Posts Tagged ‘statues’

crumbling castle

Posted: November 28, 2021 in locations, old buildings
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I heard from two different sources about a “castle” that was about to be torn down so when I found myself in the neighbourhood, I had to stop by and take a look at it myself.

below: Screenshot from Google street view, dated January 2021. All of the shrubs have been removed and the black fence has been replaced with the same fencing that you see surrounding most construction sites.

screenshot from google maps street view of an old white house

below: The house as it looked in mid-November, east side.  The lower windows are now boarded up as well.

no trespassing sign on old white empty house

Apparently the house sold in 2018 . The previous owner, Max Heiduczek, lived in and worked on the house for more than 40 years.  He bought the property in the 1970s but had to sell when age and health concerns became an issue.

below: Minaret, dome, rooftop terraces, and a replica of Michelangelo’s David.

small window in a crumbling building, plaster coming off wall, wood deteriorating along roofline

below: The tower has little blue windows.

crooked turret beside railing around rooftop terrace with stone statue of a woman (greek goddess?) holding an urn

brass remnants from something lying in the grass with dead leaves outside an empty and abandoned house

boarded up window and door on old white abandoned house

no trespassing sign on metal construction fence

lamp post with 5 globe lights, leaning, outside old white house with multiple architectural styles

boarded up window and door on old house, railing around balcony above door has heart shaped openings

below: South side of the house

side view of old white house with red clay tile colour roof, boarded up windows with danger sign

The current owners applied to subdivide the property into pieces.  In August 2021 conditional consent was given by the city for this severance.

 

as summer winds down

Posted: September 26, 2018 in general Toronto, locations
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below: The sign over Kensington but I guess that’s obvious.

metal sign above the buildings, says Kensington in capital letters

Kensington pics from a warmer Saturday morning earlier in September.

 

below: Liz says eat more cheese

old framed black and white photo of Queen Elizabeth, on top it someone has given her a word bubble that says eat more queso (Spanish for cheese), in the window of a cheese store

below: A smoke and a phone.  Swiping right or left?

a woman in a white blouse sits on a bench ooutside a restaurant, on a wood bench, smoking a cigarette

below: A homemade sign

a hand made stop sign, red octagon, with the word stop in large white letters and racism written in black letters underneath

below: Well dressed Swiss Misses

3 half mannequins dressed in tops, standing in two old containers that say swiss miss puddings

below: Walls and skin

a young woman with blue hair and many tattoos is looking at her phone as she sits on a kerb

below: Just a part of the van.  If you’ve been to Kensington you may have seen this van – it’s totally covered with stickers.

part of the side of a white van that is covered with stickers

below: Churro chairs

two metal chairs outside a churros place

below: Morning coffee.  Saturday mornings in Kensington begin quietly.

the patio in front of Moonbean coffee shop, with two men sitting at tables

below: Faded and forgotten

two fake sunflowers, very faded, in a window, between the glass and the bamboo blinds,

below: These poser bunnies are a recent addition to the street art in Kensington

poser bunny mural on a brick wall, a pinkish bunny and a yellow one, the yellow bunny is holding a bottle of alcohol

below: Mona Lisa and her fruit basket still look out over Kensington Ave.  She still hasn’t eaten that banana.  The black and white part of this now iconic mural (with the banana) was painted more than 30 years ago.  The rest of the fruit was added after.

realistic mural of Mona Lisa holding a basket of fruit, high on a wall in Kensington

below: Looking a little frayed around the edges, like some of us at the end of the hot summer!

red and white striped awning above a store, tattered

the side of a building covered with graffiti

below: Not long ago there was only Mary in this window. Jesus is now keeping her company.

the window of Crows Nest Barber with a statue of Mary and a statue of Jesus in the window

Amen

love and affection

Posted: December 1, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art
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Tdot, an affectionate nickname for Toronto.

graffiti words, large, on a garage door in an alley, tdot,white on red background.

A lovely walk on a lovely afternoon discovering lovely things about love and affection.

below: Love but Think.

graffiti words on a garage door, love but think

stone statue of a girl seated, in front of a house that has a statue of Jesus in a niche in the outside wall as well as a ceramic religious scene

below: Mother and child.

under two hinges, on a post, in front yard of a house, a faded framed print of a mother and her baby

below: Batman and Robin, oh dear.

orange stencil, batman kissing robin the boy wonder

mural of a woman with very long wavy hair, side profile of her head and face, blue lips, blue eyelashes

below:  Some love is fleeting and some may be eternal but his love for Leila was never meant to last.

words on a garage door that say I love Leila. A big X is drawn through those words and beside it is written Honestly it wasn't meant to last

below: Even the insults sounded nice.  Except of course if the pizza had pineapple on it.

words scrawled on a wall in an alley that say Trump is a facist piece of pizza

below: And then there was this….  As it turns out these words are a line in the lyrics of a song but I’m still not sure why would write them on a door.

white words graffiti on a grey metal door that say When I do wrong I am with God

street art painting of a dragon, or monster, head with purple horns, green eye, and lots of teeth, seen from the side,

May all your walks be lovely!

Queen Victoria and the boys

Posted: April 17, 2017 in history, locations, memorials
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subtitle: Hanging out in front of Queen’s Park

There is a collection of statues in the front of Queen’s Park.  With the exception of the statue of Queen Victoria, they are of men who helped shape Toronto, Ontario, and Canada in the early years.    I was going to spend some time writing about what each person did but this post started to become very dull.  I don’t mean to diminish the accomplishments of these men, but reading a summary of their lives isn’t the most interesting way to spend time.   If you want to learn more about any of them, I’m sure you can find much more information online!

First, the monarch.  Queen Victoria.  She was born in 1819 (almost 200 years ago!) and became Queen in 1837 when just 18 years old.  She reigned for more than sixty years until her death in January of 1901.   Her husband, and father of her 9 children, was her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.   The fact that her statue’s here is no surprise.  Queen’s Park was named in her honour after all – it was opened by her son Edward in 1860.  The statue though didn’t appear here until 1902, after her death.  It was designed by Mario Riggi.

statue of Queen Victoria in bronze. She's seated, wearing crown and holding mace/staff

Also in the front of the parliament buildings are the statues of six other historical figures:  Sir John A. Macdonald, John Graves Simcoe, Sir Oliver Mowat, George Brown, John Sandfield Macdonald, William Lyon Mackenzie, and Sir James Whitney.  Most people would recognize Sir John A. Macdonald as the first Prime Minister of Canada and some Torontonians might be familiar with the contributions of Mr. Simcoe to their history, but the other four men, who are they?

Let’s start with John Sandfield Macdonald (no relation to Sir John A. )   He was born in Glengarry County Upper Canada in 1812.  He was the first Prime Minister (Premier) of Ontario, starting with Confederation  and the formation of the province of Ontario on 1st July 1867.  He held that position until 1871.  The sculpture is by Walter Allward, 1909.

statue of a man, John Sandfield Macdonald, in front of the parliament buildings at Queens Park. An Ontario flag is reflected in the windows of the building.

 

Next,  Sir Oliver Mowat .  He was born in Kingston Ontario in 1820.  In 1840 he moved to Toronto to study law but in 1857 he was elected a Liberal member of the Legislature of the Province of Canada.  He held various government positions at both the provincial and federal levels up until his death in 1903.  He took part in the Quebec Conference of 1864 which led to Confederation in 1867.  He was the third Prime Minister (Premier) of Ontario after John Sandfield Macdonald and Edward Blake (who was leader for less than a year and has no statue).  He led from 1872 to 1896.     During his almost 24 years as leader of the Ontario Legislature he introduced the secret ballot in elections and extended suffrage beyond property owners.  He also created the municipal level of government.  Between 1897 and his death he was a Senator and then the Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario.  This monument was unveiled in 1905 and was also designed by Walter Allward.

black statue of a man, Sir Oliver Mowat, standing with a book in one hand, and the other hand behind his back. The figure is on top of a grey stone rectangular column, autumn tree in the background.

below: Sir James Whitney was a member of the Ontario Legislative Assembly from 1888 until his death in 1914.  For the later part of those years he was the Premier of Ontario – he was elected four times as Premier.  The statue was sculpted by Hamilton MacCarthy and was unveiled in 1927

statue of a mna with his right arm extended, Whitney, in front of the parliament buildings at Queens Park.

I’ve also included William Lyon Mackenzie (1795-1861) with this group of men even though his statue is more to the west of the parliament buildings than in front of them.   He was the first mayor of Toronto (1834) although he was only mayor for a year.   He was also a leader of the Upper Canada Rebellion in 1837.

statue of William Lyon Mackenzie, shown from the waist up and missing his arms, trees in leaf behind him,

below: The oldest man of the lot is John Graves Simcoe (1752-1806), founder of the city of Toronto, the designer of Yonge Street, and one busy man in his time.

statue of a man in bronze standing on a grey stone column, yellow tree behind him. He's got a sword in one hand, with its point on the ground and he is leaning on it slightly

And last, the most well known of the men, Sir John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada.

statue of Sir John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada, on a grey day, in front of the Ontario Legislature at Queens Park in Toronto,

 

 

 

from Castle Frank to Cabbagetown

Posted: March 3, 2017 in alleys, doors, graffiti and street art, history, locations, old buildings, stores, transportation, windows and walls
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Another nice day, another ramble.

below: My starting point the other day was Castle Frank subway station (Bloor Street East, close to the top of Parliament Street).  This station opened in 1966 although the entrance that you see in the photo was an addition that was added only a few years ago.

photo taken from sidewalk on north side Bloor Street East, just outside of Castle Frank subway station, looking west towards downtown. Subway station in the foreground, high rise buildings in the background

below: An interesting round window in the station entrance.  You can see part of the window in the picture above, peaking from around the side of the tree trunk.

a round window with a metal grille inside. Grille is made of trapezoid shapes in a repeating pattern.

below: The subway “tunnel” between Sherbourne and Castle Frank stations isn’t really a tunnel at all.  This view surprised me – I know that I have driven under this structure on Rosedale Valley Road.  I don’t recall knowing that it was for the subway.

Downtown Toronto is in the distance. The subway tunnel between Sherbourne and Castle Frank stations is in the foreground. It's really a covered bridge as it passes over Rosedale Valley Road.

below: “It’s never too cold for rainbow shoelaces.”  Sage advice for the winter time.

words spray painted on a low concrete fence, It's never too cold for rainbow shoelaces.

below: Graffiti under the bridge…  even though I am drawn to bridges I didn’t go down the hill to investigate.  That can be another blog post at another not so muddy time.   This spot can be accessed from the Rekai Family Parkette which is at the SE corner of Bloor and Parliament, tucked in between Bloor and St. James Cemetery.

graffiti under the arches of a bridge, white skull painting, lots of trees, winter time but no snow. No leaves on the trees, brown ground.

below: More graffiti seen from the parkette.

graffiti on the side of a concrete bridge, based on the letter P C and E.

below: St. James Cemetery was opened in July of 1844 at a time when the population of Toronto was around 18,000 and most of them lived south of Queen Street.   The cemetery would have been out in the country but now, more than 150 years later, the cemetery is in the middle of the city.  There are 89,000 interments here including two of my great x 2 (or 3?) grandparents and some of their descendants (they’re not shown in the picture though!).

many tombstones in a cemetery, different shapes and sizes, a couple of crosses, a couple of rectangles with rounded tops, a tall one in the shape of a skinny keyhole, trees in the background, no leaves

below: A little reminder that Christmas wasn’t all that long ago.

a small statue of an angel sitting on a pedestal in a cemetery, a Christmas wreath in green with red bows and brown pine cones is behind the angel.

The fastest route from Castle Frank to Cabbagetown is straight down Parliament Street.  But of course, the direct route is rarely the one that I take.  The area is full of little alleys and lanes and they all call to me.

below: These animals are part of a mural painted in support of Riverdale Farm which is nearby.

on Darling Lane (street sign in the picture), a mural of two horses, part of a larger mural featuring farm animals

below: Reading the news, many newses.

a street art piece, a bench and man are painted on a wall, the man is holding a newspaper that is a made of paste ups of the word news many times.

below: In Flos Williams Lane there are a number of stenciled words.  “Guilty until proven rich” I first saw here a couple of years ago.  I don’t walk this lane very often so I’m not sure how long ago the other sayings appeared.

below: Like most walks, there were interesting windows to be seen.

two windows on a red brick house with stone foundation, basement window and first storey window. The upper one has a red curtain

below: …and doors too. A very bright orange door!

a very bright orange front door.

below: But unlike most walks, there was a giant gecko or lizard.

a life like model of a giant green gecko on the small roof over a window of a pet store.

One of the appeals of Cabbagetown is the number of older houses, many of which are heritage buildings.

below: This house was built in 1858 and its first resident was Charles MacKay, a customs official who lived here from 1858 to 1865.  The infill line of townhouses behind it are a much more recent development.

an old historic brick house with black and white trim, a small statue in the front yard, set back from the sidewalk, large tree,

below:  Cabbagetown has more of these ‘workers cottages’ or ‘gothic cottages’ than anywhere else I’ve walked.   This arrangement of three identical houses in a row is especially rare (but not unique, at least not yet).

a row of three gothic cottages joined together, all pale yellow with dark green trim

below:  This cottage is in the middle of another threesome but they are not identical.  The yellow door on the pale blue house is a wonderful colour combination.  A little bit of sunshine.

a gothic cottage painted pale blue with white trim,also a bright yellow front door.

below:  Even though it has been renovated and an addition added to the back, this house still retains some of its historical roots.

a renovated and modernized gothic cottage with an addition out the back.

below: And more history…  I was attracted to this building by the beautiful double doors.  Once I was close to the house, I noticed the ghost sign hiding behind the tree branches. The Daily Herald is no longer but it the mark it made here remains.   A mysterious mark though because I can find no record of such a publication.  In fact, probably “the sign had been part of a play or film that the home’s owner was involved in and he installed the sign on an act of whimsy.”  (source, bottom of page)  You gotta love whimsy!

an old brick building, two storeys, now a house, with double doors in a dark teal colour. Ghost sign above the window that says Daily Herald

below: Whimsy you say?  Bright pink flamingo whimsy in a store window.   They look like they’re ready for a rainy day.

three bright flamingo heads as umbrella handles in a shop window. Pink flamingos and pink umbrellas.

below:  There were also some store windows that were a bit more serious.

store window, selling statues of religios figures, many statues of Mary and Jesus.

below:   I think that Carlton and Parliament is one of the most colourful intersections in the city and I always enjoy passing this way.  This is the view if you are standing in the middle of Carlton street and looking east towards Parliament.

looking down Carlton street towards parliment, brick stores directly ahead, some cars on the street,

below: This large colourful mural on the wall of Cabbagetown Corner Convenience,  NE corner of Carlton and Parliament, has become a landmark since it was painted by Ryan Dineen in 2005.

mural on the side of a building in cabbagetown. people in old fashioned clothing plus swirls of colour. street scene beside it, people on sidewalk walking in front of stores.

below: The 506 Carlton streetcar makes its left turn from Parliament.   It’s never a quick and easy turn.  In fact, it’s usually frustratingly slow.

TTC streetcar, Carlton car, turns from Parliament street onto Carlton, stores, sidewalk and people in the background, reflections in street car windows.
And in case you were wondering, yes, you can find cabbages in cabbagetown. This big one is on the Cabbagetown mural on the side of the LCBO building.

painting of a cabbage in a mural

And yes, there is a lot more to Cabbagetown than this…
and I will use that as an excuse to return another time!

kids and soldiers

Posted: January 16, 2017 in memorials, public art
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Sculptures by Ken Lum.

I was walking up Bay Street yesterday when I stopped.  Out of the corner of my eye I had caught a glimpse of a sculpture that I had never seen before.  It is ‘Two Children of Toronto’ by Ken Lum, 2013.

Two children, a boy and a girl, sit opposite each other, some distance between them.

two children of toronto, a sculpture by Ken Lum, two children seated on pedestals, about 25 feet apart, along the side of a walkay, with a concrete building beside them. The children are looking towards each other

What you can’t see in the above picture is that there are words in bronze mounted on the wall.  The words say: “Across time and space, two children of Toronto meet”.  The two kids are looking towards each but not each other.

sculpture, Two Children of Toronto by Ken Lum in a downtownwalkway with a concrete bulding beside it, girl's face

below: Both children are wearing clothes from bygone days.

sculpture, Two Children of Toronto by Ken Lum in a downtownwalkway with a concrete bulding beside it, looking towards the girl, with Bay Street and Canadian Tire store behind

below: But the boy’s clothes are more Chinese looking.

sculpture, Two Children of Toronto by Ken Lum in a downtownwalkway with a concrete bulding beside it, a boy is seated on a concrete pedestal.

After my walk the other day, I started researching Ken Lum.  I discovered that he has another sculpture nearby, and fortuitously, it was one that I took some pictures of back in December.  It is “Peace Through Valour” located at the NW corner of City Hall property.  Winston Churchill is standing close by.

a sculpture called Peace Through valour by Ken Lum, outside on a snowy day. A square piece with a soldier standing guard at each corner. On top of the flat squsre is a model of a town in square blocks (no details on the buildings).

It commemorates the 93,000 Canadians who fought in the Italian campaign of WW2 and was dedicated in June 2016.   A Canadian soldier stands vigil at each corner of the memorial.  The top of the 7 foot x 7 foot square is a topographical map of Ortona, a town in Italy that was a scene of a battle at Christmas time in 1943.  Ortona is on the Adriatic coast and its streets were narrow which made it difficult for Allied forces to liberate the town from Nazi Germany.

two soldiers stand vigil at the corners of a memorial, sculptures,

Money for the sculpture was donated by the Italian-Canadian community.

two soldiers stand vigil at the corners of a memorial, sculptures,

three more on the team

Posted: October 18, 2016 in history, public art
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line of statues of hockey players in front of the Air Canada Centre, Legends Row in Toronto, a few people are standing in front of the statues.

Legends Row in Maple Leaf Square is growing.  Last week, three more statues of Leafs players were added to the line up of statues already there.  This is the fourth installment and now Turk Broda, Dave Keon, and Tim Horton have now taken their place outside the Air Canada Centre.

The unveiling of the latest statues coincided with the opening ceremonies for the 100th season of NHL hockey in Toronto.   That first year, the Toronto team was the Toronto Arenas and their only competition were the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators.   The Arenas didn’t last very long; they folded because of financial problems.  For the 1919-20 season, the Toronto team was the St. Pats and their uniforms were green and white.   They remained the St. Pats until 1927 when Conn Smythe bought the team and changed the name to the Maple Leafs.    (The NHL was formed Nov 26, 1917 so technically we may have jumped the gun by a year, but we can fudge that and call it the 100th season!).

below: Goalies Turk Broda (right) and Johnny Bower (left) have a chat while George Armstrong stands in the background.  Broda (1914-1972) played goal and spent his whole NHL career with the Maple Leafs during which time they won the Stanley Cup five times.

three statues of former Toronto Maple Leaf players in Legends row in Toronto, goalies Turk Broda on the right and Johnny Bower on the left, are standing, George Armstrong is in the background.

below: Dave Keon, number 14, stands behind the bench with his teammates.   Keon (b.1940) pl ayed for the Maple Leafs for 15 years during a career that lasted from 1960 to 1982.  He won the Calder trophy his first year and he was the team’s top goal scorer for many years.

statues of hockey players lined up behind the boards as if they were in a rink, some of the players in the background are jumping over the boards. Number 14 for the Toronto Maple Leafs is in the foreground, Dave Keon.

below: It looks like Tim Horton may have to share his stick.  I suspect that he’s going to have the problem fairly often!  Tim Horton (1930 – 1974) was a defenceman who played for the Leafs during the 1960’s when they won the Stanley Cup four times.  Also during this period he set the record for playing in consecutive regular season games, 486.

a woman in a pink jacket stands in front of a statue of a hockey player, Tim Horton. She is holding onto his hockey stick. There are a couple of other statues in the picture too.

a woman poses for a photo with a line of statues of hockey players

Previous Legends Row posts

  1. Over the boards when the first three statues were installed. (Sittler, Kennedy and Bower)
  2. Leafs expansion, two Swedes, (Salming and Sundin)
  3. Two number tens (Apps and Armstrong)

Toronto Marys

Posted: December 27, 2015 in galleries, general Toronto
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Marys in Toronto 
It has become one of the things I do – I look for ‘Marys’ when I travel.  For one reason or another, I started seeing Marys in Toronto too.  Perhaps it was because I spent more time in galleries and museums on those really cold days that we had last winter.    There aren’t nearly as many Marys here as there are in Lima Peru or in Malta.  Hence, finding them was a bit more difficult but that just made the hunt more interesting.

below: In the window of Sonic Boom on Spadina

A picture of Mary and Jesus in a store window. Jesus is depicted as a middle age man.

below:  a sculpture of Mary and Jesus,  from the Gardiner Museum

ceramic (or glazed terracotta?) sculpture of mother and child, Mary and Jesus.

below: ‘The Dormition of the Virgin’ by Esteban Marquez De Velasco (c.1655 – 1720, Spain).
This painting is in the Art Gallery of Ontario.  It depicts the moment before Mary falls asleep and her soul leaves her body to join Him in heaven.  The apostles surround Mary and kneel in prayer.

A close up of a painting. A young woman, the virgin Mary, is sitting up in bed, her right hand over her heart and her eyes raised to heaven. A man is standing to the right, his eyes also looking up to heaven. Men reading books are to her left.

below: ‘Madonna and Child’ by Andrea Della Robbia (1435-1525, Florence Italy).
Glazed terracotta. On loan to the AGO from the family of Murray Frum.

A white porcelain relief sculpture on a reddish wall. Mother and child, Mary and Jesus.

below:  In front of St. Clare Roman Catholic church on St. Clair Ave. West

White statue of Mary and Jesus outside a church, a vase of red and white flowers is beside her feet. The words Sancta Maria Mater Dei are on a bronze plaque under the statue.

below: In the window of Crows Nest barber shop, Kensington Market

A figurine of the Virgin Mary with her light blue shawl stands piously in the window of a barber shop. The building is painted a light blue colour.

below: Figurines for sale at Honest Ed’s

seven figurines of Mary painted with long white, light blue and gold robes. They are about 20 cm high, all with downcast eyes except the one on the left looks like she's looking at the camera.

below: Holographic cards with images of Mary Jesus in a red plastic tub.
You can buy a card at Honest Ed’s for 69 cents.

postcards with holographic images of Mary and Jesus.

below: Sagrada Familia, by the front door of a house in Little Portugal

A ceramic plaque of Mary, Joseph and Jesus on the exterior wall of a house beside the front door and above the mailbox

below:  Hiding amongst the drapery sits Mary and her child.

from the outside, the lower part of a window with white shutters and a stone window sill. Lace curtains are in the window and a statue of Mary and Jesus is inside.

below: Another from the AGO,  Virgin and Child from circa 1750, once in a chapel of a Montreal church.
Wood with traces of pigment.

 In the Art Gallery of Ontario, a wooden statue of Mary holding baby Jesus. Behind the statue is a large painting of the fire in Quebec City in the 1700's.

Wooden statue of Mary standing while holding a baby Jesus.

below: Mount Pleasant cemetery

close up of part of a tombstone in a cemetery showing a small relief sculpture of Mary, Joseph and Jesus

below:  On an ofrenda at a Dia de Muertos celebration

a statue of mary with pink candles on either side of her. A yellow day of the dead paper cut out is behind her. Strings of yellow, orange and pink flowers are also on either side of her.

below: Radio Maria, una voce cristiana nella tua casa, part of the Holy Mother World Networks.

entrace to a small red brick building with a two signs, one over the door and one beside the door, for Radio Maria.

below: With other members of the Nativity scene, for sale in a vintage store on Queen West.
I think that $20 buys you the contents of the box.

ceramic figures of the Nativity scene, Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, etc. They are lying in a box that is for sale in a store.

below: In a front yard in the Junction
I’ve put her at the end because I am not 100% sure that she is a Mary. The Virgin Mary is usually depicted with a light blue shawl draped over her shoulder or else holding a baby Jesus.

A small white statue of Mary on a makeshift pedestal in a front yard. Early spring, bare rose bush branches, a couple of small white planters with flowers in them. A white metal railing on the front porch.

And here ends that game.  This post represents almost a year’s worth of looking and while the hunt was interesting in the beginning it’s charm is starting to wear thin.   I could probably find more Marys in churches and cemeteries but I think I will listen to words of wisdom and let it be.

two number tens

Posted: November 26, 2015 in history, public art
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Earlier in November, two more statues were added to Legends Row outside the Air Canada Centre, Syl Apps and George Armstrong.  Both men were Maple Leaf Captains and both men wore jersey number 10.

below:  Blue and white confetti at the unveiling of the latest statues on Legends Row.

Legends Row at the unveiling of statues of Syl Apps and George Armstrong, lots of bits of blue and white paper stream down in front of the statues.

below: An old photo showing Syl Apps and a young George Armstrong when the latter was given Maple Leaf jersey 10 to wear.  Armstrong was the first player to wear number 10 since Apps had retired.

Old black and white picture from the Hockey Hall of Fame, showing Syl Apps (after retirement from hockey) and George Armstrong after Armstrong was given number 10 Maple Leaf jersey to wear.

below:  George Armstrong, past and present, at the unveiling.  Armstrong played 21 seasons with the Maple Leafs between 1950 and 1971.  After retiring from playing hockey, he coached the Toronto Marlies for a few seasons and he was on the Maple Leaf scouting staff for many years.

George Armstrong stands beside the statue of himself while reporters and others take pictures.

below:  Also, number 10, Syl Apps joined the Maple Leafs in 1936.  While he was captain of the Maple Leafs, the team won three Stanley Cups.  Apps retired in 1948.

statue of hockey player Syl Apps stands with stick in hand in Legends Row outside the ACC in Toronto

below: left to right: Mats Sundin, Borje Salming, Darryl Sittler and Ted Kennedy

Legends Row statues, Sundin, Salming, Kennedy and Sittler

below: George Armstrong and Johnny Bower

Legends ROw statues George Armstrong and Johnny Bower

below: left to right: Borje Salming, Darryl Sittler, Ted Kennedy and Syl Apps

Legends Row statues, Borje Salming, Ted Kennedy and Syl Apps stand behind the boards while Darryl Sittler is jumping over the boards.

below: Just around the corner, two statues of a slightly different nature

Two mannequins, one male and one female, are dressed in Maple Leaf hockey clothing. Toques, heavy sweaters, T-shirts and scarfs, all in blue and white with the Leafs logo

the eleventh day

Posted: November 14, 2015 in events, history, memorials
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Remembrance Day
the eleventh day of the eleventh month

November 11th at 11am in 1918 (the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month)  was when an armistice was signed by representatives of Germany and the Entente.  Nov 11th became known Armistice Day, or in some countries such as Canada, Remembrance Day.  An armistice is an agreement to stop fighting, a truce in other words.  After this signing, it took several months of negotiations before the First World War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919.  That treaty ended the war between Germany and the Allies.  (The Allies of WW1 were also known as the Entente Powers while Germany and her allies were known as the Central Powers)

The poppy became a symbol of Remembrance day, and a symbol in remembrance of soldiers who died fighting in all wars, after the publication of the poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ in 1915.  This popular and often quoted poem was written by Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.  In it he talks about the poppies that grew in the battlefields at Flanders Belgium during WW1.

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,”

Many Remembrance day poppies lie on the grass in front of the cenotaph in front of old City Hall. In the background is a small Canadian flag as well as a few wreaths that have been laid in front of the cenotaph.

below: The cenotaph (war memorial) in front of Old City Hall was unveiled on 11 Nov 1925 to commemorate those Torontonians who died in WW1.  Since then, it has been expanded to include those who lost their lives in WW2 and in the Korean War.  The word cenotaph comes from the Greek and translates as ’empty tomb’. This style of memorial has been used widely for commemorating someone, or some group, whose remains are interred elsewhere.

More than 6000 Torontonians lost their lives in these three conflicts.  Close to three thousand men died in World War 1, a number that represents about 2% of the male population of the time. (1)

The cenotaph in front of Old City Hall in Toronto, with a collection of wreaths that have been laid at the bottom of it.

In the middle of University Avenue is a statue erected by the Toronto District of the Sons of England Benefit Society in memory of their members who died in World War 1.  Founded in 1876, this society provided insurance to its members who were in need because of illness or accident.

In 1914 Canada was still part of the British Empire.  As a result, when Britain found itself at war in August of that year, Canada too was involved.

statue and memorial at University and Elm streets.

below: At the base of the center lion is a small plaque that reads: “Chas Adamson, sculptor, 1923”.

A carving of a lion in granite. It is at the base of a sculpture. A small brass plate is attached in front of the lion and it says Chas Adamson, sculptor 1923

below: The Sons of England building on the NW corner of Richmond St. East and Berti St., 1922

historical picture of Richmond Street near Berti, taken in 1922, old buildings, a, horse drawn cart and an old car. Streets but no traffic. black and white photo.

photo credit: Toronto public library website

 

Another memorial in this city is the Ontario Veterans Memorial.  This is a 30m long granite wall in front of Queens Park dedicated to all the men and women from Ontario who served in the military.  Etched into the granite are scenes depicting Canadians in military roles between the time of the Fenian Raids in 1867 to the present day.

below: Part of the granite wall.  The red in the picture is a reflection of the red carpet that was laid in front of the memorial for the Remembrance Day service.
An etching of men running across a battlefield with rifles at the ready.

below: part of the granite wall

part of a war memorial showing the wars written on it

Transcription of the passage by Canadian author Jane Urquhart:
One by one they left behind the bright fields of innocence and stepped into the darkness of experience
Their brave departure was discrete* and humble.
Un à un, ils ont quitté les champs illuminés de l’innocence pour se plonger dans la noirceur de
i’expérience. Ils ont quitté avec courage, discrétion et humilité
Some do not return. Their absence is as big as sorrow, as wide as grief.
Certains ne reviennent jamais. Leur absence laisse un vide aussi béant que le chagrin,
aussi vaste que le deuil.
The returning walk back toward their northern homeland. Their faces are shadowed,
but they are carrying illumination in their arms.
Ceux qui reviennent marchent vers leur terre nordique. Leurs visages sont dans l’ombre
mais ils portent la lumière dans leurs bras.  

(* discrete vs discreet ?)

below: Some of the wreaths laid at the Ontario Veterans Memorial on Remembrance Day.

wreaths in front of the granite wall of the Ontario Veterans Memorial

A bouquet of flowers, red roses, plus some white and blue flowers in front of a war memorial. An etching of three men in uniform, part of the memorial, is in the background.

 

below: Although it is not a war memorial per se, someone left a small poppy wreath by this plaque at Nathan Phillips Square.  The plaque is by the arches over the pool, the freedom arches.

blog_poppies_freedom_arches

Transcription of the plaque: Freedom Arches. The citizens of Toronto dedicate these arches to the millions who struggled, including Canadians, to gain and defend freedom and to the tens of millions who suffered and died for the lack of it. May all that we do be worthy of them. Only in freedom can the Human Spirit soar. Against the Human drive for freedom nothing can long succeed. This plaque is mounted on a slab of the Berlin Wall.

below: The 3D Toronto sign was red on Remembrance Day.

A remembrance day poppy is in the foreground. It is being held up in front of the 3D toronto sign which has been lit in red for Remembrance Day

We remember collectively as a nation, as a community. We also remember privately, as individuals, as families.  Countless small memorials can be found around Toronto including in schools, in churches and other religious institutions, and in cemeteries.

below: A memorial to the 48th Highlanders, Mount Pleasant cemetery.  In memory of the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men who have served with the 48th Highlanders.

Tall pinkish granite memorial to the 48th Highlanders in Mt Pleasant cemetery.

symbol, in metal, found on the memorial to the 48th Highlanders.

Dileas Gu Brath, their motto, is gaelic for ‘faithful forever’

below:  Quiet memorials

poppy wreath beside a tombstone in a cemetery

A small Canadian flag with two poppies pinned to it. The flag is inserted into the ground in front of a tombstone in a cemetery. The stone is a veterans stone, with air force insignia at the top and a cross at the bottom. In the middle is the information for the pilot who died during the war.

 

(1) source: Patrick Cain, Global News

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