[adma]

I can't quite place this... I assume we're looking south, with the park to our right, but then what is the large building in the distance, not to mention the houses there. Thoughts?

I'm wondering if that might be Keele + Humberside, w/Baird Park on the right...

 

[seemsartless]

adma, I think you're right! I dropped in via Google Street View, and the houses on the left of the photo look right, if we were facing north, as does the distinctive roof at the north end of the park. The building in the distance is likely on St. Clair then, or a bit closer on Davenport... I've updated my database, thanks!

March 10th: We start the set of March 10th Historic Toronto Photos back in 1916 with slum housing at 131 Nairn Avenue in Little Italy:

Then in 1954 we take a trip along Sherbourne Street in Upper Jarvis, starting with # 603-605 which are still standing, but boarded up (current Google Street view has 'Shame' and 'Restore me' on the boards):

607-609-611 Sherbourne Street:

The Church at 619 Sherbourne Street which still stand:

My favourite, #623 which is now gone:

And finally, we end our mini-tour at the dentist at 627 almost to Bloor Street:

 

[seemsartless]

As an added bonus, here's a 120 year old photo from the Archives of Ontario of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, just south of the above photos, at 520 Sherbourne St. which hasn't changed all that much. Somehow I've never noticed this building before...

 

[seemsartless]

March 12th: We start in Chaplin Estates back in 1923, with two photos of the culvert at the northwest corner of Hillsdale and Yonge Street:

Then a couple of 1951 photos from Gladstone Avenue looking north from Queen Street before the road was widened. The first photo is one of the few I could find in the City of Toronto Archives of the Gladstone Hotel as I was adding hotels to my new Historic Toronto Hotels page.

Then a bit further north, opposite #22...

Details on these photos, including their locations, on the Historic Toronto Photos from March 12th page.

 

[seemsartless]

March 13th: Just one photo today, from 1931, of 121-123 Wellington Street West as part of the planning for the University Avenue Extension. Looks like a beautiful old building, and of course the exposed fireplaces add even more interest to the photo.

 

[Gregory Graham]

That photo of the old houses at 121-123 Wellington Street is beautiful and sad. Even in a state of decline, the dignified proportions of these old townhouses is clear. It is very interesting to be reminded of the beauty of pre-automobile residential structures in Toronto. Sad to be reminded that they were swept away to make motoring into the heart of the city easy. Imagine the value of these houses in downtown Toronto if they had survived more or less intact. They remind me of:
1. those yellow brick houses on the north side of Shuter, just east of Jarvis that were demolished recently;
2. an old house on the east side of John just north of Queen demolished in the last five years or so; and
3. an old house still standing on the north side of Mercer Street. Does anyone know the house I'm talking about?

 

[DSC]

That photo of the old houses at 121-123 Wellington Street is beautiful and sad. Even in a state of decline, the dignified proportions of these old townhouses is clear. It is very interesting to be reminded of the beauty of pre-automobile residential structures in Toronto. Sad to be reminded that they were swept away to make motoring into the heart of the city easy. Imagine the value of these houses in downtown Toronto if they had survived more or less intact. They remind me of:
1. those yellow brick houses on the north side of Shuter, just east of Jarvis that were demolished recently;
2. an old house on the east side of John just north of Queen demolished in the last five years or so; and
3. an old house still standing on the north side of Mercer Street. Does anyone know the house I'm talking about?

Those 'yellow brick houses" on Shuter were actually Walnut Hall and though it is true it was demolished it was a demolition forced on the City by the owner's "demolition by neglect".There is a thread on it at http://urbantoronto.ca/showthread.p...ric-building-dies-of-neglect&highlight=walnut There are also several photos in other threads, it was a great and very sad loss.
The house on Mercer is, I think #24 and I agree it has similar proportions, though I think the top floor has either been added on or repaired in a rather different style. As it sits next to a parking lot I wonder how long it will last. (It is occupied by, but probably not owned by, the Sierra Club.)

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"Sad to be reminded that they were swept away to make motoring into the heart of the city easy." QUOTE Gregory Graham.


Mmmm ... Every tyme I have driven up University Avenue I am quite glad that these houses have not impeded me; the same holds for

the olde Jarvis house ON Jarvis AT Shuter Street.


Regards,
J T

 

[seemsartless]

I agree that seeing photos of these long gone buildings is tough sometimes, not to mention the before and after street-widening photos. I hope that it also makes us realize that we gave up a whole way of life when we embraced the automobile - which is both good and bad. Like the idea that TV and air-conditioning ruined the common spaces people used to hang out in when it was too hot and boring in their apartments - no having a drink and a gossip with your neighbours in the local piazza. Instead people have moved out into the suburbs, converting fields to monster homes....

On that note (an "I see what you did there" for the kids in the forum), we move to the then-farmland and suburbs for a photo from 1922, on...

March 15th: of a 'lots for sale' sign at 3122 Yonge Street north of Lawrence Avenue in the growing community of Bedford Park

Can anyone make out the first word on the sign? "???? Park lots for"

 

[ReiwaMagi]

I agree that seeing photos of these long gone buildings is tough sometimes, not to mention the before and after street-widening photos. I hope that it also makes us realize that we gave up a whole way of life when we embraced the automobile - which is both good and bad. Like the idea that TV and air-conditioning ruined the common spaces people used to hang out in when it was too hot and boring in their apartments - no having a drink and a gossip with your neighbours in the local piazza. Instead people have moved out into the suburbs, converting fields to monster homes....

On that note (an "I see what you did there" for the kids in the forum), we move to the then-farmland and suburbs for a photo from 1922, on...

March 15th: of a 'lots for sale' sign at 3122 Yonge Street north of Lawrence Avenue in the growing community of Bedford Park

Can anyone make out the first word on the sign? "???? Park lots for"

I see that Bedford Park School already exists. It got major upgrades later. I know this because I went there for school during my elementary years!

 

[wwwebster]

Can anyone make out the first word on the sign?

Waverley?

 

[seemsartless]

Waverley?

Couldn't help imagining your avatar saying 'Way-ba-lay' but I assume that's right! Waverley Park - all the real estate sites have this description:

Known as Waverley Park until 1931, the actual building of homes in this district was stalled initially by World War I and then by the Great Depression. In 1931 the City of Toronto expropriated the properties in the centre of Waverley Park for the creation of a public park. The Park was named Wanless Park, and eventually the entire neighbourhood adopted this name.​

I've update my description of the photo, thanks!

 

[seemsartless]

March 16th: Two similar subjects today that I recently added for my growing Historic Toronto Hotels page. I didn't realize at the time that they were both from March 16th though. The first, from 1927, is Heydon House Hotel, northwest corner of Old Weston Road and St. Clair Avenue in The Junction. The building still stands, minus the tower and decoration along the top.

Then we jump ahead 13 years, to the Avonmore Hotel and fire damage in 1940 at Gerrard and Jarvis streets in the Garden District - A&P and Nicholls Drug Stores on main floor:

And a side view, with the separate entrances for men and 'ladies':

 

[seemsartless]

March 17th: I didn't manage to post this right at 5:30pm, but 5 hours off, after 83 years isn't too bad... it is a 1928 photo of westbound traffic on Front St, from west side of Simcoe St, at 5:30 p.m., showing line up of cars and vehicles, almost back to York St. On the far left is the Hotel Carls-Rite - built originally as the Grand Union Hotel, the in its final days known as the Hotel Barclay - see more photos and sketches on my Historic Toronto Hotels page.

Notice the sign on the bottom left? Here's a photo 10 years or so later, of Toronto Mayor Samuel McBride and wife Frances Jane:

(Obviously the dark figure in the window with his arms crossed adds a whole other dimension to this photo...)
Details on the Historic Toronto Photos from March 17 page.

 

[seemsartless]

March 20th: Two photos today as listed on the Historic Toronto Photos from March 20 page, starting in 1913, Looking south at the water at the foot of Church Street 3:10PM just south of St. Lawrence Market

The a slightly newer picture - just a year old today, to be exact, of a house built about 130 years ago in Huron Sussex
- 31 Sussex Ave as photographed by Collations: