Old Pictures of Toronto

[Dusko]

The density on street level in Toronto was crazy! Kind of reminded me of times square. Just goes to show that once cars and suburbs developed the city became less interesting and dense.

[salvius]

^ on the contrary, I think the city is considerably more interesting--although certainly not thanks to the burbs... TO was still a 9-5 work place where entertainment really was mostly verboten. Note how 'British' the city really was, and count the number of non-white people on the street.

[salvius]

As promised I give you Queen St. from just before the turn of the century until the first half of the 20th century!

1890 Queen and Spadina public lavatory:



1908 Queen and James:



1908 View from City Hall:



1908 Unveiling of South African War Memorial at Queen and Bay:



1910 Queen St. Asylum:



1910 Parkdale; this one's not terribly different:



1910 Queen St. E:



1910 Queen St. W from Yonge:



1911 Queen and Victoria:



1911 Queen and Elizabeth:



1911 Queen and (now) Bay:



1911 View from City Hall:



1912 Queen and Peter, looking east:



1913 Osgoode:



1913 Queen east of Pape:



1913 Queen, opposite City Hall:



1914 Queen St. slum housing:





1914 Queen and Parliament:



1916 Queen and Bay:



1917 Queen and Bond:



1917 Queen W from River:



1918 Queen and James--Armistace Day:



1918 South-east corner of Queen and Bay:



1919 North-east corner of Queen and Victoria:



1919 Queen and Lisgar:



1920 Queen from old City Hall:



1922 Queen towards Roncy:



1923 Queen and Bay:



1924 Noon-hour Queen W looking east from James:



1924 Noon-hour Queen W looking west from James:



1924 Queen east of Ontario:



1924 Queen looking east from James, noon-hour:



1926 Queen from York:



1928 South-east corner of Queen and Bathurst:



1930 Queen looking east from Yonge:



1930 Queen and University aerial:



1932 Queen Teck Theatre:



1934 Queen at Pape looking west:



1939 Old City Hall during the Royal Visit:



1945 Alexandra Hotel on Queen W:



1945 Dominion Hotel at Queen and Sumach:



1945 Hotel Municipal between Bay and York:



1945 Broadview Hotel at Queen and Broadview:




Finally, since this is but a distant memory, two shots of James St:

1910 James St. looking north from Queen:



1920 James St. looking north from Queen:

[salvius]

I give you King St from circa 1900 to circa 1920. Next set will detail King from 1921 to 1940s.

1901 Return of the Boer C Company on King:



1903 King & Cowan:



1903 King and Don Esplande:



1903 King east of Wilson:



1904 King east of Church:



1908 King W looking from York:



1909 King W from Yonge:



1910 King looking across Bay:



1910 King towards Victoria:



1910 Upper Canada College:



1912 King from a Yonge St building rooftop:



1912 King W:



1912 King St. bank messangers:



1912 King towards Yonge:



1912 King from York:



1912 Looking east on King from Bay:



1913 King St. shacks:



1918 Armistace Day on King:





1918 King looking west from Yonge:



1919 King Edward:



1919 King and Bay:



1920 View from King and Yonge:

[salvius]

The second King St. set, from 1921 until 1940s.

1921 King East looking from Yonge:



1923 St. James:



1926 IMHO, one of the coolest old pictures I could find:



1926 North-east corner of King and Bay:



1930 King towards Bay. In my opinion, this is one of the greatest demolition losses the city has had. How the old Star building could be torn down, I have no idea. And for FCP? B A H. Anyways:



1930 King St. Princess Theatre:



1930 King W. looking from across Simcoe:



1930 Looking south on King from near York:



1931 186-188 King St. W:



1933 The beauty once again:



1936 King from York:



1940(s) King and Bay:





1940(s) King from York (this view doesn't change much):



1940(s) King and Bay:

[Taller, Better]

Salvius, those pix are amazing. Seeing the Princess Theatre reminded me how when they were doing research to restore the Elgin Theatre, they could not find any old pics for how it originally looked. They were about to just create a period interior when suddenly someone stumbled upon a folder of pictures of the theatre under its original name.. The Princess. They were able to restore it to its original beauty because of that! Thanks for posting those all!

[salvius]

A bit of a departure from my plan. Spadina from late 1890s to 1930s.

late 1890s, Spadina towards Knox College:





1899 Public fountain at College and Spadina:



1902 Construction on Spadina:



1908 Know College up close:



1910 Wharf at the foot of Spadina:



1910 Queen and Spadina looking north:



1911 Home of the Eatons:



1914 View from Casa Loma:



1914 Spadina north of St. Patrick:



1915 Spadina towards Casa Loma:



1917 Condemned housing on Spadina:



1921 Spadina south of Queen looking south towards Adelaide:



1923 Spadina looking south to Adelaide:



1924 Spadina and Dundas:



1924 Spadina and Queen:



1926 Spadina and Front:



1927 Spadina and College, looking south:



1929 Bloor and Spadina:



1930 View from Casa Loma:



1931 Spadina towards Queen:



And in 1933:

[Taller, Better]

Salvius, this thread I have enjoyed more than any in a long time. It took a lot of work for you to prepare it, so a big thanks! I just love the old pix..

[DrJoe]

Originally Posted by salvius

1930 King towards Bay. In my opinion, this is one of the greatest demolition losses the city has had. How the old Star building could be torn down, I have no idea. And for FCP? B A H. Anyways:

Truely a horrible loss for the city.

FCP has such a large and wasteful footprint also, you could easily fit a pair of towers on the land it occupies.

[PARAONE]

Hey Cool!!!

My apartment is in the colour photo of Queen St. E in 1910 near the top.
My pad is the top corner unit!

[Dan_GB]

Very nice post. I copied all the pics. By the way guys, if you want to look for specific places or events or just browse around, you can go here: http://www.toronto.ca/archives/photographs/index.htm and press the "items that have been scanned" in the third sentence. Search for dates, streets, building names, etc. And if you have time, plz post some here to keep this going and to share with others!

[Oaronuviss]

Oh my God. Amazing pictures!!

[Rockefeller]

WOW! Toronto has an unbelievable architectural heritage. I totally concur with the sentiments that it is a HORRIBLE loss for the city not preserving some real gems.

[EFRACO]

These archives are very useful to know how was the city in the past.

[Canadian Chocho]

I wonder how University Avenue looked back in theday. Anyways great work Salvius

[Taller, Better]

I'm lovin' that orange 80's TO pic!!

[Jackhammer]

Nice work Salvius. It would be interesting to see some pictures back-to-back with present day photos.

I love the shot of the subway work. Cut and cover with no regard to auto traffic. Easier to get away with back then I guess.

[isaidso]

WOW, what an eye opener. "Somethings lost, but somethings gained" as Joni Mitchell sang. Can't take back what's destroyed, but we can learn from it.

In many ways, Toronto was a more energetic and bustling place 100 years ago. The sidewalks speak volumes. We let the automobile take over, and by extension, made way for cars over people and sidewalks. We seem to be making efforts to restore some of that street vitality though. Good to see that some mistakes are reversible.

[thryve]

Wow, Wow, Wow! I wouldn't have been able to find/see these had you not posted them like this, so thank you very much!!!

I am pretty much speechless... Toronto is like a whole different city now. Of course it's still Toronto at heart, but now it's got that sexy side to it. (You can interpret that word however you want... I think cities can be sexy :P, in an urban sense and maybe even more ways ) Most cities build that up over time, and for Toronto it just came out of nowhere. I love this city... amaaaazing photos!

[K85]

This one made me sad