[west_end_kid]

This is my first then/now post. I took the first picture of Yonge & Front in 1977 and the second in 2010. The building in the center was called 'The Film House' which has since had a sizeable addition added to the top.

Front & Yonge - 1977

Front & Yonge - 2010

 

[Mustapha]

I have always thought it to be the reverse, at the least for the large projects. Look for these former sites:

Massey-Ferguson, John Inglis, Greenwood Racetrack - aka (old) Woodbine, Dufferin Racetrack, Thornecliffe Park Racetrack,

Colgate Palmolive, Goodyear, Gutta-Percha, and others.

Regards,
J T

Gutta Percha; had to Google for this one. 107 - 165 West Lodge Avenue. Apartments there now.

 

[Mustapha]

This is my first then/now post. I took the first picture of Yonge & Front in 1977 and the second in 2010. The building in the center was called 'The Film House' which has since had a sizeable addition added to the top.

Front & Yonge - 1977

Front & Yonge - 2010

Wow, most splendid.

Hello and welcome to UT, west_end_kid.

That tree is still doing well.





May 16 addition.



Then. December 11, 1912. Richmond east of Spadina looking west.

Now. April 2010.

 

[adma]

Hmmm...that warehouse to the right once had balls over the entrance...

 

[ReiwaMagi]

Lazy renovators. They're everywhere

I see that Richmond used to curve the other way. I bet that building thats obstructing the current path didn't last long .

 

[thecharioteer]

May 14 addition. Then. Spadina looking N towards Bloor. September 3 1948.

Now. April 2010. The orange letters of a "Pizza Pizza" can be made out through the trees - that was the location of the Varsity Restaurant in the Then pic.

The PUG Awards hosted a panel discussion on the "Public Realm" a few weeks ago (reported elsewhere on UT). Could any pair of pictures better illustrate the lack of vision and decline of the public realm than these two? Though we often blame the traffic engineers for ruining the city in their single-minded pursuit of facilitating traffic flow (like in the Harbord/Spadina pics also posted), the TTC is equally to blame. What a heavy-handed, "killing a fly with a sledge-hammer" approach the Spadina LRT tunnel represents. Yes, the southbound streetcars no longer have to turn left from the station north of Bloor, thereby saving how many minutes? Brought to us by the same people who brought us the urban design disaster on St. Clair. When will we have a Planning Department and Urban Design Department that can actually take on the engineers and win?

 

[J T CUNNINGHAM]

"Brought to us by the same people who brought us the urban design disaster on St. Clair." QUOTE. thecharioteer.

How can this be?
There was NO ONE IN CHARGE of the project!
So, sorry, I forgot that we are dealing with THE TTC.

Reg(u)ards,
J T

 

[Asterix]

What a heavy-handed, "killing a fly with a sledge-hammer" approach the Spadina LRT tunnel represents. Yes, the southbound streetcars no longer have to turn left from the station north of Bloor, thereby saving how many minutes?

That seems a little excessive a reaction. Given the frequency of the Spadina car during the week, especially peak times, do you really think that southbound streetcars turning left out of the station wouldn't have a major impact on the already heavy traffic at that intersection? I'd say the impact is a lot more than just "saving how many minutes".

And that's not even accounting for the northbound streetcars that would still have to cut across northbound traffic to enter the station loop as well.

Further, passenger access is a lot better with the underground platform. The vast majority of streetcar riders are coming from or going to the subway so are saved from climbing another set of stairs that wouldn't have the capacity to deal with peak traffic.

 

[west_end_kid]

When I first found this site I saw this image and thought it looked familiar. Then I looked out my window Not exactly the same angle but its close enough to give you and idea that not much is the same.

 

[adma]

That seems a little excessive a reaction. Given the frequency of the Spadina car during the week, especially peak times, do you really think that southbound streetcars turning left out of the station wouldn't have a major impact on the already heavy traffic at that intersection? I'd say the impact is a lot more than just "saving how many minutes".

And that's not even accounting for the northbound streetcars that would still have to cut across northbound traffic to enter the station loop as well.

Further, passenger access is a lot better with the underground platform. The vast majority of streetcar riders are coming from or going to the subway so are saved from climbing another set of stairs that wouldn't have the capacity to deal with peak traffic.

And remember: Spadina was already fundamentally despoiled through jog elimination and widening not long after the original photo was taken. So it's unfair to grant present-day engineers the brunt of the blame...

 

[thecharioteer]

True. We've got both the traffic and the TTC engineers sharing credit. I believe that there are always choices and always priorities. I can't think of any examples where urban tunnels have been done successfully. If this is the potential plan for Eglinton, we should be prepared for the same deadening effect that the Spadina tunnel has had on its immediate surroundings.

 

[Goldie]

When I first found this site I saw this image and thought it looked familiar. Then I looked out my window Not exactly the same angle but its close enough to give you and idea that not much is the same.

That's a great pair of "Then & Now" photos!
In the old photo we can identify St. Lawrence Hall, gas storage tank (in the distance) at Parliament and the tower of the Old Fire Hall (left side of photo) where the SCTV gang performed in later years.
We can almost see the back door of number 10 Toronto St. that was once made famous by Conrad Black.
The recent photo includes (at bottom, left corner) the former IBM office building (36 King St. E.) where I shot this night view in 1963 from a room in the King Edward Hotel (see this page: http://urbantoronto.ca/attachment.php?attachmentid=2540&d=1260385693).

 

[Mustapha]

When I first found this site I saw this image and thought it looked familiar. Then I looked out my window Not exactly the same angle but its close enough to give you and idea that not much is the same.

Close enough. Thank you for coordinating Then and Now with your office view.



May 18 addition.



Spadina looking N from Clarence Sqaure. "c1960" per the Toronto Archive photo notation, altho' it seems to me to be about 10 years earlier than that, going by the car styles.

The building on the left, only part of which is showing a cut off "mited" sign has not survived.

Now. April 2010.

 

[Mustapha]

That's a great pair of "Then & Now" photos!
In the old photo we can identify St. Lawrence Hall, gas storage tank (in the distance) at Parliament and the tower of the Old Fire Hall (left side of photo) where the SCTV gang performed in later years.
We can almost see the back door of number 10 Toronto St. that was once made famous by Conrad Black.
The recent photo includes (at bottom, left corner) the former IBM office building (36 King St. E.) where I shot this night view in 1963 from a room in the King Edward Hotel (see this page: http://urbantoronto.ca/attachment.php?attachmentid=2540&d=1260385693).

Goldie, that's a neat black and white of IBM's offices.

 

[adma]

The building on the left, only part of which is showing a cut off "mited" sign has not survived.

Presumably "limited". And I think it bit the dust only relatively recently (10 years ago?)