Pierre Poussin | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘Pierre Poussin’

booming Bessarion

Posted: June 23, 2024 in construction, locations, public art
Tags: apartments, condos, construction, Demakersvan, development, Ethennonnhawahstihnen, Inges Idee, Jax, Joep and Jeroen Verhoeven, Leaping Lamp, park, Pierre Poussin, subway, TTC

Bessarion subway station has always had the reputation of being one of the least used stations in Toronto. I haven’t seen any recent numbers, but I suspect that a lot more people are now using the station. There are a lot of development changes happening in the area so the numbers will only increase in the future.

below: South entrance to Bessarion station

below: A Stop sign sits in the middle of one of the entrances to the new development on Sheppard Ave East beside Bessarion subway station. If you follow the left fork in the road, you will end up in the parking lot of the Canadian Tire store. This store is all that is left from the original 50 acre site that was home to a Canadian Tire warehouse and distribution centre. In 2000 Canadian Tire filed a plan to re-develop the whole site, including a new head office tower for the company. Although the plan was approved, it never came to be. Instead, most of the land was sold to Concord who is now in the process of redeveloping it.

below: Concord has filled this community with a lot of public art including these colourful creations, “Jax” (2021) by Pierre Poussin

below: A few maple leaves forming a canopy – “Maple Leaf Trellis” by Demakersvan (aka brothers Joep and Jeroen Verhoeven)

below: Leaping Lamp by Inges Idee (a German artist collective)

below: There is also a rabbit (title: “Rabbit”), another artwork by Inges Idee. It’s made to look like a folded ribbon of highway; it sits next to the 401 highway.

below: Birds hanging out together between Bessarion station and the new community centre. They won’t be flying anywhere any time soon!

below: A small bird, a continuation of the tree full of birds, sits outside Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Community Centre (it’s pronounced Etta-nonna wasti-nuh and it means ‘where they had a good, beautiful life”)

below: Real trees ready to plant.

below: A line of towers with row houses on the lower level marks the south side. The 401 highway is behind. A new park, also Ethennonnhawahstihnen’, lies in front of the new residences.

below: Water feature in the summer, outdoor skating rink in the winter

below: The view from the southeast corner of the property – the back of IKEA and the 401!

below: At least there have been a lot of trees planted back here and some thought has been put into using the landscaping to mitigate the noise from the 401. But the fact that thousands of cars and trucks pass her every day can never be downplayed. I hope that the units are well sound proofed. Having stood on balconies on other buildings that overlook a major road, I can imagine how noisy it is here too.

below: Looking southeast from Burbank

below: South side of Sheppard

below: The north side of Sheppard Ave looks like this – a row of lowrise apartment buildings from the 1960s or 1970s.

below: There are 2 major redevelopments proposed along here, 680-688 Sheppard and 690-720 Sheppard. Both involve condo towers.

Just west of Bessarion station is Greenbriar Road. There was a small community of single family homes, duplexes, and small apartment buildings back here. Almost all of it is gone or on the way out

below: A single, lonely, holdout surrounded by newer residences.

below: No sign?!

below: Southeast corner of Sheppard and Greenbriar (12 storeys, 145 residences)

below: There is a development notice sign on the front yard of 25 Greenbriar (23, 25, 27 and 29 to be replaced with 10 storeys, 169 residences).

below: A little farther south on Greenbriar the fences are already up (22-36 Greenbriar, 24 storeys, 351 residences).

Extra note: The northeast corner of the old Canadian Tire acreage, at 1181 Sheppard Ave East, remains undeveloped. It is the last piece once owned by Canadian Tire. It is adjacent to the Metrolinx rail corridor, about 100 m from the new Oriole GO station. [ed note: Prime real estate by the sound of it!]. Two towers will probably get built here, once the heights are finalized.

all, nothing, and a smattering in between

Posted: August 24, 2020 in alleys, graffiti and street art, history, intersections, old buildings, public art
Tags: all or nothing, angel, bee, Broadview, Dennis House, Dundas East, graffiti, Inside out, Jimmie Simpson Park, Leslieville, Pierre Poussin, Queen Alexandra Middle School, Queen East, railway tracks, Riverdale, Riverside, stencil, urban ninja squadron, words

Most of these pictures were taken on a walk within the area bounded by Dundas East, Broadview, Queen East, and Carlaw.

below: All or nothing

below: Same same but different.

below: “We miss you” at Queen Alexandra Middle School. An older school, built in 1904/5, used to be on this site. It was named after the Queen of England at the time, the wife of King Edward VII, Queen Alexandra.

below: Also at Queen Alexandra Middle School, about 200 large black and white portraits of staff and students were on display on the exterior wall of the school. This installation is part of the global ‘Inside Out’ project. To date, Inside Out has appeared in 129 countries and has involved more than 260,000 people. In fact, they were in Toronto for Nuit Blanche back in 2015.

below: Public art at Carlaw and Dundas. I had mentioned this structure by Pierre Poussin back in March of this year. Not a lot has been done on it in the meantime except for the preparations for some sort of pattern at ground level.

below: The railway tracks cross Dundas Street just west of Carlaw. The tracks run on a NE – SW diagonal as they travel south from Gerrard.

below: Save Jimmie Simpson park poster. The Ontario Line, or the Relief Line of the subway/LRT may or may not come this way. The Relief Line was once planned as an underground line under Pape to almost Eastern before swinging west towards downtown. Someone then said why not run it above ground where the tracks already exist between Gerrard & Pape and the south end of the Don Valley Parkway at Corktown Common- and we can have a Leslieville stop. Has any decision been made? Is Toronto going to leave it all in limbo, or in the discussion/planning stage, forever and ever… and ever….

below: The north part of Jimmie Simpson Park. The park is a right angle triangle with a peak at Dundas East and a base along Queen East. The long side of the triangle is railway tracks which run behind the trees.

below: Once upon a time there was a railway station here, on Queen East at De Grassi that is. It was operational between 1896 and 1932 and demolished in 1974. In the beginning there was a level crossing here but after a number of accidents, including a collision between a freight train and a street car in 1904, the railway corridor was elevated.

below: Old black and white photo from the City of Toronto Archives, found online at “Old Time Trains”

below: Aged and peeling painting of a Canada goose that was on the railway underpass.

below: Eat the rich – and a picnic table is provided for your convenience. Don’t worry about the trains, they’re long gone. This was once a spur line and it hasn’t existed for years . You can still find small sections of track but most of it has been paved over. (near Carlaw and Dundas)

below: Looking west, towards downtown, along Dundas East. The old red brick building is on the northeast corner of Dundas and Broadview.

below: Flipped around and now looking east from Broadview in 1954. The red brick building from the above photo appears to be Dennis House and it seems that they are advertising the fact that they have televisions. On the south side of Dundas is a drug store. That building is still there but now it is a variety store whose windows are often covered with Lotto649 and LottoMax ads. In fact, the picture of the Bell telephone boxes near the beginning of this post was taken here.

photo credit: City of Toronto Archives, found online on a Blog TO page

below: This jumble of colours and lines can be found just east of Broadview and they are just visible in the background of the above picture. I love the little white door that probably leads to a basement apartment (or a secret garden in the front yard?!)

below: If you walk farther east on Dundas from Broadview you will see a collection of old two storey houses with their slate mansard roofs and dormer windows. This roof style is typical of “Second Empire” houses built in the late 1800s. I’ve always been intrigued by this group of houses but I have never been able to find out much about their history.

below: The end houses, at Boulton, have already been replaced.

below: And there are houses with similar architecture on nearby side streets.

Last but not least, a little bit of graffiti to close off this post.

below: Urban ninja squadron

Rambling Leslieville

Posted: March 6, 2020 in alleys, graffiti and street art, intersections, old buildings, public art, stores
Tags: alley, architecture, Bruce Jr Public School, Carlaw, dolls, Dundas, Elicser, Elicser Elliot, Evond Blake, fence, flags, graffiti, houses, J. Chiale, Leslieville, lovebot, Mediah, murals, old cars, Pierre Poussin, Queen St. East, residential, streets, think, trees, urban ninja squadron

below: Think! or rather Stop and think. Above that, tbonez with The Forge Fury in another urban ninja squadron sticker.

below: There is a new public art installation nearing completion at the corner of Carlaw and Dundas. When the project is done, the obelisk shaped sculpture by Pierre Poussin will be in the middle of a small park. It is made of laser cut rusted metal and will feature internal LED lighting.

below: Shadows of the trees along a winding trail.

below: There really aren’t enough fairies in the world. The ones that are supposed to clean my home haven’t shown up yet either.

below: This looks like it was once an artwork pasted to a wall. An eagle’s head is still visible at the very top. Are those its feathers at the bottom by the shoes – one dark blue and one red stiletto.

below: The northwest corner of Pape and Dundas. The “This is Toronto” mural by J. Chiale is still there.

below: An old and worn sign

below: A not so old sign with three lovebot stickers on it.

below: Old cars seen in an alley. Any ideas on what model and year the brown car is?

below: Santa Claus hasn’t returned to the North Pole yet! This front yard looks quite barren

below: … compared to this one! I am happy to report that the “doll house” still exists. There is at least one Santa Claus in there!

below: Not quite every inch (centimeter!) is covered. Christopher Robin and Tigger, Ernie and a Picachu. Tweety bird in a blue jacket and a white horse, Dora the Explorer is eating an apple.

below: These stickers still exist! A Star Wars family with a dirty back window.

below: Usually if a couch is waiting for the garbage man it’s sitting closer to the edge of the street!

below: Symmetry at the back of Bruce Junior Public School built in 1923.

below: And then there is the asymmetry created when one side of a semi-divided house explodes upwards.

below: Leslieville has two murals. This one covers the side of the building plus the back in pink, red, and orange stripes. This Guidant Bikeshare mural was painted by Mediah, aka Evond Blake, in 2017.