Maths 'n Stuff: February 2023

Spadina Avenue! Well known by the song 'Spadina Bus' of course, but also a very wide avenue and passing through the old garment district, Chinatown, and past Casa Loma. (Technically, it is Spadina Road from Eglinton Avenue down to Bloor Street, then Spadina Avenue south of there.)

A bit rainy and definitely overcast. Walked end-to-end from Eglinton down to the lake - so mostly downhill this time, as opposed to my walks on Yonge Street and Avenue Road 😀.

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

North end of Spadina at Eglinton (looking NW).

Very nice houses along the north part of Spadina.

Looking south at Lonsdale Road.

Forest Hill Jewish Centre.

Just found this building to be very interesting looking, modernist, and with a little strange look for balconies. Tower Hill East - just south of St Clair.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/architecture/a-visit-to-two-landmark-toronto-residential-towers/article11367998/

Looking NE from Spadina to the reservoir just south of St Clair. Also known as Sir Winston Churchill Park.

Sir Winston Churchill Park looking SE to a walking trail.

Another nice house.

Though some homes need some work.

Spadina House/Museum. A very large house, but perhaps not as impressive as its neighbour.

Just around the corner, this slightly larger than normal home. It's so impressive as you come down Spadina and turn the corner to see Casa Loma!

Casa Loma - Front view

Casa Loma - Back View

Looking down into the back gardens of Casa Loma

Directly north of Casa Loma - the Casa Loma stables. There's an underground tunnel connecting them with Casa Loma!

SW corner across from Casa Loma is a George Brown College campus

These townhouses (directly south of Casa Loma) were built just before the crash of '88 and later dropped to 1/2 of their original amount. (Now they're probably 3 times their original amount!)

Stairs up to the Casa Loma gardens

Typical Spadina homes just north of Bloor St.

The back of the Madison pub (over 1 block). Nice place for a drink and convenient for getting to from UofT.

Looking south on Spadina at Bloor and one of the newer long streetcars.

UofT's athletic centre at Harbord Street.

The (new) back of what was originally Knox College just north of College. This is located on an 'island' (Spadina Crescent) in the middle of Spadina Avenue.

The front of Knox College at 1 Spadina Crescent - now the John Daniels Faculty of Architecture.

NE Corner of Spadina and College (current). See also next pic!

NE Corner of Spadina and College a few years back. Once the 'Broadway Tabernacle Church', then razed and this building was built.

The 'El Mo'. Drop in to watch The Stones do a set! 😯 They were there in 1977. I saw a few groups there - either upstairs or in the basement venue.

Spadina looking north towards Knox College. Dedicated streetcar lanes in the middle of Spadina.

Cat on a chair on a pole

Dr. Sun Yat Sen

Typical alley between buildings off Spadina

Originally this building contained the Devaney Brothers Dry Goods store. And various other tenants including the Independent Order of the Odd Fellows

Neat warehouse building with some neo-gothic touches. Taylor on History has some info on it - the Fashion Building

Looking south on Spadina at King

Clarence Square Park. Alexander Dunn, Canada's first recipient of the Victoria Cross was born just north of here (just south of King)

Front and Spadina looking west

View of (part of) the CN Tower and Skydome (oops, Rogers Centre)

Cool sculpture - 'Rosa Nautica'

And finally, the far south end of Spadina at Lake Ontario. Though you *can* go a little further south on the pier…

...so I did. Looking north from the end of the pier.

When it takes (at least) three names to describe a street in Toronto, and it's hard to tell if it's an Avenue or a Road (or a park?!) then you know it's University Avenue, Queen's Park Crescent and Avenue Road. (With an additional short stint as Lonsdale Road and Oriole Parkway as it goes around Upper Canada College).

Longish walk - and mostly uphill again :-) I started at the far south end of York Street then followed it North to where University Avenue curves into it and continued on University Avenue, Queen's Park, and then Avenue Road. I finished this walk at Eglinton, although Avenue Road continues up to Hwy 401. Managed to run into a big demonstration against the Ford Government's handling of the education support workers negotiations for better wages along the way.

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

The bottom of York Street and a little red building that says 'Toronto Harbour Commissioners- Pier 6'

Saw this 'death star'-like sculpture in the RBC building near the far south end of York Street

Looking NNW from the far south end of York Street. Water Club condominiums in middle of picture. One York Street (far right foreground) is the new home of Second City.

The (notorious) Ice Towers. Enough said for now - you can look it up! Just north of the Gardiner Expressway.

Looking east to Scotiabank Arena - along Raptors Way and across Jurassic Park - from York Street

The Royal York Hotel - no longer dominating the Toronto skyline!

But up closer it's still impressive.

University Avenue starts here. Part of the road curves left and becomes the south end of University Avenue. Straight ahead is still York Street.

And not sure what this very short stretch of road is called! It's the continuation of University Avenue straight south to Front Street (this picture looks north from Front Street with University Ave coming in from the right).

Sculpture: "Pas de Trois" by Russell K. Jacques

NE corner of University and King. There's a 'mirror' building of this on the NW corner.

The Travelers Insurance (formerly Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company) building.
Another 'Gooderham' link here in that George Gooderham was an early President of The Dominion.

The Shangri-La building. I have a time lapse I made of it going up (using not-so-great pictures from an old flip phone)

'Rising' - the sculpture in front of 'Bosc' (restaurant at the Shangri-La Building)

Looking north from just north of Adelaide

Nice relief on the south wall of the old Bank of Canada building at 250 University Avenue.

The old Bank of Canada building. Looks like this will become mixed office/residential now.

Looking north on University Avenue. Canada Life building at left with its iconic weather beacon.

And a similar view from 1935.

Sir Adam Beck (founder of Ontario Hydro) memorial - in the middle of University Avenue.

The 'Four Seasons Centre' (Canadian Opera Company)

The Boer War monument (also in the middle of University Avenue). See also this link.

The Canada Life building. The weather beacon is at the top.

Osgoode Hall and entrance to Nathan Phillips Square (under the round newer extension).

The U.S. Consulate General Toronto building and site of various protests over the years.

Part of a building being saved.

Though looking inside that building...most of it is gone!

At looking north from here (around Gerrard Street West), here is a picture of University Avenue towards Queen's Park from a little earlier in time (1915).

Looking NE at the MaRS Phase I building at the SE corner of University and College.

The Old Hydro Place building (now the Intact Centre and still head office for Ontario Power Generation). SW corner of University and College. Cool curving building that was quite new when I moved to Toronto in 1982.

The Whitney Block (see also my Wellesley Street walk) on the east side of Queen's Park Crescent.

Ontario Legislature buildings (and a protest against the Ford Government's handling of the education support workers wage demands.
Note: many statues here, including Queen Victoria (behind the tree centre right 😀), various ex-premiers (James Whitney, Oliver Mowat) and George Brown.
Pictures of these statues available if you really want to see them 😀

Another link to my old work - the Jackman Law Building (Named after Hal Jackman who owned EL Financial, which owned The Dominion)

The (now defunct and soon to be redeveloped) McLaughlin Planetarium. Opened on Oct 26, 1968, and closed on Nov 5, 1995. A lifespan of just over 27 years. It has now been a former planetarium for longer than it was an active one! Named after Colonel Samuel McLaughlin

The ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) - east main entrance.

The ROM - north side showing the weird crystal addition. Not necessarily bad from the outside, but a terrible screw up of space inside.

Across the street from the ROM - the Lillian Massey building (UofT Dep't of Classics).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Massey_Building

Sculpture outside the Park Hyatt Hotel (NW corner of Avenue Road and Bloor) - with a Henry Moore vibe to me but is actually “Rendezvous” by renowned Canadian artist An Te Liu. The hotel reopened in 2021 after extensive work. https://tayloronhistory.com/2017/02/22/history-of-the-park-plaza-hotel-park-hyatt/

Looking through part of the sculpture to the Church of the Redeemer across Avenue Road

Just north of Bloor, the George Booth House from 1875 originally.

Hare Krishna Temple (former Avenue Road Church)

Church of the Messiah (1891)

Nice houses on side streets (south of St Clair)

De La Salle College (grades 5-12). Catholic independent school founded 1851. I played hockey in their arena a few times and it was the coldest rink I'd been in!

Beautiful apartment building at Avenue and Balmoral

The Bradgate Arms - formerly a hotel and now a Revera retirement home. I remember Dad stayed here when in Toronto on a big project for Esso Chemical in the mid-70's.