I have to say, since they have added the sound walls so extensively, the airiness of the guideway has diminished.

I recall someone at one of the early town halls expressing fear of a "classic MTO highways overpass look" - the design isn't awful, but it has more massing than I had hoped. the taper on the underside of the guideway is a big help.

What happened to the plan to add cladding?

- Paul
I believe we can see the mounting points for the cladding protruding from the sound wall panels that have been installed.
Looks quite similar to the mockup by Silentium Group.
Still a lot of grey, but the cladding is pretty sharp looking and definitely far above a "classic MTO overpass".

IMG_0753B.jpg


Photo source: https://silentiumgroupco.com/latest...boxes-on-davenport-diamond-noise-wall-project
 
Great photo(s), but I'm having trouble placing it because of the larger building on the left. There really wasn't anything that big there at the time. For example, this is the 1924 Fire Insurance Plan and there's nothing of that scale indicated (it could theoretically be 1403 Bloor, but there's no historic imagery of that building):

1674068751242.png


Likewise, here is the north side of Bloor from that same plan:

1674068915226.png


Very odd. But very cool, nevertheless!
 
In that vein......

1947 Aerial photo of site, as zoomed as I could make:

View attachment 451383

Now, 1977:

View attachment 451386
Your 1947 image is showing Dupont St, while your 1977 image is showing Bloor Street.

Here's the 1947 image from Bloor Street, saved at original resolution from the archives website:

1947.png


Unfortunately their image is saved as a jpg with a fair bit of compression artefacts. I assume they also have an uncompressed version saved on their own computers somewhere.
 
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