Tuesday Treasures

 Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

September 2025 - Toronto ON

From our excursion to The Beach area.

Beaches Branch was constructed at the northeast corner of Kew Gardens on a site provided by the City of Toronto, despite opposition from local residents and the Parks Committee to having a building on park property. Mayor Tommy Church laid the cornerstone for the new library on October 29, 1915. It replaced a storefront library that the Toronto Public Library Board had opened on Queen Street East at the northeast corner of Hambly Avenue on February 23, 1914.

Beaches was the last of three identical branches (Wychwood and High Park were the other two) that the Toronto Public Library built with a $50,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Chief Librarian George Locke described the design by Eden Smith & Sons "after the fashion of the Collegiate Grammar School of the Seventeenth Century in England," as "a decided revolt in style from the traditional library architecture".

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One-ton cast bronze owl designed by architect Phillip H. Carter and artisan Ludzer Vandermolen installed at the branch entrance, 7 July 2005.

Designed in 17th-century English Collegiate style, Beaches Branch by Kew Gardens replaced a storefront library opened in 1914 at the corner of Queen Street East and Hambly Avenue. The new building was one of three nearly identical libraries (together with Wychwood and High Park) built with a $50,000 grant to the Toronto Public Library from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. George Locke, the chief librarian, wanted the three buildings to "bring to the mind of the people of the outlying districts some recollection of their Scottish and English village type of architecture." The Toronto architecture firm Eden Smith and Sons completed the design, "a decided revolt" from the Classical styling of earlier Carnegie libraries. The brick and stone building features an upper floor modelled on a Tudor Gothic great hall. It boasts a soaring hammer-beamed ceiling, a plain stone fireplace, lead-glass casement windows, and a minstrel gallery. The west wing, built when the library was renovated and restored in 2005, replaces this 1980 addition.

Signs 2 - Yorkville's Historic Plaques

 2023 - Toronto ON

A Russian-born ballet teacher and choreographer, Volkoff was instrumental in developing an audience for ballet in Toronto and Canada beginning in the 1930s. Volkoff sought to cultivate and educate the public’s appreciation for the fine arts. He did this through both the works he choreographed for his Volkoff Canadian Ballet and the ice ballets he did for the Toronto Skating Club. He brought his group of dancers to perform at the cultural festival at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and was one of the co-founders of the Canadian Ballet Festivals in 1948. A year before his death in 1974, Volkoff was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada for his pioneer work in the field.

In August of 1913, four immigrant women from Toronto’s Jewish community started knocking on neighbourhood doors to raise money for a hospital. The Jewish immigrant population in Toronto was burgeoning; most of the new immigrants didn’t speak English and were afraid of large institutions. And, sadly, not a hospital in the city would give Jewish doctors a place to practice.

It took them nine years, but by 1922, the Mrs. Cohn, Miller, Spiegel and Adler had raised $12,000, enough to buy a building at 100 Yorkville. In 1923, The Hebrew Maternity and Convalescent Hospital opened its doors. Much has changed about that hospital since it opened. The name became Mount Sinai Hospital and it moved locations several times.

It grew from 30 beds to 472 and it became, in very short order, one of North America’s pre-eminent medical, teaching and research institutions. It also developed a world-wide reputation for excellence in genetic research, women’s and infants’ health, surgical oncology, gastrointestinal diseases, diabetes, general psychiatry, critical care and cardiology. And it became so culturally inclusive that there are now interpreters for Mount Sinai patients in over 45 languages.

Only its facade remains as the iconic French luxury brand Chanel opened its Canadian flagship where the hospital stood. The two-level space spans about 8,550 square feet over three floors.

Doormen and valet parking staff greet shoppers at the store.

Day Trippin' - Welland ON

June 2020 - Welland ON

Weekend Reflections
Sculpture Saturday
Weekly Recap
Monday Mural lots more murals

In these strange and weird times I don't see any foreign travel on our horizon. But we have plenty of places to explore near home.

For our first day trip of the season we headed to Welland ON.

City of Welland is a truly historic canal city situated in the heart of the Niagara Peninsula. Originally known as Aqueduct in 1829 (literally because a wooden aqueduct was built to carry the Welland Canal over the Welland River), the area became the Village of Welland in 1858. Known officially as the Rose City, Welland is also home to over 350 acres of fine parks and has one of the finest rose gardens in the country. It is also home to the Welland Canal, is a ship canal connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions none of the museums or the canal itself were open. 

We brought a picnic so we wouldn't have to depend on takeout. Restaurants can only do takeout. 

The roses were not yet in bloom either.

Our main objective were to fins 30 or so murals tracing the city's history. I'm not going to cover all of them here, I'll save some for Monday Mural.

There were some that we couldn't find.

To beautify the city, Welland commissioned artists from across Canada to paint murals on the sides of buildings. More than two dozen permanent, colourful murals depicting historical themes of the region now grace the city, adding a rich visual element to the urban landscape. Started in 1986, this is an ongoing project with new murals being added periodically.

Towpaths" at 1030 Niagara Street North, by Ross Beard, depicts a sailing ship being pulled through the Canal in the 1800's.

Welland Dairies" at 871 Niagara Street North, by Mike Svob, has three panels showing the milk business in the early 1900's

"History of the Niagara Peninsula" at 800 Niagara Street North on the Sears building at the Seaway Mall. This mural depicts the cultural and economic development of the Niagara Peninsula.

"Welland Trolley" at 1 Niagara Street, by David More. The NS&T trolley brought visitors to the Welland County Fair on Denison Street from 1910 to 1930.

Three Historical Scenes" at 115 Division Street is by Toronto artist John Hood. It consists of three panels each containing a great deal of historical detail.

"Wagons" at 250 Division Street, by Andrew Miles. This is a stained-glass effect of several turn-of-the-century wagons and buggies.

No water in the fountain due to Covid 19 concerns, but a couple of beavers frolicing at the Transit Terminal.

The Welland Recreational Canal Corporation and the Welland Arts and Culture Advisory Committee partnered to create an artistic legacy; a unique initiative involving local artists creating works of art using traditional canoes as canvases.

We happened upon some of them.


Marion Forget - Star Constellations

We wanted to find a park to enjoy our lunch and after a wrong turn happened upon the perfect spot.

Chippawa Park is home to The Welland-Crown War Memorial. This memorial is a nationally significant sculpture. It is the last large World War I memorial to be built in Canada, commemorating soldiers and their sacrifices made for our communities.

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A living room set isn’t the normal furnishing one would expect in a public park.

But in Welland, the city where Ablan Leon opened the first Leon's Furniture on King St. in 1909, it’s the perfect tribute to a successful businessman who built his fortune on honesty and fairness.

It features a bronze statue with Ablan sitting on a couch along with two recliner chairs and a coffee table.

The Welland Canal - bridge 13, or as more commonly known locally, the Welland bridge is a vertical lift bridge located in the heart of downtown Welland. The bridge crosses an abandoned portion of the Welland Canal known as the Welland Recreational Waterway.

Welland Amphitheatre.

1923 New Carnegie Library constructed. The architect, Norman Kearns, chose a Georgian Colonial style as the basis of the exterior design.

There is another canoe at the Museum next to the library.

The Welland Canal Memorial monument was built to commemorate the hard working people from Canada and around the world who came to the Niagara Peninsula to build this waterway known as the Welland Canal. It  reminds us of the importance of multiculturalism to Welland's development in the past, present and future. Industries, business professionals, and citizens have prospered here in Welland and the Niagara Peninsula because of the efforts of the people who built the canal. Some lost their lives digging with picks and shovels, many left their families in their homelands who came to Canada in search of work.

Bas Degroot, the renowned artist and sculptor, designed the fountain and bronze statues.

A bowling alley with Covid-19 hope posters.

Repurposed church.

Built in 1919, at a cost of $45,851, the three-storey brick hall on the corner of Division Street and Hellems Avenue served as a city fire station for nearly a century until its closure in 2006.

Back on East Main Street.

Another canoe.

Another mural, Working Women recognizing the contributions of women in the factories of Welland.

A canoe as we started home.