Posts Tagged ‘O’Connor’

golden mile

Posted: September 27, 2023 in construction, history, intersections, transportation
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This has become one of the more forlorn corners in the city – the northeast corner of Eglinton and Vic Park.   I am not sure what the structure was originally used for or what it looked like back in the day.  Now it just stands there, perhaps in limbo like the Eglinton LRT that it sits next to.

concrete and glass rectangular structure beside a large empty parking lot

There is another one at the other end of the Golden Mile Mall (one block east at Pharmacy & Eglinton).  Brutalistic and ugly.

two women with an umbrella on a sunny day, under a concrete and glass structure

The Golden Mile Mall opened in 1954.  And even Queen Elizabeth II visited it (in 1959).

below: Golden Mile Mall parking lot today.  The mall (or plaza) has a No Frills and a Joe Fresh, both of which are part of Loblaws.  In fact, Choice Properties REIT (also Loblaws) owns the 19 acre site and has plans to redevelop it into a mixed use site.   The site runs north of Eglinton from Victoria Park to Pharmacy.  It’s early in the process so anything can happen but if you are interested, the site plan is a downloadable pdf

large parking lot at golden mile mall, not many cars

Did that tall metal structure have a purpose? Or just decoration?

Even back in the 1950s the parking lot was enormous.  I get the impression that the golden mile wasn’t so golden if you didn’t own a car.

black and white photo from 1950s of cars in a parking lot in front of a mall, the golden mile mall

Photo Source: From Old Toronto Series facebook page. If you are interested in the way Toronto used to look, check them out!

below: Part of the mall was destroyed by fire in 1986

black and white photo of firemen rolling up hoses in front of burnt out woolworths store

Photo Credit: Rick Eglinton, Toronto Star Photograph Archive, “Original Toronto Star caption: Fire guts part of Golden Mile plaza. Three of the 50 firefighters called out yesterday to battle a spectacular fire that gutted the west end of Scarborugh’s Golden Mile Plaza roll up their hoses after finally dousing the last ember. The mall, built mostly of wood in the 1950s and once Canada biggest, is now being demolished. The Ontario Fire Marshall’s Office has not yet determined the cause of the blaze. Published in Toronto Star, 16 December 1986”.  Found online at Toronto Public Libbrary Digital

 

development notice sign for redevelopment of golden mile mall property at Eglinton and Victoria Park

two women walking along the sidewalk as a truck passes by

As I alluded to above, the Eglinton LRT has been built here.  As most of you know, this is the mystery transit line – nobody knows when it’s going to be operational.  Not even Metrolinx knows.  Coincidences are such that after I took these photos I discovered that Metrolinx was supposed to make an announcement about the Eglinton LRT this afternoon (Sept 27).  As it turns out the announcement was that there was no announcement but they will make more announcements in a couple of months.

below: So O’Connor LRT station sits waiting…   Just in case you don’t know, O’Connor station is at Eglinton & Vic Park (O’Connor Drive ends at Vic Park a short distance south of here).

empty LRT station with yellow and white barricade

below: O’Connor LRT station, from another angle

LRT station on Eglinton

below: I was shocked to see a streetcar pull into the station!  They really are running tests or training people, or whatever it is they’re doing.  Back in early June 2021 (more than two years ago!) the first LRT vehicles made their debut in Toronto (blog post from that day)

eglinton lrt vehicle at o'connor station

tracks and empty platfor at o'connor lrt station

When the area was first settled it became farmland.  A few apple trees still grow along the side of Pharmacy Ave

apples growing on apple tree

During WW2, the Canadian government bought some of that farmland and built a munitions plant known as GECo (General Engineering Company). This factory was south of Eglinton and east of Pharmacy. After the war, many other industries moved into the area.  Beginning in the 1980s, the industries started leaving.

below: Today there are still a few left such as this IPEX facility – they make thermoplastic pipes (such as PVC pipes used in plumbing)

barbed wire surrounds a group of chemical silos

Another industry, Flexible Packaging Corp, has moved on

front end loader, digger, demolishing a brick industrial building

demolition of industrial building

If you google their address, 1891 Eglinton Ave East, you will discover that there are plans for the latest trend – the mixed use community – here too.  Tall condo towers, retail, and public space (here 5 towers, 4 of which between 30 and 45 storeys).  There are going to be a few of these along Eglinton.  For instance, the Crosstown neighbourhood is well underway at Eglinton and Don Mills.  And there is the Golden Mile Mall redevelopment that I mentioned above.

building being demolished, broken walls, no doors, sign that says truckers report to office

The Eglinton LRT has, not surprisingly, encouraged a lot of redevelopment.  Almost every building along Eglinton between Victoria Park and Pharmacy has a blue and white development notice in front.   I didn’t walk farther east but I suspect that a similar story is playing out there too.

below: At the southwest corner of Eglinton and Pharmacy, one tall tower of 35 storeys

blue and white development notice sign in front of a Burger King

below: North side of Eglinton, 2 towers – 38 and 40 storeys.

blue and white development notice sign in front of a Bank of Montreal building

Across the street from the Golden Mile Mall is Eglinton Square, another mall. It too has a development notice out front.   It was dated 2018 so take it with a grain of salt that the mall is retained but 91 rental units behind it will disappear. … Can we believe that?  So…  A quick google and yikes!  Seven towers, 5 of which are 40 storeys or more for 1 Eglinton Square.   Really?  Are we that short of ideas for housing?  In twenty to thirty years are we going to look around and wonder what the hell happened here?

street scene with little green sign for eglinton square entrance

below: HBC on the west side of Eglinton Square

entrance to Hudsons Bay store at Eglinton Square

below: This is the triangle formed by O’Connor Drive, Eglinton Ave., and Victoria Park Ave.  The parkette that was here is all dug up.   I’m not sure that I want to know what’s happening here.

levelled ground, dirt, construction equipment working there,

Graffiti

small white skull, graffiti painted on a black metal box

below: Danger due to blunt mop.  At first I thought it was someone’s strange humour but on closer look realized that it was an advert for a soundcloud account.

danger due to blunt mop sign on hydro pole

below: Help wanted!  and “help” available at a price

signs on the side of a blue and white free newspaper box, one sign says help wanted, and the other is an ad for viagra and cialis

sidewalk on Vic Park near Eglinton, sign advertising cannabis at lowest prices,

looking through a glass wall where 2 panes of glass are missing and the others have graffiti on them

*****

Additional Note:

This is the “Progress Chart” released by Metrolinx today re the Eglinton LRT.

go east … East York

Posted: March 9, 2020 in history, locations, stores
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Another blog post constructed from the wanderings around a neighbourhood.

below: A bronze plaque erected by the East York Historical Society is mounted on the stone fence of the Taylor Cemetery which is adjacent to Don Mills United Church.    The plaque mentions the Methodist Church – the Methodists became part of the United Church in 1925.

bronze plaque on a stone wall, Taylor cemetery, erected by the East York historical society gives rough outline of the history of the Taylor family here

The Taylor Cemetery – John Taylor (1773-1868), his wife Margaret Hawthorne and seven children emigrated from Uttoxeter Staffordshire in 1821. In 1839, three sons, John, Thomas, and George, purchased this land from Samuel Sinclair (1767-1852) except for a portion Sinclair gave to the Primitive Methodist Connexion in 1851. The Taylors gave the Connexion a brick church in 1859. The family operated three paper mills and a brick mill in the Don Valley, where they had considerable landholdings and were responsible for much of the development of East York in the nineteenth century.

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below: The present church building dates from 1950 when a smaller building was demolished.  This church was registered in 1819 and has been on this site since 1839 (as mentioned above, originally Methodist).

brick Don Mills United Church with bright red doors

below: Close by is Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church.  Established in 1928, it was the first Catholic parish in the Township of East York.  This church, built in 1948, is the second one on the site.     

Holy Cross Church

below: Bethany Baptist Church has been on the corner of Pape and Cosburn since 1920.  Obviously this building is not that old!  This is the addition, built in 1958, to the older church that you can just see on the right side of the picture.

brick building with stained glass in blue and green in the center section, sign on front says Bethany Baptist Church

below: A metal sculpture of a soldier mounted on the wall of The Royal Canadian Legion, hall #10, a memorial to the Soliders of Suicide – those soldiers who have taken their own lives, usually as the result of PTSD.

a metal statue of a soldier, at rest, mounted on a brick wall, as memorial to soldiers who committed suicide

below: The southeast corner of Pape and O’Connor still sits empty. There used to be a gas station here and that probably meant contaminated soil that had to be dealt with.   The development proposal sign dates from 2014  and was for a 2 storey commercial building.  I am not sure why the delay or what the status of the proposal is.

vacant lot on the corner of O'Connor and Pape, with fence around it, development proposal sign from 2014, overgrown,

below: Donlands Convenience with its rounded corner is similar to a few others in the city.

Donlands convenience store, a 2 storey brick building on the corner of an intersection, with a rounded wall

stores on Donlands Ave as well as a studio with a large blue store front

two people waiting on the corner for a green light

below: Do not block the entrance. …. or are the apples for the teachers?

4 bushel baskets of apples in a doorway of the Korjus Mathematics Tutorial Services

below: A sample of some of the restaurants in the area.  There are also quite a few Greek restaurants as the Danforth (and the original Greektown) is just to the south.

3 restaurants on a street, an Indian Paan and snack plce, an Africa Indian restaurant called Simba, and a fish and chip restaurant

independent gas station and service center at Floyd street

a man fills a car tank with gas at an independent gas station, sign says price of a litre of gas is 99.9 cents

below: Golden Pizza Restaurant in an old brick building with a square facade at the roofline.

the golden pizza restaurant on Broadview, old 2 storey brick building with square roofline facade

below: Another square roofline, Logan Convenience

Logan convenience store, 2 storey red brick building, on a corner, with no other building next to it

Like most parts of the city, the houses are of various architectural styles.

houses Torrens

Whether I am correct or not, I don’t know but I have always associated East York with small post-war bungalows.

a well kept yellow brick post war bungalow with a grey roof and a partial white and green metal awning over the front steps that lead to a small porch

white bungalow with Christmas wreath on brown wood front door and a santa claus decoration on the front steps, a yellow fire hydrant by the sidewalk

A few are being “renovated”

construction of a new 2 storey house in between two square bungalows

below: What was surprising to me was how many multi-family buildings there are in the area –  Both lowrise…

front entrance, exterior, of a yellow brick lowrise apartment building from the 1960s or 1970s

4 storey apartment building, brick, on a corner

and apartment buildings

4 high rise apartment buildings in East York. winter time, trees with no leaves, blue sky,

curved white concrete cover over entrance of apartment building, that is brown brick with white balconies

two brick houses in front of a tall apartment building

lamp and lampost in front of a blank beige wall of an apartment building, with another highrise in the background.

below: I am beginning to think that there should be at least one old car picture in every blog post! I certainly encounter enough of them! Today’s car – a yellow Oldsmobile (from the 1970’s?).  Sounds like a challenge doesn’t it?!

an old yellow Oldsmobile car, with historic licence plate, parked in a driveway in front of an old white garage