Heritage Toronto - Architectural Photography Tour, Toronto, ON

This evening Gord and I did the Architectual Photography Tour for members of Heritage Toronto.

See the city through fresh eyes as we focus our discussion on how composition and light can help you get the best building shots for your personal portfolio or Instagram page.This tour is co-led by Heritage Toronto staff and architectural photographer Vik Pahwa. 

Vik Pahwa has been documenting the GTA since 2011. Vik’s work includes shoots for the Ontario Media Development Corporation film locations library, Toronto-based architects and builders, and Spacing and Azure magazines.

We've done Heritage Toronto walks in the past and enjoyed them.  About Heritage Toronto ...

We celebrate and commemorate our city’s rich heritage and the diverse stories of its people, places, and events – both to make sense of our present and to inform the future. Our Vision To be the recognized voice of Toronto’s heritage stories.

We met in Berzcy Park on Front Street E.  Katelyn from Heritage Toronto was our host.  She gave us tidbits of information as we went from site to site.  Vik is self-taught and gave us suggestions to look at things differently.  Both were approachable if you had questions.

We spent some time at Berzcy Park and were encouraged to take pictures of whatever caught our eye.  I headed to the fountain.  It's a fun fountain with cast-iron statues of 27 dogs and a lone cat.  It opened in 2018 and was nominated in the 2018 Heritage Awards.  The dogs are all looking up towards a large bone perched on the fountain's peak. The cat is looking north at statues of two small birds perched on the arm of a lamp post about three metres away from the fountain.

Heritage Toronto - Liberty Reclaimed: History of the Village, Toronto, ON

I did the 1.5 hour Liberty Reclaimed: History of the Village walk (which is near my 'hood) with Heritage Toronto this afternoon.  Liberty Village is bordered to the north by King Street W, to the west by Dufferin Street, to the south by the Gardiner Expressway, and to the east by Strachan Avenue.  There were about 60 of us.

Today

Early 1980s

Kadi, a Heritage Toronto board member, welcomed everyone.

Natalie and Shayda were our volunteer tour guides.  They gave us lots of interesting information.

The walk started at Massey Harris Park (King Street W/Crawford Street).  Massey Ferguson was founded in 1847 in Newcastle, Ontario, by Daniel Massey.  Daniel's eldest son, Hart, renamed it the Massey Manufacturing Company of Toronto and moved it to Toronto in 1879, where it soon became one of the city's leading employers.  The massive collection of factories consisted of an 11 acre site with plant and head office at 915 King Street West (built in 1899 by E.J. Lennox) ... it served as head office for Massey Harris (formed in 1891 from the merger of Massey Manufacturing Company and Alanson Harris, Son and Company Limited of Brantford and later Massey Ferguson).  It remained in use by Massey Ferguson until they moved in the 1970s and became vacant when the company ceased operations in the early 1980s.  The structure was converted in 2003 to condos while the other buildings, including the plant, were demolished.  Massey Harris Park is located next to the lofts.

Lost Breweries of Old Toronto Walk, Toronto, ON

This afternoon Gord and I did the Lost Breweries of Old Toronto walk with Heritage Toronto.

Toronto has a rich and malty brewing history. Join noted beer expert and writer Jordan St. John, author of Lost Breweries of Toronto, as he walks you through the brewing history of Old Town. You’ll learn about Toronto’s heritage breweries, many of which still exist today.

There were 25 of us (it was an "enhanced" walk so a smaller group) and we started at the NW corner of Queen Street E and Sherbourne Street ... it would have been just north of the city of York (now Toronto) back in the day.  Jordan St. John was our guide and he provided us with a lot of interesting information.

We headed south down Sherbourne Street.

The former site of one of Toronto's first breweries, Henderson's (1800) -
Sherbourne Street and Richmond Street E

I found it ironic to pass by a huge beer sign
while on a beer tour

Heritage Toronto Walk - Beaconsfield Village, Toronto, ON

I did the two hour Beaconsfield Village walk (which is in my 'hood) with Heritage Toronto (which is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year) this afternoon.

In the early 1880s, the developers of Beaconsfield Village created a middle-class community that was inspired by the ‘streetcar suburbs’ that were common in the United States. We’ll examine the role of developers, architects and builders in creating this unusual Victorian community.

We met at the corner of Queen Street W/Beaconsfield Avenue.

The walk was led by Jon Harstone, an author and local historian who lives in the west end of Toronto. With a background in architectural history and archaeology, Jon is a former board member of Heritage Toronto and the former Chair of the Toronto Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC).  I've done a couple walks with Jon in the past ... he quite knowledgeable and passionate.

In 1879, James Saurin McMurray, a prominent Toronto lawyer and land developer, bought a racetrack in this area.  He subdivided the land in 1880 and created Beaconsfield Avenue running up the middle.  At that time, it was with the city limits but was miles from the built-up area.  What made this development attractive was its proximity to the train station at Queen Street W/Gladstone Avenue ... it was only five minutes by train into the city.

This six-unit commercial block was built in 1881 on both sides of Beasconsfield, framing the entrance of the street).

east side

west side

We headed north on Beaconsfield Avenue.

Beaconsfield Avenue was the centrepiece of McMurray's subdivision.  By the end of 1881, the stretch between Queen and Argyle Streets was lined with 20 stately three-story homes on large lots.  Most of the builders ran into financial difficulties, evidence that McMurray's vision of a suburban community based on the railway wasn't viable.  The remaining houses on the street were built over the next 20 years.  Most of the houses were owned by the wealthy and rented out to the middle class.

Heritage Toronto - Toronto Transect Tour: History along the 501 Queen Line, Toronto, ON

Gord and I did the Toronto Transect Tour: History along the 501 Queen Line through Heritage Toronto this afternoon.

Ride a chartered bus from one end of the 501 Queen streetcar route to the other. This is an exploration of the neighbourhoods, buildings and landscapes that line the route – from The Beach and the R.C. Harris Filtration Plant in the east to Long Branch and Etobicoke Creek in the west. 

The tour started at city hall (so in the middle of the route near the Bay Street stop) at 1pm and was three hours.

The 501 Queen is an east-west streetcar route, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).  At 24.8 kilometres (15.4 mi), it is the TTC's longest surface route, the longest streetcar route operating in North America and one of the longest streetcar routes operating in the world.  It would take you about 90 minutes if you drove it from one end to the other.

The route was first instituted in the mid-to-late-19th century by private operators as a horse-drawn line, was later electrified, and was assumed by the TTC upon its creation in 1921. Service is provided 24 hours a day, though the route number changes to 301 Queen late at night.

The bus was full.

Katelyn from Heritage Toronto got us started.

Wayne Reeves, City of Toronto Museum Services, was our guide and was very knowledgeable.

We started heading west and drove along Queen Street W to the Long Branch Loop, the end of the line on the west end  We spent some time having a tour of that area.

Then we headed eastward on the Gardiner to Neville Park Loop, the end of the line on the east side.  The bus then headed westward along Queen Street E to city hall.

It was an interesting bus tour and it's amazing how Queen Street changes as you go through the different areas (from east to west) of the Beaches, Leslieville, Riverside, Corktown, downtown, Queen West West (where Gord and I live), Parkdale, Brockton, Swansea, Mimico, New Toronto and Long Branch.

Heritage Toronto Walk - The Royal Alexandra Theatre and its Neighbourhood

Gord and I did The Royal Alexandra Theatre and its Neighbourhood walk through Heritage Toronto this morning.

The Royal Alexandra Theatre, anchor of the Theatre District, celebrates its 105th birthday today. Hear the story of the theatre and explore the multi-layered history of the surrounding neighbourhood.

The walk was two hours and started at Simcoe Park on Front St W.  Our leader was Janet Langdon.

Here is the "Campsite Founding" sculpture which commemorates our first Lieutenant Governor, John Graves Simcoe, and his wife, Elizabeth, who lived in a canvas tent during their stay in Toronto.

Heritage Toronto Walk - Between the Bridge and the Brewery: Trinity Bellwoods Neighbourhood

Gord and I did the Between the Bridge and the Brewery: Trinity Bellwoods Neighbourhood walk through Heritage Toronto this afternoon.

The area around Trinity Bellwoods Park has changed considerably since the War of 1812 when a blockhouse guarded the ford across Garrison Creek. Explore some of the neighbourhood’s heritage sites - still standing and long vanished - and hear what local residents did in the war and how the community has evolved in the 200 years since. 

Our guide was Jon Harstone.  The walk started on the NW corner of Queen W/Gore Vale.

Despite the threat of rain, there were quite a few people on the walk.

Jon started by giving us the history of that corner and the part it played in the War of 1812.  It used to be part of the Garrison Creek before it was covered over.  At the time, the only way to get to the other side was to head south towards Fort York, go east and then head north again.  Sounds like quite a hassle!

This is looking southwest from the corner and what it looked like in the mid 1800s and how it looks today.   The short building to the left in the first picture was Farr's Brewery, established in 1819.  The house next to it (the John Cornell House) burned down in 1996 ... it was replaced by a condo.

This is John Farr's house, built in 1847, now surrounded by the condo.

Jon led us through Trinity Bellwoods Park.  This is the oldest tree in the park, about two hundred years old.

There are five fire hydrants in the park.  They were part of the Trinity College, which was finished in 1852 and demolished in the 1950s.  Easier to leave them be than remove them.

Jon talked a bit about the "dog bowl" (a leash free dog area), a remnant of the Garrison Creek where water used to flow.  It was an outdoor amphitheatre when the college was there with seats built into the side of the hill.  I didn't know that.

We walked west to Crawford Street.

The houses south of Lobb Avenue on Crawford were built as rentals in the late 1890s.

The houses north of Lobb Avenue on Crawford are a lot nicer, were built between 1883 and 1914, and were lived in by their owners.

We continued north on Crawford.  There used to be a bridge crossing Garrison Creek where the road now is.

It was buried along with this part of the Creek using the landfill from the building of the Danforth subway line.  The bridge is still under Crawford Street.

Walking south on Shaw, we learned why there are boulevards with trees.  According to Jon, developers in the 1800s felt they made the street look ritzier.

Then we walked west to Givens Street.

At the top of Givens Street is the last remaining estate house in the west end of Toronto.  It was built in 1891 on the site of Colonel James Givin's estate, Pine Grove.  I never knew it was there!

Across the street was this interesting looking garage ... I'm curious to learn more about it.

This was an excellent walk and I learned a lot about my 'hood.  Jon was very knowledgeable and knew his stuff.