They were built on unstable land fill over a ravine that was formerly Garrison Creek. Their problems have only worsened over the years.
1933.
2010.
1933.
2010.
1933.
2010.At the time of the original photos the city building inspectors chose to label them as "defective houses".
The original path of the creek.
Boys canoeing on the creek before it was buried.
I like to call those houses on Shaw the "laughing houses".
ReplyDeleteI don't think the owners are laughing! It's amazing that they're still standing but I imagine that the interiors have all been levelled.
ReplyDeleteI am working on a documentary film about buried rivers. I would like to know the source of the last photo here "Boys canoeing on the creek before it was buried". Any source and id info would be very helpful. Thanks. Terri Foxman
ReplyDeleteThe photo comes from the Toronto Archives.
ReplyDeleteEasily searched:
http://www.toronto.ca/archives/photographs/index.htm
I used to live at 848 Shaw from 1967 to 1982..it is amazing to see the difference. I miss "my" home alot - spent the best years growing up there since I was born until unfortunately leaving the country for good being daughter to Portuguese immigrants. Everytime I visit Toronto I still check out my old house - it wasn't the most crookit - miss it dearly. Love Toronto - Love Canada! By the way how much would these house cost nowadays?
ReplyDeleteI moved into a small apartment in the first building 828 Shaw, about six to seven years ago know. I never knew about the Garrison creek story. I'm currently in stay home covid 19 pandemic mode, uncertain about a lot of things like most of us trying to stay safe. I think it's very wrong that people are aloud to mislead, and undermined the intelligence of a tenant looking to rent in Toronto. In these situations, economically it's very difficult to find something affordable. Most of the tenants that live in these places are on some kind of fixed income. But that doesn't me there all the same. So in that case it creates loopholes for some landlords to take advantage and avoid things like proper repairs to any extent, It's down right criminal. My place is crumbling, one wall has falling away reveling massive foundation damage this past Apirl 30 2020.
ReplyDeleteAnd here we are in 2022, and 828 Shaw has been destroyed by fire. What really freaks me out though is the fact that this building was unsafe in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI lived in 828 Shaw st for a few years in the mid 80's. We were amazed it was stil standing back then We were the basement and the floor slanted like crazy!
ReplyDelete