Edward
Senior Member
What a shame about some of the building lost for the Eaton Centre. They could have saved them and done something really creative with the block.
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- Thread starter LowPolygon
- Start date
mattelderca
Active Member
Who is the only one not holding a carrot!
I especially like the two shots outside the fireworks store, the women (wow!) and the young boy.
Davidackerman
Active Member
since it's Passover- Old film of Seder Mccaul and Dundas-
The house is now part of village by the Grange
[video=youtube;3Gaets0DUOw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gaets0DUOw[/video]
The house is now part of village by the Grange
[video=youtube;3Gaets0DUOw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gaets0DUOw[/video]
k10ery
Senior Member
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thecharioteer
Senior Member
College Street:
Bathurst looking SW from Adelaide:
Yonge (of course):
King Street East:
Bathurst looking SW from Adelaide:
Yonge (of course):
King Street East:
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k10ery
Senior Member
Bathurst looking SW from Adelaide:
That one's just about enough to make me cry. (The building, not the jodhpurs.)
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LowPolygon
Senior Member
the old Otto Higel piano factory was a fantastic building, in amazing condition. one of the most beautiful old warehouses downtown. torn down to put up a stinking pile of hideous design build BS in 1981. it would have been a spectacular destination point for the King West nabe that was to come, could have been used as studios, restaurants, retail, galleries, condos, etc. but it was not to be...incredibly short-sighted....
Patrick Cummins photographed the demolition:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32175940@N06/sets/72157618862118492/?page=2
and it was the subject of a 'Then and Now' in December 2008
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showthread.php/6947-Miscellany-Toronto-Photographs-Then-and-Now/page6
Mustapha
Senior Member
Amazing set of pictures, both for being on scene and documenting it and the quality. Can't stop looking at them.
thecharioteer
Senior Member
A huge loss on so many levels! Not sure if everyone knows, but the corner clock tower was supposed to be preserved by the developer, Murray Goldman (similar to the preservation of the church steeple at Bathurst and College). Somehow it collapsed during demolition, and the current building (originally "modern" industrial spaces for the fashion industry, which later got converted to residential lofts) was designed with a reference to said clock tower. As a side note, Mr. Goldman was also the developer of the Holiday Inn site on Bloor near St. George (also a subject of a "Then and Now") in which the historic mansion, designed by EJ Lennox, was supposed to be moved to St. George, and collapsed during the move. Not a great record for heritage preservation......
Uncle Teddy
Senior Member
"somehow collapsed" says it all...
adma
Superstar
And the interesting thing was, it was already being used as fashion/artist lofts/studios prior to demolition--that is, they didn't even have to replace it, all they had to do was retain/restore/renew it a la 401 Richmond, Toronto Carpet, etc (but when the original scheme came forward in the 70s, there wasn't that kind of foresight yet)
thecharioteer
Senior Member
And there was a lot of pressure insisting that the fashion industry needed new, modern industrial space in order to survive. The combination of this, plus the opportunity to do some social housing on the north end of the site doomed the building in the eyes of the extremely left-wing planners at City Hall who dominated planning in the King/Spadina and King/Niagara neighbourhoods in those days (these are the same planners who supported the Holiday Inn-on-King because it provided new industiral loft space on the lower levels.)
LowPolygon
Senior Member
interesting info Charioteer! i didn't know the backstory to that demolition. i think the building was only light industrial for about 10 years or so, before it was converted to lofts.
it's interesting that the (doomed) fashion industry thought that new space was the way to go, when there was so much under-utilized space already available at that time all over the old schmatta district. anyway, cheap asian imports would do them all in by the latter part of the 80's....
mattelderca
Active Member
It was the latter part of the 80's when they expanded that building west. My father and I were electricians working for Marilyn Brooks at the time. She was moving premisses from 263 Adelaide into 720 King W and we wired the place. Drops for sewing machines, trolley for fabric cutters, etc. My wife worked for her as well, quality control manager, a job she still misses today! At that time there were still lots of people employed by the rag trade, I guess you never know what you've lost till it's gone.
thecharioteer
Senior Member
So true! I had a family member who worked in the Darling Building for a ladieswear manufacturer, producing clothes up until the early 80's and the birth of NAFTA. There were stores all around the area where she would source trims, buttons, zippers, etc. I remember meeting the designers, the cutters, the sewers, even the lady who headed up shipping. I know that the demise of the shmatta industry occurred all over North America, not just Toronto, but somehow the need to sell cheap clothing (H&M, Wallmart, etc.) does not seem like a good trade-off for the loss of an entire industry (not to mention the furriers who were concentrated around Adelaide and Peter).
Spadina Avenue Labour Day parade 1957:
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