Maths 'n Stuff: Walking Toronto streets - Jarvis and Church (part 1)

Continuing through the downtown - this walk starts at the north end of Jarvis Street, south to the Gardiner Expressway and then north again on Church Street until it curves around to Yonge Street. So many interesting things to see - some in my old 'hood. And perhaps *too* many mansions to do history on for now!

Click on any picture to see a big version! Also part of this map.

Jarvis Street (click for the Wikipedia entry)

On my way to Jarvis I walked over the Prince Edward Viaduct (aka Bloor Street Viaduct - see also pics from my walk across Toronto on Bloor-Danforth). Here's a shot looking down over the Don Valley with the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) far right, trails down the middle and a patch of what look like stones almost in the middle of the picture. I'll zoom in on the 'stones'...

...definitely something interesting near the trail. I'll zoom in once more...

...ahhh - cool sculptures down in the Don Valley.

Near the north end of Jarvis and just to the east, here's where Mount Pleasant Road curves down into Jarvis.

And here's the northernmost part of Jarvis Street (looking north). Mount Pleasant curves in a block or so south of this point.

Seems to have been some interest in 'pipe art' by the buildings in this area. These being vertical...

...and these at more of an angle.

There are many mansions along Jarvis Street. The following 12 pictures are ones that I thought looked interesting. See also https://hikingthegta.com/2020/07/04/the-mansions-of-jarvis-street/
Mansion #1 - now Casey House (AIDS/HIV Healthcare facility). Commissioned by clothing manufacturer William R. Johnston, and built in 1875

Mansion #2 - now the Eishler Estates - built in 1888 for Thomas Taylor, who was involved in paper mills on the Don.

Mansion #3 - George H. Gooderham house (1889). And for those who have seen some of my other blogs, one of MANY 'Gooderham-related' buildings in the downtown!

Mansion #4 - Chester Massey House. And beside it (to the right in this picture) is the MacMaster/Massey House (Hart Massey) - now the Keg Mansion. There's a picture of that building in my Wellesley Street walk.

Mansion #5 - Samuel R. Briggs House (1872). Around the time of the construction of this house, Samuel R. Briggs was a lumber merchant and the President of the Canada Organ and Piano Company.

Mansion #6 - now holds various dance organizations. Originally the John N. Lake house which I believe is the same John Neilson Lake who founded Saskatoon!

Mansion #7 - now the Betty Oliphant Theatre. Built in 1863 for J. Blaikie and W. Alexander

Mansion #8 - now the Johnstone and Cowling building, but originally the A. J. Mason House (1881)

Mansion #9 - built in 1898 (Havergal Ladies College), later a CBC building, and now part of the National Ballet School (the Margaret McCain Academic Building)

Part of Mansion #10 - the Sheard House (1865). Soon to be condos.

I happened to walk by it a year earlier (314 Jarvis Street, so of interest to mathematicians who always see 'pi' when they see those three numbers) and it had obviously been abandoned for a while.

And since it then got my interest, I managed to find this earlier Google Maps picture, as well some info on 314 Jarvis from which we can see an earlier picture (and some suspicious fires in the last few years).

Mansion #11 - William Carlyle House (1890). Soon to be incorporated into condos. Carlisle built three buildings in the 'Richardsonian Romanesque Style'. This one (and the next below) abandoned and boarded up for now.

Mansion #12 - mirror image of Mansion #11 and also built by William Carlyle (1891). And also soon to be incorporated into condos.

Still on Jarvis Street - only 2 churches visible so I know I'm not on Church Street yet 😀

Ontario Court of Justice building. Designed by Peter Dickenson in 1954. It has "...a checkerboard front of 411 tiny windows on a concave, Queenston limestone wall"

- Dave LeBlanc, Globe & Mail, 'Architourist' column