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Hiking, biking, and getting outside in Ontario
Articles about the history of Toronto.
You may think there is an abandoned cemetery, or the ruins of a long lost Toronto building as you ride along the Lower Don River in Toronto – but what you’ve found is an art installation called Monsters for Beauty, Permanence and Individuality by Indigenous artist Duane Linklater. The piece is made up of 14 … Read more
As the book title suggests, it contains 50 photos of Toronto landmarks from 1903. Here are the 20 buildings from the list that sadly no longer exist, from across Toronto and the Island. Arlington Hotel – Corner of King and John Streets. Built 1889, and demolished sometime shortly after 1932, now the TIFF Lightbox at … Read more
The Toronto Beltline trail is a wonderful set of multi-use trails that were saved from development and add to the city’s green space with canopies of trees. This 1891 brochure explains that the beltline’s “mission is to economize time by rapid transit, and to carry men, women and children with comfort, safety and speed beyond … Read more
Toronto has long been a tourist destination – and with a weak Canadian dollar, makes for a great place for tourists to shop. We won’t recommend the latest styles or boutiques here, but will give you the history of the main shopping areas and shopping malls in Toronto. Something more up to date than the … Read more
The 1918 Queen’s Hotel travellers guide is a 72 page guide and describes itself as “Descriptive of Toronto, Its Points of Interest and Public Buildings” and gives an interesting, historic view of Toronto just after the end of WW I. While the tourist guide is over 100 years old, at least some of the locations … Read more
“One of the features of the King Edward Hotel which has never failed to attract the interest and admiration of the many thousands of visitors who have entered the majestic rotunda of the beautiful edifice is the mural decorations which grace its walls.” So starts the ‘Mural Art’ section from the 1906 King Edward Hotel … Read more
Details on a quick walk east from Yonge street along Front Street East past the Hockey Hall of Fame, Meridian Hall, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Berczy Park, and finally the Gooderham Flatiron Building at Church Street.
Images and history of the stained glass windows in some of the private mausoleums of the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto. While the Eaton’s Crypt is the most famous, with two lions watching from the front steps, there are other mausoleums worth enjoying. While none of the glass has specific artists, I also found details on the most likely source – the McCausland’s company Canada Stained Glass Works which is still in business today.
While there are no photos of the art, this catalogue – with prices – from the November 11th to 25th, 1911 contains interesting details on the artists and their work. I assume most of the paintings were quite small, painted on location, using a thumb-box to hold the paints and canvas. For reference, the earliest … Read more
From the introduction of the book: the following pages afford a conspectus of the development of the institution from its beginnings, some eighty years ago to the close of the labours of the Commission in the passing of the University Act of 1906. At just over 300 pages, there is a lot of interesting history … Read more