[LowPolygon]

LOST TORONTO IN COLOUR--late 1940's-early 1970's

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Original Arcade building--what a loss

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late great Britnells

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Original Lichtman's magazine store. Adelaide St??

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Building torn down last year to make way for Shangri-La

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Need i say more?

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another Queen West one...

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Art school landmark

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the mythical St Charles

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not sure where this was--Toronto St?

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same general location?

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The Boiler Room--anyone know where this was?

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Northwest corner of College and University

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fantastic house!

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Uptown theatre

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Foresters Building--another great loss

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Northwest corner of King and Bathurst. Torn down in 1984.

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Wheat Sheaf Tavern

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Northeast corner of Yonge and Bloor, where HBC now hunkers down

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Northwest corner of Yonge and Bloor, now home of fabulous 2 Bloor West

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Yonge St, south of Richmond?

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no idea where this was....

 

[adma]

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Need i say more?

Now, *that's* punk.

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not sure where this was--Toronto St?

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same general location?

Yup, Toronto St--and you'll notice in the second photo, that the demolition hoarding around the corner building in the first photo is already up...

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The Boiler Room--anyone know where this was?

S side Wellington, across from the TD Centre, where Royal Bank Plaza is now.

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Northwest corner of College and University

No, that's Allan Gardens, still very much with us. (The Botany greenhouse never had such a pretentious dome.)

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fantastic house!

Also still with us on Spadina near Sussex--though now more obscured by ivy or whatever.

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Northwest corner of King and Bathurst. Torn down in 1984.

1982.

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Northwest corner of Yonge and Bloor, now home of fabulous 2 Bloor West

Now, *there's* a jaywalker.

The "CIA" sign's interesting--I suppose the creepy associations of the acronym soon led them to change to "CIAG" ("G" = "Guelph"), and then just the Co-operators, as we know them today

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Yonge St, south of Richmond?

I know what building you're talking about, but this is actually on the Eaton Centre site (the strange arched building on the left being the giveaway)

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no idea where this was....

Might that be the old firehall where Courthouse Square is today? (Just an educated guess; I *think* that tall brick building might be the thing on Church where the Int'l Youth Hostel is today)

 

[Spoonman]

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fantastic house!

I believe that house (or one just like it) is on the east side of Spadina Ave., around Sussex. The architect certainly had a twisted sense of humour.

Fantastic thread, by the way.

edit: d'oh - adma was nimbler on the "quote" button.

 

[Spoonman]

Mustapha, it seems you have your work cut out for you. Chop chop!

On second thought, maybe not. I'm sure many of the "now" shots will be enough to make one's stomach turn.

 

[Mustapha]

Mustapha, it seems you have your work cut out for you. Chop chop!

On second thought, maybe not. I'm sure many of the "now" shots will be enough to make one's stomach turn.

Ok,ok; I'll get right on it.

 

[CapitalSeven]

Possibly I'm confused, but I think the "fantastic house" is referred to as "the birdcage."

 

[allabootmatt]

What incredible, wistful shots. The Forester building is like something out of Chicago--what a tragic loss. All in all, the city we have now is, obviously, a much better place than that then, but I wish a little bit less had been lost along the way.

 

[BobBob]

The St. Patrick Market building (the chicken place on Queen W) is still there, as are the other Queen W buildings in the following image.

 

[Hipster Duck]

I think that the Temple (Forester's) building was the biggest loss of the set, but that was closely followed by the loss of the Odeon cinema. That one sucks because we have very few examples of really good streamline moderne in our city and the Carlton cinemas that replaced them are of almost no architectural value.

EDIT: It isn't a loss, per se, but it sucks that at one time St. Patrick's market probably had immigrant butchers who cut up live chickens while smoking cigars and today it's basically a mall food court.

 

[66days]

shame we lost so many great buildings

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

people who ran toronto during the 70s should be rounded up and shot. and the Odeon cinema is pure filth and ur filth for liking it u tastless bastard.

Zap, such an angry man you are.

The Odeon Carlton was an amazing cinema. "The Showplace of the Dominion" it was called and if you were ever inside of it you'd know why they claimed bragging rights. I had the pleasure only once that I can remember, "The Poseidon Adventure" in 1972 or '73 where it was more of a movie at the Carlton, it was an event.

Probably around it's opening in 1948:

The screen was different when I was there, it had a large cinemascope screen put in probably sometime in the mid-late 50's.

The front, about 1963 (the Carlton Cinemas/Maples Apartments & Days Inn currently sit there now):

The auditorium held 2,300 seats (per Palaces of the Night by John Lindsay). In the auditorium, hundreds of hidden lights constantly changed colors on the smooth plastered walls. The patented lighting panel known as the 'Thyratron' ran the light show. The enormous 2 1/2 ton sculptered curtain rose slowly with each swag controlled by a separate motor.
Although Canada's most spectacular post WWII movie theatre, only a few people came to the last screening in 1974. The organist, Colin Corbett played an emotional farewell. The theatre was so well constructed that it bankrupt the wrecking company that brought it down. It was similar in design to London's Leicester Square Odeon and evoked the design of the Queen Mary and Normandie ocean liners.
-from Cinema Treasures

 

[Spoonman]

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Building torn down last year to make way for Shangri-La

One other thing - it's my understanding that they'll be rebuilding and restoring Bishop's Block as part of the Shangri-La project. Is that still the plan, or did I miss some crucial announcement?

 

[adma]

That's still in the cards. Don't panic.

 

[ganjavih]

Great threads, thedeepend. Strange how Toronto looks like a bigger more important city in some of those old photos. We lost way too many gems over the years.

 

[Urban Shocker]

When we were at art school, my friend Beni Sung ( a jewellery designer who later worked for Secrett and eventually had his own boutique in Creeds at the Manulife Centre ) rented a room in a tiny house just to the north of A. Stork. The squawking of chickens woke us in the early morning - they were either killing them or delivering more to be slaughtered. The pungent smell of chicken shit and the little twisters of feathers blowing around in the breeze added even more charm.