[adma]

Interesting in the southward view, too, to reflect upon how many now lopped-off bobbly parapets, cornices, gables once existed--now it's all relatively flat-topped...

 

[thecharioteer]

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.

I think that this might be true in some cases, if we're talking about the post-war intensification of downtown single-family neighbourhoods (St. George, Jarvis, Jameson, etc.) or the super-block transformation of the Financial District. However, in many cases, the demolitions were not a result of "developers" as we currently understand the term, but of individual landowners making decisions about the financial viability of their properties. These landowners included the banks, the insurance companies, the university, the school board, religious institutions, manufacturers, theatre owners, the municipality and ultimately every "mom and pop" who had managed to buy a piece of property in the city. At certain points, each of these groups made decisions about their own property, either to sell it to third party or to replace their own buildings themselves. In the cases of College & Spadina and Queen & Spadina, I believe the corners were owned by the banks themselves. And of course, one can't really blame Tip Top Tailors for demolishing the Broadway Tabernacle at College & Spadina, when it was the congregation itself who decided to sell.

 

[BenzMaster19]

thedeepend, this reminds me that the practice of some business owners of claiming descendance from a long unbroken line of heritage is pushed a bit sometimes for marketing. Indian Motorcycles comes to mind.



Thanks Stumack. What's the rear diff ratio on a 64 Comet then?



I love aerials. Really lets you see the Big Picture.







November 7 addition.

Then: 1909? Even the person writing the caption of the old photo is guessing. Spadina looking N from the then lake, as landfill operations are going on in a big way. By horse and wagon.

Now: October 2009. Note that the warehouse on the right is till there. On the left of the picture, Loretto Abbey looms like a ghost, and that's what it is, as it's long gone.

I actually have an account I service in that old warehouse building! It's so old inside it's incredible, it still looks like it's from the late 1800's in there. They haven't really done any modernizations to it at all expect for the main lobby (which was done sometime in the '70's). It sits at the corner of Front and Spadina.
Awesome Thread BTW!!

 

[Mustapha]

Interesting in the southward view, too, to reflect upon how many now lopped-off bobbly parapets, cornices, gables once existed--now it's all relatively flat-topped...

They added interest to the street scene didn't they; even if you had to look up.

I actually have an account I service in that old warehouse building! It's so old inside it's incredible, it still looks like it's from the late 1800's in there. They haven't really done any modernizations to it at all expect for the main lobby (which was done sometime in the '70's). It sits at the corner of Front and Spadina.
Awesome Thread BTW!!

There's an old warehouse on Davies Avenue in the Queen Broadview area that has a turn of the century freight elevator; quite neat to see and ride on. Welcome to Urban Toronto Benzmaster19.


March 21 addition.



Then: May 20, 1927. Spadina looking S towards College. Hard to believe the Hotel Waverley is that old.

Now: December 2009.

 

[seemsartless]

"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

Ah right, I did a search and found the discussion and the photo you mentioned, thanks!... Glen Grove park, and apparently

James Beaty (one "t") purchased the property as a summer home from the Nanton family in 1855. He named it Glengrove (or Glen Grove) Farm, and the house was called Glen Castle. Glengrove Ave. was indeed the driveway.

I wonder if this is a photo of Glen Castle. I'm not sure where the creek would have run along here, but I figured it was about here in North Toronto

(Details on the circa 1910 photo at http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/torontodetail.html?key=87656 )

Seems like quite a hill in the photo, though, so I wonder if it on the east side of Yonge Street heading down towards the Blythwood Ravine?

 

[Asterix]

Seems like quite a hill in the photo, though, so I wonder if it on the east side of Yonge Street heading down towards the Blythwood Ravine?

What if it was Duplex (or whatever street preceded it) looking south? Chatsworth ravine is pretty steep west of Yonge and just north of Glengrove and Duplex is basically a berm crossing the ravine these days.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...cKUQLKboCwAKHpxis4vzcA&cbp=12,177.82,,0,-0.93

 

[Mustapha]

Ah right, I did a search and found the discussion and the photo you mentioned, thanks!... Glen Grove park, and apparently


I wonder if this is a photo of Glen Castle. I'm not sure where the creek would have run along here, but I figured it was about here in North Toronto

(Details on the circa 1910 photo at http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/torontodetail.html?key=87656 )

Seems like quite a hill in the photo, though, so I wonder if it on the east side of Yonge Street heading down towards the Blythwood Ravine?

Hi seemsartless,

This isn't "Glen Castle", what it might be I can't be sure. There was an "Ansley Castle" at the corner of what is now Glengrove and Heather, on top of the low hill just east of the present day John Ross Robertson School.

If you can find a copy of Don Ritchie's "North Toronto" (Stoddart 1992) or a copy of "North Toronto in Pictures" (Toronto Public Library Local History Handbooks 1974). there are pictures of Ansley Castle. Time prevents making scans this evening.

From "North Toronto" page 88: "...the 'castle' had been built for Alfred Ansley, a successful manufacturer of hats..."

From "North Toronto in Pictures" page 19: "...the Ansleys built a substantial house of Portland cement at Heather street in 1909. When demolished in the early 1920s, the neighbours took pieces of it as souvenirs and used it for rockery in their gardens."

More on Glen Grove Park from "North Toronto in Pictures" page 19: "Pilgrims Farm [the name for the area before it became Glen Grove Park] was settled around the time of the War of 1812. James Beatty, a later owner, made it an 'occasional summer retreat' and renamed it 'Glen Grove'. Glen Grove Park was a popular place for Sunday School picnics and church garden parties in the 1890s.The open fields near Yonge street were used as a race course, a baseball diamond, an a cricket field."

I agree with your guess that your picture scene might be on the east side of Yonge - Blythwood Ravine. I could be wrong but I haven't been on Glengrove Avenue east in decades; it's a short no-exit street and I have no reason to be there but I don't think there is an extant house like that.

You have a nice website by the by.

 

[Mustapha]

What if it was Duplex (or whatever street preceded it) looking south? Chatsworth ravine is pretty steep west of Yonge and just north of Glengrove and Duplex is basically a berm crossing the ravine these days.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...cKUQLKboCwAKHpxis4vzcA&cbp=12,177.82,,0,-0.93

This is a possibility too.. so this house would have been on present day Glenview avenue.





March 22 addition:



Then: It was so warm the last few weeks... a trip to Toronto's "Riviera" seemed to be in order.

Lakeshore Boulevard, just E of Parklawn.

Now: March 2010. Our little hotel strip has only two motels left: Casa Mendoza - you can only see the sign... and the Beach Hotel which is out of sight to our right.

 

[NomoreaTorontonian]

I'm pulling together several threads out of those very unswept areas of my brain.

There is a street somewhere close by named Glen Castle. Perhaps it is the one immediately east of John Ross Robertson School (or have the powers that be had the nerve to change the name of the school?). The bridge can't be the one I remember from the first half of the 1950s, but at that time there was a bridge down in the ravine. We didn't move from north of Lawrence to Glenview (facing into Havergal) till 1957, but school friends from Lawrence Park who lived east of John Ross Robertson walked to school by way of the bridge in the ravine. In the spring, it was mud, glorious mud!!! all the way from there across the flats behind the school.

But where was the racetrack? Two possibilities: the crescent which links Alexandra Blvd and Lytton at the tennis courts or the grounds of Havergal College. Maybe I will get around to looking up evidence at Toronto Archives when I am back in May.

 

[Anna]

There is a street somewhere close by named Glen Castle. Perhaps it is the one immediately east of John Ross Robertson School (or have the powers that be had the nerve to change the name of the school?).

Yes, Glen Castle is the street just east of JRR, and no, they haven't changed the name of the school. I was just looking at Glen Castle on Google streetview - and there is a house with a turret - but not the same one.

What if it was Duplex (or whatever street preceded it) looking south? Chatsworth ravine is pretty steep west of Yonge and just north of Glengrove and Duplex is basically a berm crossing the ravine these days.

There are pictures at the archives of 54 and 62 Glenview dated 1950/51 – that are probably the houses on the south side that were taken out when Duplex was extended.

I agree with your guess that your picture scene might be on the east side of Yonge - Blythwood Ravine. I could be wrong but I haven't been on Glengrove Avenue east in decades; it's a short no-exit street and I have no reason to be there but I don't think there is an extant house like that.

I was there on Thursday. There's a 50’s bungalow that could be located where that house was – but I don’t see any turreted house anywhere on the 1910 Goad map. I haven’t walked the dog to Alexander Muir Park since the fall and I can’t recall what the view from the valley looks like – if it was Glengrove east that would be the approximate area from which the photo was taken. According to a 1931 topographic map, Glengrove east went down the hill, over the brook, and joined up with Glengowan.

There is also this photo that appears to have been taken around the same place. If it's Glengrove east I can see why it's now a dead end. The photo description says - See also Fonds 1244, Item 7030 for later picture – which is our picture of the flapper & the trees on Glengrove west.

I don’t think it is the Blythwood Rd bridge.

 

[Mustapha]

I'm pulling together several threads out of those very unswept areas of my brain.

There is a street somewhere close by named Glen Castle. Perhaps it is the one immediately east of John Ross Robertson School (or have the powers that be had the nerve to change the name of the school?). The bridge can't be the one I remember from the first half of the 1950s, but at that time there was a bridge down in the ravine. We didn't move from north of Lawrence to Glenview (facing into Havergal) till 1957, but school friends from Lawrence Park who lived east of John Ross Robertson walked to school by way of the bridge in the ravine. In the spring, it was mud, glorious mud!!! all the way from there across the flats behind the school.

But where was the racetrack? Two possibilities: the crescent which links Alexandra Blvd and Lytton at the tennis courts or the grounds of Havergal College. Maybe I will get around to looking up evidence at Toronto Archives when I am back in May.

Thanks for your recollections, nomoreatorontonian...

I should have asked my gramps a few more questions before he passed - he moved into North Toronto in 1926, never left, and passed in 1979. He did tell me there was watercress to be gathered in the ravine at the southwest corner of St. Clements and Rosewell - you can still make out the ravine behind the houses. And there was a dealer in live chickens at the north east corner of Castlefield and Duplex - it's a "Green P" parking lot now. He used to tell me this stuff as we drove around; I was inured to it as a youngster; as I thought he prattled on a bit much. I'm surprised I remember this stuff.

normoreatorontonian, do you remember the abandoned RCAF hospital on the north side of Sheldrake? Just off Yonge street. Brynhurst Court and Georgian Court - built in the late 60s - occupy where it once was.

As for the racetrack... the crescent you mention dips into the ravine and back up; I think horse racetracks are flat.

 

[Mustapha]

"Now: March 2010. Our little hotel strip has only two motels left: Casa Mendoza - you can only see the sign... " QUOTE, Mustapha.


The Dutch Sister's Inn became Casa Mendosa after it was leveled by fire.


"and the Beach Hotel which is out of sight to our right." QUOTE, Mustapha.


The Beach Motel was/is owned by the Buttwell family, who were originally in the

business of brick making.


Regards,
J T

The Beach Motel is for sale right now.

 

[Mustapha]

Yes, Glen Castle is the street just east of JRR, and no, they haven't changed the name of the school. I was just looking at Glen Castle on Google streetview - and there is a house with a turret - but not the same one.


There are pictures at the archives of 54 and 62 Glenview dated 1950/51 – that are probably the houses on the south side that were taken out when Duplex was extended.



I was there on Thursday. There's a 50’s bungalow that could be located where that house was – but I don’t see any turreted house anywhere on the 1910 Goad map. I haven’t walked the dog to Alexander Muir Park since the fall and I can’t recall what the view from the valley looks like – if it was Glengrove east that would be the approximate area from which the photo was taken. According to a 1931 topographic map, Glengrove east went down the hill, over the brook, and joined up with Glengowan.

There is also this photo that appears to have been taken around the same place. If it's Glengrove east I can see why it's now a dead end. The photo description says - See also Fonds 1244, Item 7030 for later picture – which is our picture of the flapper & the trees on Glengrove west.

I don’t think it is the Blythwood Rd bridge.

Your first photo... they should have kept this section of Glengrove as-is; the Range Rover driving denizens of this area would have loved it.

Your second photo; could this be the same scene in 1946?

 

[Mustapha]

March 23 addition.



College near Bellevue looking N. Bellevue is behind the photographer. June 1958.

Now: December 2009.

 

[Conrad Black]

Thanks for the last one. I know the people that own one of those businesses. They'll be thrilled to see what was there way back in the day.