Tuesday Treasures

September 2020 - Toronto ON

Queen St. West and Bathurst

Built as a Masonic lodge between 1876 and 1878, the Occident Hall, as it was then called, was one of the first buildings designed by architect E. J. Lennox, the man behind such iconic structures as Old City Hall and Casa Loma.

Occident and St. George’s Chapters held their meeting in the building. The spacious Blue Room on the top floor, which measured 50’ by 30’ was rented for various functions. This grand hall possessed a massive domed ceiling. Most Masonic Halls in this era contained large halls that they could rent to derive income for the upkeep of the building.

The windows on the second floor are Roman arches, but the yellow-brick trim above them is Gothic. This is an unusual design arrangement.

Click here if you want to learn more about its history.

Tuesday Treasures

 Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

Travel Tuesday

Our World Tuesday

Image-in-ing
My Corner of the World

Postcards

Toronto ON

Click here for a history of Toronto lane naming and a list of other lanes with neighbourhood descriptions. That post is a work in progress, and gets updated frequently.

Note Luttrell Loop Lane post has an additional photo added from our visit to the Halton County Radial Railway Museum this week.

When you cross Spadina at Queen St. Graffiti Alley becomes Lot Street Lane.

Further along on Queen St. West (around Portland??) 

Originally known as Lot Street, it was the baseline established by the Royal Engineers, when they laid out the town of York (now Toronto) in 1793.

It was renamed in the 1840s in honour of Queen Victoria.

Lot Street marked the southernmost perimeter of a series of 100- acre park lots, which extended north to what is now Bloor Street. By setting aside these tracts of land for the gentry, the surveyors signalled the expectation that Upper Canada would perpetuate the British class system. Among those granted Park lots were Chief Justice John Beverley Robinson, lawyer and dry goods merchant D’Arcy Boulton Jr., business entrepreneur George Allen, and Doctor William Warren Baldwin, all of whom were prominent in the new community. Established in large part to provide for an influx of United Empire Loyalists fleeing the War of Independence south of the border, by the 1830s the prestige attached to the ownership of land had been overtaken by the desire to subdivide lots for speculative building due to urban expansion. 

UPDATE NOVEMBER 2021

I found this at the corner of Queen St. W and Bathurst.

Park Lot 18 Borden Street to Bathurst Street

Granted to the Edward Baker Littlehales, 17 September 1800, and patented on 10 August 1801.

Park Lot 17 was granted to Alexander Grant. It ran from Queen Street to Bloor and consisted of 100 acres. Park Lot 18 separated it from the line that became Bathurst Street and had been granted to Littlehales. George Taylor Denison purchased Park Lot 17 and the east half of Lot 18 in 1815. Denison built his house, south of the south bank of Russell Creek at what would become the south side of Dundas Street. There were also two outbuildings on the property, one to the west of the house and the other north of it but on the other side of the creek. The house itself was Loyalist Georgian in style, covered with roughcast stucco painted white. There were several large fireplaces. George Taylor Denison lived in the house until his death in 1853. His son, Robert Britain Denison (1821-1900) donated the site of and built St. Stephen in the Fields Church. In 1854, J. Stoughton Dennis surveyed the lower portion of the estate into town lots, which were offered for sale. In 1889, R.B. Denison sold the house and what remained of the property, and the house was demolished the next year.

January Squares

January Squares words that end in LIGHT.


Headlights - Toronto subway mural.

Weekend Reflections

Posting at Weekend Reflections

August 2019 - Toronto ON

At Stackt on Bathurst.
The pink reflecting the condo across the street is a giant donut poster in a store window.

Lines and Squares 14

Life of B Lines and Squares

August 2019 - Toronto ON

One of the University of Toronto's buildings on Bathurst, Graduate House. Unfortunately you can't the see the letters preceding the O, TORONT.

Thursday Doors

Linking up at Norm's Thursday Doors.

September 2019 - Toronto ON

Yorkville

Marine Parade Drive

Bathurst

Weekend Reflections

Posting at Weekend Reflections


August 2019 - Toronto ON

At Stackt. The first is the reflection, the second the actual.

Weekend Reflections

Posting at Weekend Reflections


June 2019 - Toronto ON

Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday

June 2019 - Toronto ON

Foto Tunes

Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

June 2019 - Toronto ON

Monday Mural

I'm linking up at Monday Mural

June 2019 - Toronto ON

New murals at Stackt, Front and Bathhurst.

ELICSER - always happy to see his work! Click on his name in labels below to see more of his work.

BKEZ  (Bareket) Click on her name in labels below to see more of her work.

Young Jarus

This references a news story from 1981.

On Feb. 4, 1981, the Toronto gay community, like many communities, was somewhat fractured, with many disparate voices and factions offering opinions on how to advance their issues.

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But the next night marked a pivotal moment in galvanizing the community — when police officers armed with crowbars and sledgehammers raided four city bathhouses and arrested more than 250 gay men.

Click here to see Toronto's Pride Village murals.

Wordless

Wordless Wednesday Wordless Be There 2day


June 2019 - Toronto ON

Outside the Belgian Moon Brewery at Stackt on Bathurst.

Kammie's Odd Ball Challenge

Kammie's Odd Ball Challenge


2018 - Toronto ON

#RoofSquares

Becky at The Life of B June's theme is Roofs. Tag your post #RoofSquares and link to Becky’s post each day and remember your image must be square.

I'm not sure I will post every day but will try.


CN Tower Part 2

The CN Tower held the record for the world's tallest free-standing structure for 32 years from 1975–2007 and was the world's tallest tower until 2009 being overtaken by Burj Khalifa and Canton Tower, respectively. It is now the ninth tallest tower in the world and remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere. In 1995, the CN Tower was declared one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. It also belongs to the World Federation of Great Towers.

The Scotiabank Theatre Toronto was originally named the Paramount Theatre. Its name was changed to the Scotiabank Theatre Toronto in a deal that created the customer loyalty programs of Cineplex and Scotiabank. The theatre’s modern architecture is perhaps jarring to the eye when first viewed, but it is an impressive structure that dominates the scene like no other building in the area. At night, its neon lights, similar to the grand marquees of theatres of old, such as the Imperial and Loew’s Downtown, shine into the night and illuminate the busy street below.

Looking over the rail yards which once cut off the city from the harbourfront.

The yellow bridge or Puente de Luz, "bridge of light", links the western portion of Concord CityPlace to Front Street West for bicyclists and pedestrians. The bridge was constructed by Concord Adex as part of the City of Toronto's requirements for linking the new neighbourhood to the rest of the city. It was designed by Chilean artist Francisco Gazitua and is costing $8 Million to construct and install.

The black bridge or The Sir Isaac Brock Bridge is a steel Warren truss bridge. It carries four lanes for motor vehicles with Toronto Transit Commission (TTC)'s streetcar tracks along Bathurst Street over the railway tracks south of Front Street.

Entertainment District with hotels, theatres, restaurants and shopping.

Other Roofs

Union Station Toronto
City Hall Toronto
CN Tower Toronto Part 1

Thursday Doors

Linking up at Norm's Thursday Doors.

Toronto ON

These photos are from a couple of summers ago as we wandered the area around Harbord Village.



It lies just to the west of the University of Toronto, with its most commonly accepted borders being Bloor Street on the north, Spadina Avenue on the east, College Street to the south, and Bathurst Street to the west.

The area was built up in the late nineteenth century as a working class and lower middle class community, not as prosperous as the mansions of the Annex to the north, but also not a poor and immigrant-heavy neighbourhood like Kensington Market just to the south.

inSPIREd Sunday

Sally and Beth host inSPIREd Sunday!  Sundays in my City  My Sunday Photo

August 2016 - Toronto ON

St. Mary's Church is a Roman Catholic church located at 130 Bathurst Street at Portugal Square in the Niagara neighbourhood of Toronto's west end. The parish was established by Irish immigrants in 1852. The Gothic Revival church was designed by Joseph Connolly and completed in 1889, with the tower finished in 1905.

Joseph Connolly (1840–1904) was an Irish Canadian architect, born in Limerick, Ireland. He trained as an architect under J.J. McCarthy in his native Ireland before coming to North America.




St. Mary's Church was built at McDonnell Square (now Portugal Square), which was one of several squares laid out in Toronto's 1834 'New Town Extension' plan such as Victoria Square, Clarence Square, and West Market Square. The cornerstone was laid on 15 August 1881 and the dedication took place on 17 February 1889, but the spire was not completed until 1905.

In late September, 2012, workers discovered the church had been built atop at least one mass grave. Press reports indicate the graves are of those who died in cholera outbreaks in 1832 and '34. The church said it would dedicate an appropriate monument to the dead.

Architect Joseph Connolly designed a building that was contemporary yet evoked Irish Roman Catholic church building traditions, which was important to the Irish priest and his predominantly Irish congregation at the time
Over time, large numbers of Poles and Ukrainians began to settle in the neighborhood around St. Mary's. By 1960, there was a large Portuguese population and McDonnell Square was renamed Portugal Square, with a part of Adelaide Street surrounding the block renamed Portugal Square to reflect the change.

Mother Teresa da Anunciada ( 25 November 1658 - 16 May 1738 ) was a nun of the Poor Clares order that became famous as the initiator of the devotion to the Holy Christ of Miracles in the city of Ponta Delgada now the largest religious festival of the Azores .

She died with a reputation for holiness and has been officially declared Venerable as part of the process for her canonization .

A Week in Food (and other stuff)

September 2016 - Toronto ON

We were in Montreal last weekend.
Here's a map to give you some perspective of where we went.

Our hotel was near the airport in the middle. Oka is on the far left. The restaurant was in the east end of Montreal. Ste. Anne de Bellevue is across the lake from Oka. Family is in Pierrefonds and La Prairie. John went to the hockey arenas in Dorval and St. Laurent.
Our Sunday drive took us along the river from Ste. Anne to Lachine.

 Saturday we had time on our own and decided to go to Hudson for breakfast. As we were driving there we saw a sign for the Willow Inn where we used to go when we lived in Montreal some 25 years ago.

Hudson is a rarity in Quebec, most of the signs in town are bilingual.
French has been the only official language in Quebec since 1974, when the Liberal government of Robert Bourassa enacted the The Official Language Act (better-known as "Bill 22").

It's a pretty little town. We stopped at the Willow Inn but they don't do breakfast on Saturdays.

So we found a small diner and ate there.

From there we decided to take the ferry to Oka, known for their cheeses made by the Trappist monks.

Aboard the ferry to Oka.

I'll be featuring this church on Sunday.

We decide to drive to the monastery.

It is now a hotel and ecotourism centre.

Curds.

 John's daughter had made reservations at a unique restaurant called Zero8. Since three of the six for dinner must have gluten free food this was a great find.

Zero8 offers an environment entirely free from the 8 common allergens, gluten, peanuts, nuts, eggs, seafood, soy, mustard and sesame. 

Steaks and hamburgers were the main choices of our table although the guys would have liked mustard on their burgers!

John was excited that they had a gluten free red beer available. We later found it at a grocery store and stocked up before heading home.

Sunday morning we headed to St. Anne de Bellevue for breakfast.

Breakfast at a small cafe with a delightful server/owner.

We took the scenic route back along the St. Lawrence River.

Along the river.

A glimpse of St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal. I'll share some other photos in later posts.

On to La Prairie for a family dinner.

Monday we headed to Casselman, near Ottawa to visit an elderly aunt and uncle of John's.

Rather than backtrack to the major highway we took the slower route by Ottawa and then down to Peterborough and then home. It's slow as the speed limit drops as we pass through many small towns.

Bought some corn while gassing up. $8 for a dozen!! And I didn't even get a baker's dozen!
Priced so high due to the lack of rain for this season's crop. My BFF paid $12 in Niagara!!!

Tuesday my BFF and I caught up over lunch, smoked meat sandwiches at The Overdraught.

Wednesday is John's weekly golf and I just poked around only going out to pick up a couple of things for dinner.

Thursday was the monthly coffee club that I co-host.

John and I then head out to the Ex - Canadian National Exhibition. We haven't been in almost 25 years.
Taking the streetcar from Bathurst was a very slow ride. It would have been smarter to take the shuttle to Union Station and take the streetcar from there. But there are some sights along the way.

"Shalak Attack" is a Canadian-Chilean visual artist dedicated to painting, muralism, spray paint urban art, and canvas art. For over a decade, she has manifested her artistic expression on urban walls across the world.

Commissioned by condo developer Malibu Investments Inc. and approved by the City of Toronto, the four-metre-high sculpture is of two soldiers — one standing and one fallen was created by Douglas Coupland, a Vancouver based artist and author.

The standing soldier is painted gold and depicts a member of the 1813 Royal Newfoundland Regiment. The other is painted silver and depicts an American soldier from the 16th U.S. Infantry Regiment.

The monument is meant to be a scene from April 27, 1813, when U.S. troops overran Fort York, burned it and then left.

First stop was lunch at the Food Building! What a choice!! This is also where they had The Bug Bistro and unfortunately my photo did not turn out but you can  read about it here along with some other totally weird menu choices  in case I just gave you a real hankering for crickets.

A “doughnut cheeseburger” has been on the menu of wacky exhibition snacks at the CNE since 2011.
 It is made with two Krispy Kreme donuts, a juicy/lean ground "smash-style" burger patty, American cheddar cheese, tomato, lettuce, egg and bacon.
The burger, made by Epic Burgers and Waffles, is guaranteed to expand your taste buds — and your waistline. An extra $2 will top off your sandwich with a fried egg and bacon.

But the urge to splurge comes with a price: the classic version, without the egg and bacon, rings in at a whopping 1,500 calories. In comparison, a double Big Mac, with four patties, counts 700 calories and KFC’s infamous Double Down sandwich has a mere 540 calories.

I had a lobster roll and John tried the garlic snow crab fries.

Click here for lots more food photos and more at the "Ex".

Friday was shopping day for company coming to dinner. We went to the Market. Looking really pretty on a warm summer day.

A stop at the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) unlike most places we can only buy alcohol in a province controlled environment. However, look at the assortment of ciders (gluten free)!

Then to the Cheese Boutique for gluten free pate!

We weren't sure what we were getting for dessert so we were thrilled to see that they had TWO cabinets of gluten free desserts!

Some of what we bought.

Our friends brought this.

Not a lot of reading this week. Finished Every Last One and Started Val McDermid's Beneath the Bleeding.

DINNER

Saturday - Montreal restaurant Zero8
Sunday - Montreal family steak stir fry
Monday - corn on the cob fresh bread
Tuesday - salmon, baked potato, corn
Wednesday - curry chicken rice naan bread
Thursday - leftover curry
Friday - friends for dinner - Jack Daniel's grilled steak  with mushroom garlic quinoa, broccolini and salad