[adma]

Though in that Yacht Rock-y way in which the 70s aesthetic only reached its acme as it turned the corner into the 80s, I's suggest that the smoked-glass aesthetic became even more obsessive-compulsive as time went on--in this case, smoke as a proxy for mirrors, from that same general era. While the treatment of the granite base + edging really suggests that they were trying to keep one toe in the postmodern water, and maybe another in the era's predilection t/w melodramatic atrium-style spaces, real or implied...

 

[junctionist]

30 Wellington looks good. The glass achieves a sleek aesthetic that's distinctively 20th century modern, and the exposed "skeleton" adds a slight touch of monumentality that became popular in the 1970s as PoMo was on the brink of becoming mainstream.

Also, mirrored glass definitely evokes the early 1980s, though I believe it started appearing in the 1970s.

 

[Mustapha]

March 18 addition.




Then: 1922. Standing on the NE corner of College and Queens Park looking across to the SE corner and the then Toronto General Hospital Eaton Wing.

Now: December 2009.

 

[lightarchitect]

I miss all the trees that Toronto use to have.

 

[Mustapha]

I miss all the trees that Toronto use to have.

Do you remember Elms? Some streets were a canopy of them...




Then: College and Spadina looking W. May 20, 1927.

Now: December 2009.

 

[seemsartless]

I was taking a look at how Glengrove Ave and Yonge Street has changed, comparing the Google Street view with a photo from 1926, and found a woman crossing the street, facing south, with a purse in each shot, 86 or so years apart:

This reminds me of how interesting it is to have a random person or two in historical photos!

 

[LowPolygon]

Do you remember Elms? Some streets were a canopy of them...




Then: College and Spadina looking W. May 20, 1927.

College west of Spadina used to look so extraordinary--look at all those steeples and towers going off into the hazy distance! the big hefty building with the cupola nearest the photog on the north side of the street looks quite imposing--i believe the sign says Canada Business College....

 

[DSC]

I was taking a look at how Glengrove Ave and Yonge Street has changed, comparing the Google Street view with

Oh god! Where did all those trees go?

 

[seemsartless]

Oh god! Where did all those trees go?

Where all good trees go when they get old?

No doubt there are fewer trees there now... some already looked pretty mature in 1926, and the modern photo angle didn't do the street justice, here's looking a bit more west, down the street:

 

[Mustapha]

College west of Spadina used to look so extraordinary--look at all those steeples and towers going off into the hazy distance! the big hefty building with the cupola nearest the photog on the north side of the street looks quite imposing--i believe the sign says Canada Business College....

I Googled "Canada Business College" - still an operating entity.

Oh god! Where did all those trees go?

Where all good trees go when they get old?

No doubt there are fewer trees there now... some already looked pretty mature in 1926, and the modern photo angle didn't do the street justice, here's looking a bit more west, down the street:

"Anna" posted a another view of Glengrove awhile back showing that row of trees . There was an estate here as well as a later racetrack,,, so I suppose the estate owner planted them; perhaps flanking a driveway.





March 20 addition.




Today's Then: Another view of College and Spadina; looking south this time. 1912.

Now: December 2009.


The two corner buildings are gone; everything else for the most part is still there; and showing their age. I was upstairs in one of these 150 plus year old structures awhile back; the underlying wood seemed to be on its last legs.

 

[Conrad Black]

You have to wonder why they replaced the buildings on the two corners.

 

[Anna]

You have to wonder why they replaced the buildings on the two corners.

To widen the street and/or get rid of the jog in the intersection?

 

[Mustapha]

To widen the street and/or get rid of the jog in the intersection?

Anna, you've posted the west view. I posted the south view. The jog is still there.

 

[thecharioteer]

You have to wonder why they replaced the buildings on the two corners.

I think the four corners vanished for the same reason half of Toronto Street vanished: tastes had changed and these buildings were considered "old" and unattractive (the dark side of the Modern Movement); programmatic requirements (for the new banks on these corners) were incompatible with the older floorplates; and finally, in many cases, lack of maintenance doomed these buildings from a financial viabilty point of view.

Interesting to compare the College/Spadina intersection with Queen/Spadina: there the two buildings on the east side survived and are now treasured architecturally; the old Pickford Theatre on the NW corner was replaced by one of the ugliest buildings on Spadina; the SW corner got a bank similar to the College corners.

 

[Goldie]

Wouldn't a substantial reason for the demolition of Toronto's old architecture be that some wise developers have great ambitions - and a desire for wealth?
They see an opportunity to profit by replacing the old with something new and there are, apparently, plenty of customers for the various schemes.