Razz
Senior Member
I think “the wall” presents a great opportunity to turn a major design flaw (and that’s putting it mildly) into a fabulous public art feature for all Torontonians. I lament the loss of the wall mural that used to be on the south wall of the Toronto Sun building facing Front Street East. In 1991 the Toronto Sun commissioned John and Alexandra Hood to hand paint the mural titled “History as Theatre - 200 Toronto years”. The mural showcased 32 vignettes highlighting historic and contemporary episodes from the city’s first 200 years. It took the brother and sister team two years to complete the project.
I’d love to see a similar large mural covering the upper half of 251 King Street East's east wall. I’m not suggesting that the mural should replicate John Hood’s Toronto bi-centennial mural, but that wouldn’t be such a bad thing, and if it did, it would return an iconic art piece to east downtown residents. Painting it on site by hand would be impractical and too time consuming, but there’s no reason why it couldn’t be painted off site in sections and erected all at once. The mural could be illuminated in the evenings (until say 10:00 pm) with appropriate downlighting so as not to disturb the residents of The East Condos that face it.
I don’t believe the condo building has been registered yet, so for the time being, the east wall still belongs to the developer, and they have full control over how it’s finished. Perhaps a local corporate sponsor like Coca-Cola, or, more appropriately, Toronto Sun Media, or even George Brown College, could commission the mural as a gift to the city and in return have advertising displayed at the bottom right corner of the wall nearest to King Street. The advertising revenue could provide regular income for the condo corporation, or to the developer who might want to retain the signage rights. A large colourful mural (that tells a story) would really animate that one block stretch of King between Princess and Sherbourne.
I’d love to see a similar large mural covering the upper half of 251 King Street East's east wall. I’m not suggesting that the mural should replicate John Hood’s Toronto bi-centennial mural, but that wouldn’t be such a bad thing, and if it did, it would return an iconic art piece to east downtown residents. Painting it on site by hand would be impractical and too time consuming, but there’s no reason why it couldn’t be painted off site in sections and erected all at once. The mural could be illuminated in the evenings (until say 10:00 pm) with appropriate downlighting so as not to disturb the residents of The East Condos that face it.
I don’t believe the condo building has been registered yet, so for the time being, the east wall still belongs to the developer, and they have full control over how it’s finished. Perhaps a local corporate sponsor like Coca-Cola, or, more appropriately, Toronto Sun Media, or even George Brown College, could commission the mural as a gift to the city and in return have advertising displayed at the bottom right corner of the wall nearest to King Street. The advertising revenue could provide regular income for the condo corporation, or to the developer who might want to retain the signage rights. A large colourful mural (that tells a story) would really animate that one block stretch of King between Princess and Sherbourne.
