The Roxy Theatre

Here are a couple of handbills from the old Roxy theatre on the Danforth (formerly the Allenby)

Yonge and Gerrard/Then

Bassel's Restuarant Circa 1950

The Early 1960's
1979.

The Campell House

The Campbell house in it's original location at Duke (now Adelaide) and Frederick before the move.On the Move 1972

As it stands today

Campbell House is the oldest remaining house from the original site of the Town of York. Built in 1822 by Judge William Campbell and his wife Hannah, the home was designed for entertaining and comfort, and constructed at a time when the Campbells were socially and economically established and their children had grown to adulthood. The house is one of the few surviving examples of Georgian architecture left in Toronto. The Grange is another excellent example, although it is slightly older than Campbell House. Campbell House is constructed in a style in vogue during the late Georgian era known as Palladian architecture. This style was Italian in origin, and based upon elements of classical Greek and Roman architecture, which emphasized symmetry of features (windows, fireplaces, doors etc.) and grandiose proportions to exhibit wealth.

The Move

Campbell House was originally located on a plot of land 1 ½ kilometres to the southeast of its' present location at the intersection of what is now Adelaide St. and Frederick St. (where the George Brown School of Hospitality is located today). After Sir William's death in 1834, the house was willed to his wife, Lady Hannah, for her use. After her death in 1844 the property and contents of the house were auctioned off and the proceeds were distributed amongst their heirs. For most of the 19th century the house was maintained as a private residence. After the turn of the 20th century the building was used by several businesses as office space and as a factory, including a horseshoe nail company and an elevator company, and the house fell into disrepair. The last owners of the property (Coutts-Hallmark Greeting Cards) wanted to demolish the house to extend their parking lot. At this time the house was offered to anyone who could remove it from the property. A professional association of Trial Lawyers known as the Advocates' Society intervened to save the house, move the building and restore it to its present appearance. The house was moved to its present location at the corner of Queen and University on

Friday, March 31st, 1972.
My father took me downtown that day to see the move.

Curt Swan -Just For Fun

In my opinion, Curt Swan was the definitive artist on Superman Comics
through the 60's and 70's.
His crisp anatomical style defined the look of the character
and inspired a generation of new artists.
Here is a page of original art that I bought recently. From Superboy 10,1990.
Somewhat less expensive than most of Swan's original work.
this page doesn't actually show Superboy in uniform.
The cover.

Front And Market/Now and Then

Photo probably taken in the early 1970's when the area was still mostly warehousing and food

distribution. This predates the construction of the Queensway Food Terminal. Tippet Richardson TR used this warehouse for years.
Bruce Bell has some detailed history of this block on his site.

Yonge Street 1977-Just For Fun

Another postcard courtesy of Ian Brock showing Yonge Street looking north from Dundas.
Just around the time of the clean up of the strip following the murder of Emanuel Jaques.

Dundas and Spadina/ Then and Now

The N/E corner of Dundas and Spadina in 1921, the home of Dr. Moorehead will soon be demolished to make way for the Standard theatre.

Looking north across Dundas sometime in the late 1960's. The car in the foreground is a post 1965 Corvair. The Victory Theatre, formerly The Standard Theatre opened in 1921 and was one of the finest Yiddish theatres in North America. In 1935 it was renamed The Strand and re-opened as a movie house and was again renamed The Victory after the war. It continued to operate as a burlesque house until 1975.

Today.
The Standard Theatre.
Another shot of the Victory from an excellent site, Silent Toronto.

Cameron House/Then and Now

The Cameron House on Queen West just west of Spadina sometime in the 1940's.
Always a favourite hang out for the art school types it's still going strong.
Despite in the infestation of giant ants on the facade.

Queen and Soho/Then and Now

1913 looking N/E from Peter Street. The restaurant in the foreground is the Savoy.
Today. That's the Peter Pan restaurant in the foreground.

Queen West looking east from Soho in the 1970's. Back then this strip was occupied
by several used book stores. The Black Bull (1833) is on the left.

Sometime in the early 1980s as seen by P. Cummins.

2010.

Looking south down Peter from Queen in 1949.

The former Savoy Restaurant is now the Peter Pan.

Queen and MacDonnel/Then and Now

An early postcard of Queen Street looking east from MacDonnel.
This photo could be as early as 1893 the year the Queen line
was converted to electricity.
The same view today. It's too bad that the awnings are all gone.
Stores on the north side are on the "sunny side of
the street". For a number of years I lived in the building with the red spire roof.

Queen and Peter /Then and Now

When I was going to art school back in the late 70's and early 80's Queen West was still pretty
rough. There were a lot of used furniture stores and used book stores.
Compare these two photographs separated by 50 years.
Barney's was still there as late as the mid 90's.
People and styles come and go but the buildings remain.....

Fern Avenue School Then and Now

Fern Avenue Public School was built in 1894.
My Father attended this school in the early 1940's.
Photo courtesy of Chuckman's Postcard Collection
The school as it stands today. The west tower and cupola are gone as well as
the central chimney and much of the ornamental decoration.
A voting card from 1913 courtesy of Chuckman's Postcard Collection.

How Buildings Learn/ The Ryrie Building/Silver Rail

The N/E corner of Yonge and Shuter in 1913. The Ryrie Building (1891) is seen before the
additions that extended the structure south to the corner and the addition of another floor.
Architects drawing showing the proposed changes.
The realization. Not quite as decorative as the plan.
A few years later.
Sometime in the 1930's when Muirhead's Grill occupied the S/E corner

The 1950's when the Silver Rail occupied the space. The cornice is
already gone at this point.
Today

Fern Avenue Then and Now

A shot of Fern Avenue looking east towards the School on the left. The year is
unknown but note the absence of parked cars on the street.
These houses were all quite new when this photograph was taken
Photo courtesy of Chuckman's Postcard Collection.
The trees have grown and so have the cars.