Tuesday Treasure Around the World

Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.
Travel Tuesday
Our World Tuesday
Image-in-ing
My Corner of the World

Toronto ON

The York Club is a private social club that was incorporated on November 22, 1909. It is located at 135 St. George Street in The Annex neighbourhood of central Toronto, close to the University of Toronto.

George Gooderham residence, northeast corner of St. George and Bloor streets, 1892. Credit: City of Toronto Archives.

The club's building was originally constructed between 1889 and 1892 as a residence for businessman George Gooderham Sr. (1830–1905) and his large family. Gooderham was a son of William Gooderham (1790–1881) and served as president of the Gooderham and Worts distillery. Click on Distillery District in the labels/tags below this post to find numerous posts about this fabulous spot.

The house was designed in the Romanesque Revival style by architect David Roberts Jr., who also designed the Gooderham Building downtown.

The "flatiron" building's triangular shape results from the confluence of Wellington Street, which follows the traditional Town of York grid, with Front Street, the irregular diagonal line derived from the 19th-century waterfront. The four-and-a-half-storey red brick building is set on a high foundation that rises a half-storey above ground. A string course divides the second and third floors, with a decorative frieze and cornice above the fourth floor. A steeply pitched copper clad roof is pierced by a number of decorative dormers. A prominent tower with ogee arch windows distinguishes the roof line at the apex of the building. A textured façade results from a dominant pattern of fenestration on all floors. There are hood mouldings over the fourth floor windows. The brick work on the Gooderham Building is exceptional both in terms of the quality of the red bricks and the miniscule thickness of the modern joints.

After Gooderham died in May 1905, at the age of 75, his widow Harriet Gooderham (née Dean) sold the house and moved to a smaller home nearby at 224 St. George Street. The York Club has owned the building since 1910.

Monday Mural

I'm linking up at Monday Mural hosted by Oakland Daily Photo.

June 2017 - Toronto ON

This was probably the first mural I ever saw when we moved to Toronto in the 1990s. I looked through my posts and believe I have never posted it!

It was first created in 1980. It has had face-lifts over the years. This is an interesting article about the mural.

The Gooderham Building is well known both for its narrow wedge shape and for the mural on its back wall. It is also called the Flatiron.

The Flatiron Mural by renowned Canadian artist Derek Michael Besant uses a trompe l'oeil effect to not only make the wall appear to have more windows than it does, but to also give it a more mobile effect by having its edges 'fluttering' away where they are not 'tacked' down. It is a picture of the Perkins Building, which is located directly across the street.

The mural, whose curtains were meant to evoke the history of the St. Lawrence Market area as a theatre district, has become a historic piece.

St. Lawrence Market

April 2016 - Toronto ON


We headed out to St. Lawrence Market on Easter Saturday, big mistake, bad enough it was Saturday, but a holiday weekend? And Friday and Sunday everywhere was closed!!! It was a zoo.
I had brought my camera but it was almost impossible and John just wanted to get out of there.
So we went back on Friday, what a difference six days made, it was so quiet.

We were going to take the shuttle and enjoy the walk over to the market but decided we would probably buy too much so the car was put to use instead.

So these photos are from both days. But on Friday we took our time and explored areas we never had the luxury of poking in when we worked and rushed here on weekends.

The view outside the market looking west along Front St. The Flatiron (Gooderham) building is dwarfed by the towers behind it.


The left side of the street maintains its historical look while the right side is modern condos and the financial district further along.

Their website has a wonderful interactive timeline of its history.

The St. Lawrence Market is one of Toronto's oldest institutions, technically dating as far back as 1803 when Governor Peter Hunter designated the area south of King between Jarvis and Church and down to Front the "Market Block." Former iterations of the South Market even housed Toronto's City Hall prior to the construction of E.J. Lennox's version on Queen just east of Bay Street.

So busy on a weekend, there is a cop directing traffic. The street photo above is up the street from here, you can see an orange cab turning the corner.

Now to the good stuff!! But before we start here is a photo from the Toronto Archives dated 1900s.

There are two floors, so let's start downstairs. As you step in there is a wonderful smell of fresh flowers.

A Mexican shop.

Interesting spot, ended up buying chia seeds, hemp seeds, vanilla beans, mushy peas (go figure).

This store had imported products from around the world, I saw Mexican, Italian, Indian and even a tin (really???) of Scottish haggis. Only bought some coconut water in here.

Home grown marmalade.

Mexico

New Orleans - gotta get some!

Lots of food stalls if you are hungry, serving up most things.

A Ukrainian shop. Gorgeous eggs!

Vegetable spread?

Who knew there was a bulk store tucked away in the corner? Walnuts, matcha powder, tomato sauce, vanilla essence, salad topping with cranberries, nuts and various seeds, cocoa made their way into our bags.

European food stall.

We stopped for a smoothie, Green Squared for me - apples, pineapple, kale and mint. John's was strawberry, apple, kale and ginger.

Across from there we picked up two bunches of kale, parsley, mint leaves, baby spinach and bok choy.

Pierogies to go.

Easily distracted, how about some jewelry. By the way we are still on the bottom floor.

Oh look, a mural!

OK finally we are upstairs. Some stuffed jalapenos.

This floor houses many, many meat counters, fish, cheese, bagels, mustard, sausages and fruit and vegetable stalls.

I'll have 3 hot Italian, 3 Guinness and 3 bratwurst.

This was taken on the Saturday, on Friday there was hardly anyone around.

John is demanding requesting that we get what we came for pears, kiwis, lemons, celery, peaches, bananas, and ginger. Also some liver.

He grumpily happily agrees to let me finish walking through the upstairs. The bags are heavy.

I want to try this place for lunch sometime. They have another location in an office tower near the ACC.

Last purchase, sea asparagus, after the vendor let me try it.

Samphire or Salicorne (Latin) is also known as Glasswort, Marsh Grass, Sea Beans, and Sea Asparagus it is a sea vegetable which can be found growing in abundance on shorelines, marshy shallows and on salty mudflats and along with Sea Purslane is very popular with coastal foragers.

I am going to saute it with garlic, onions and kale.

Here's a photo of our loot in the counter, most of it, some had already been put away when I thought to get a picture.