Sadly true. It's shocking that discs degrade and become unreadable in 10 years, yet I have family photos from the 1860s. And so much information optimistically archived on floppy discs... now garbage.

I saw one on Bayview just last week.

Coles makes me think of high school. Coles carried the required text books, stacks of them in September. Also Coles Notes, a guilty discovery... and later there was the not-so-guilty discovery of Totten's notes. It seems to me Totten's notes were sold on the second floor of a store on the south...

I don't know what planet I was on when the new Toronto coat of arms was adopted, but when thecharioteer posted the image I couldn't remember having seen it before and thought it was a joke. Pallid and insipid, yes, but also unintelligible (to me, at least). I shouldn't have had to do research to...

Not much "industry, intelligence, integrity" at city hall these days, either. Fascinating cover, thecharioteer. Sailing in the bay, promenading on Jarvis St., and I think the cricket is at today's Rosedale Park, but can't identify the parade route.

I wonder why the station was ?originally? light (cream?) with dark details (green?) and both revisions have it red/brown with lighter details and trim.

Awnings! And for a change Now looks better than Then. Is that the same hydrant? City Hall is cleaner now than it was just 12 years after it was built.

I had no idea – thanks for the information DSC.

It seems that building an arch to honour a visitor was the thing to do back in the day. Here's one at Bloor and Avenue Rd in 1900 (for what I don't know). And two on King St for the visit of Edward VII in 1860. Masonic arch in the foreground, Orange arch in the background. (TPL site)

Probably a lot of energy, and even then it's hard to regulate the temperature. I was in a suburban office where staff on the west side cooked while the rest of us froze in the summer. For a house, you hardly need A/C at all if there are awnings, windows that open, shade trees and ivy on the...

That's an impressive display! There must have been some way to raise and lower the awnings from inside. And I can't imagine taking them all down in the fall then putting them all back up in the spring.

Canvas awnings, attractive and practical. In the '50s and '60s, my father bought them from Eatons for our suburban house that was built in a farmer's field with no trees in sight. But it seems awnings across sidewalks were a hazard...

On this cold May day (with wind chill?) I keep thinking about Toronto heat waves before A/C and how stifling hot it must have been in public buildings. Here's East General in 1928, baking in the sun, no shade anywhere, all the windows open, but with small openings and no cross ventilation.

By coincidence I just read a fascinating piece about the effect of summer heat in Toronto – social, economic, etc. – before A/C. Here's an interesting excerpt: "Sturtevant's fans and blowers, together with vertical ventilation shafts and high industrial ceilings were adopted by many of the...

Nice!

Huh. I guess clay tile shingles don't last forever after all.

"Then" looks like a bomb site! Congratulations to your friend for having the vision to see it through to the now.

I just looked at the Goad's for 1880 and the footprint is the two semis, both rough cast.