an important part in Toronto’s history. He was the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (1761-1790). He established York (now Toronto) as the capital of Upper Canada in 1793 and he gave us Yonge Street. But note the military clothing in the above portrait; he was a British army officer after all and I doubt he’d be depicted in a mural wearing a green jacket and matching cap.
There aren’t many pictures his wife Elizabeth, or Lady Simcoe, but suffice it to say that they don’t look like the woman in the mural.
A few minutes online provided the following information: The title of the mural is “Our Nell” and the people are supposed to be William Lyon McKenzie and Nellie McClung. Three buildings are shown, the old Simpsons building (now the Bay), City Hall, and the Eaton Centre. The artist is John B. Boyle.
This is a photo of William Lyon McKenzie; I guess there’s a resemblance.
McKenzie was born in Scotland in 1795. He emigrated to Upper Canada as a young man. Although he held a number of jobs, he seemed to like writing for newspapers best. After working for newspapers in Montreal and York, he established his own newspaper, the ‘Colonial Advocate’ in 1824. Although that paper went bankrupt and he fled to New York for a short time to evade his creditors, he used newspapers as a vehicle to promote his political ideas for most of his life. To a large degree the story of Upper Canada politics of the early 1800’s is a story of the Tory governing elite vs the Reformer upstarts. McKenzie was solidly on the side of the Reformers.
Toronto was incorporated as a city on 6 March 1834 and the first municipal elections were held later that month. McKenzie was elected as an alderman. At that time, the mayor was elected by the aldermen from their own ranks and in 1834 McKenzie was appointed mayor. He lost the next election in 1835.
McKenzie was also a leader in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. It was not much of a rebellion, more like a skirmish near Montgomerys Tavern (near Yonge & Eglinton) that the Reformers lost badly. The rebellion leaders were allowed to flee to New York state. Once in Buffalo, McKenzie declared himself the head of a provisional government of the Republic of Canada. He even convinced some Americans to help him invade Upper Canada from Navy Island in the Niagara River. Bombardment of Navy Island late in December 1837 by the Royal Navy destroyed the S.S. Caroline, an American ship that was helping to supply McKenzie’s followers on Navy Island. And that was the end of McKenzie’s rebellion.
Okay then, that’s the man in the mural. What about the woman? I went looking for picture of Nellie McClung as well as information about her. I recognized her name but I couldn’t remember what her role in Canadian history was. First, this is her picture:
I didn’t see any pictures of her with long hair or as a younger woman. Nellie McClung was born as Nellie Mooney in Ontario in 1873 but moved to Manitoba as a child. One of the causes that she worked on was woman’s suffrage and she helped Manitoba in 1916 to become the first province to allow women the right to vote and to run for public office. By 1922 women could vote federally and in all provinces except Quebec. Quebec women could vote federally but had to wait until 1940 before they could vote in a provincial election.
McClung was also one of the five women who campaigned to have women recognized as “persons” by the Supreme Court so that they could qualify to sit in the Senate. In 1930 Cairine Mckay Wilson was appointed Canada’s first female senator, just four months after the “Persons Case” was decided.
Now when you pass through Queen subway station you can think a little about the history that it represents, and not so much about how ugly it is. Because it is ugly. Especially this section of the mural:
Is that a woman in the foreground? Or a slug with appendages?
On the southwest corner of Danforth and Greenwood is a mural that extends over the lower storey of a number of brick buildings. Back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s Greenwood Ave. was home to quite a few brick works such as the John Price Brickyard, the Taylor Brickyard, and the Joseph Russell Brickyard. You’ll notice that these are the same as the names on the signs above the mural. Just south of this building is Greenwood Park, also once a brickyard.
Close up pictures of some of the details in the mural:
Mural of the Forbidden City
A while ago I posted pictures of a large mural of The Great Wall of China in an alley off Dundas St. West. A new mural has been painted on the other side of this alley, a mural depicting the Forbidden City which is now in the center of Beijing China. The Forbidden City was an imperial palace for twenty-four emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties (about 1420 to 1912). One could only enter the complex with the permission of the Emperor, hence the name Forbidden.
A pair of Chinese Guardian Lions, one at each end, stand over the Forbidden City.
The mural was painted by Blinc Studio artists,
Allan Bender, John Nobrega, Jesse McCuaig and Elaine Teguibon
Robert Home Smith (1877 – 1935) was a lawyer, business man, civil servant, and land developer. In the early 1900’s he acquired 3000 acres of land along the Humber River, from Lake Ontario north to what is now Eglinton Ave.
A mural has been painted by Emilia Jajus on Royal York Road as it passes under the train tracks close to Dundas West. The east side of the underpass is finished and it depicts Robert Home Smith and some of the effects that he had on the area.
below: At the south end of the mural there is a portrait of Robert Home Smith. A young girl can be seen hiding behind the trunk of a large tree. Because the tree is painted on the corner, you can’t see the young boy who is hiding on the other side of the tree until you get closer to the mural.
below: Part of the mural, fishing in the Humber River by the bridge at the Old Mill. The bridge was built in 1916 after an older bridge was washed out in a storm. It is still there.
Part of the land that he owned was the site of the King’s Mill. This mill was built in 1793 on orders from Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe. It was to mill lumber for the proposed town of York. Here, Home Smith built the Old Mill Hotel as well as the the Old Mill Tea Room. The tea room was opened on 4 Aug 1914, the same day that Britain declared war on Germany.
below: Part of the mural, the Old Mill Hotel
below: The Old Mill hotel in 1945
photo from the City of Toronto Archives
Robert Home Smith planned to develop the land on both sides of the Humber River (known as the Humber Valley Surveys) into residential lots that were aimed at affluent buyers. Although he died before the completion of this project, the neighbourhood of Kingsway as well as parts of Swansea, Baby Point, and Humber Village, still stand.
The parkland that is adjacent to the Humber River as it curves around Baby Point is named Home Smith Park in memory of this man.
below: A poor quality photo showing a view of the whole mural. A replacement photo is needed, one taken on a day when there aren’t so many shadows!
Piliriqatigiingniq
This mural is on the south wall of Hosteling International on Church St.,
and in a parking lot on Court St.,
just north of King St. East and across from St. James Cathedral.
Painted July 2015
This project was a collaboration between Mural Routes and the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association. Artists were youth from Cape Dorset as well as graduates from Toronto’s Oasis Skateboard Factory: Latch Akesuk, Audi Qinnuayuaq, Cie Taqiasuq, Parr Etidloie, Julieta Arias and Moises Frank.
Lovebot takes flight over the city
with a poser bunny tagging along for the ride,
beside 289 College St.
Medecine Wheel is painted on the north side of the June Callwood Center for Women, Parliament Street.
It faces a vacant lot that is surrounded on the three other sides by chain link fence.
Locked gate. No entry.
as I walk Toronto 