Canadian skylines of the past

[SignalHillHiker]

A fuller version of that old video of St. John's in 1900. The beginning of a golden era. Our Prime Minister in 1907 is fondly remembered for a VERY brief period of prosperity. And, at this time, St. John's was a big deal. If we were part of Canada, we would've been one of its largest cities after the usual suspects.

• Video Link

It's strange to recognize buildings from then. I know exactly where on Water Street it starts, where it ends. Bizarre.

[SignalHillHiker]

1892 (after the Great Fire)



A few from the City of St. John's Archives.

1910





WWI



WWII











1950s, my neighbourhood



1950s

[MolsonExport]

mtlblog

[MolsonExport]

squarespace

[MolsonExport]

before being completely covered by Place Bonaventure:

garecentrale

a few years later:

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[MolsonExport]

before/after (de Maisonneuve Ouest). I remember walking through this tunnel many, many times. Very grotty.

flikr

[TorontoDrew]

source:https://static.torontopubliclibrary.ca

All Toronto's currrent Financial core



1880 back when this was the tallest building in Toronto.



1889 Richmond Street West at Yonge north side now home to the Bay.


1872




Simpson, Robert, Co., department store, Yonge St., s.w. corner Queen St. W.


Dominion Bank, King St. W., s.w. cor. Yonge St. (1879-1913)


Yonge St., S. Of King St., looking n. from s. of King St. 1874


King St. East, looking east from Yonge St., Toronto, Ont. 1873


Toronto St., looking north to Adelaide St., Toronto, Ont. 1873


Forsyth, Robert, Canada Marble Works, King St. W., n. side, between Bay & York Sts. 1872


King St. E., looking west from roof of St. Lawrence Hall, Toronto, Ont. 1868 before St James got it's spire.

[O-tacular]

Calgary from the late 60's:





http://acrossandabroad.com/2010/03/2...calgary-tower/

If you read the blog in the link there's some interesting history about the Calgary tower. Apparently it was the tallest building in Canada for a few months in 1968 before Toronto's TD centre was finished. It's also apparently earthquake proof.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

squarespace

What building is that? I presume it was from Expo '67? Was it torn down after? Looks cool.

[SignalHillHiker]

Gorgeous pics, Molson. Nice shots too, Otac.

Going back through old newspaper for funny things...

Anyhow, one of the first separatist ones was the Newfoundland Patriot in the early 1830s:



It cracks me up to think these journalists had no idea we would even get representative government, let alone independence, or that it would be lost.

And a lot of the problems back in the 1830s hilariously remain the same. The big thing in that particular 1833 issue was colonial authorities being alarmed that people were rebuilding recently-burned Water Street with wooden structures because they knew London would soon pass a bill requiring stone. Sigh, developers.

Also, the classifieds back then were hilarious. Almost everything was sold by boat "Ship X arrived from Boston with a cargo of..." and it would be the most random things. Lots of staples, sure, but if you wanted floral-print gowns or scissors you'd have to wait until a particular ship came in with them.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

What building is that? I presume it was from Expo '67? Was it torn down after? Looks cool.

That was the Canada pavilion and, yes, it was torn down. And yes, it was cool. And you have made me feel very old ...

[MolsonExport]

Great sets on this page.

Most of Expo '67 was torn down. The French Pavilion and part of the Quebec Pavilion, became le Casino de Montreal. Buckminster Fuller's seminal geodesic dome (US Pavilion) caught fire, but its metal superstructure survived and is now the Biosphere.

One of the nicest pavilions was that of the USSR, which was promptly dismantled and taken back to the Soviet Union after the fair.

botg

The Cold War comes to Montreal:

botg

Montreal's Zenith:

wiki


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[SKYSTHELIMIT]

They had an exhibit about Expo 67 when I was in Montreal last May at the Tourism centre in Vieux Montreal. Was very cool to see and even had a VR ride on the tramway through the park. I would have loved to been able to see it in person and feel the energy back then. I did go to Expo 86 in Vancouver which was fantastic as a kid but man Montreal would have been so cool.

[TorontoDrew]

source: https://static.torontopubliclibrary.ca
1885 Mcmaster Hall, Bloor St. W., s.w. cor. Philosophers' Walk. Now



Current The Royal Conservatory of Music,
The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto by steveve, on Flickr

[franktko]

• Video Link

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

source: https://static.torontopubliclibrary.ca
1885 Mcmaster Hall, Bloor St. W., s.w. cor. Philosophers' Walk. Now



Current The Royal Conservatory of Music,
The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto by steveve, on Flickr

The original McMaster - give it back!

[kwoldtimer]

I had not realized that McMaster started life in Toronto.

How well known is Philosopher's Walk know outside UofT/Toronto circles, I wonder?

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I had not realized that McMaster started life in Toronto.

Founded in 1887 in the Big Smoke (from two older colleges -- Woodstock and Toronto Baptist) and wooed to re-establish itself in west Hamilton, the current campus opened in 1930.

Had it stayed in Toronto, I wonder if it would have become McMaster College or something similar as part of UofT.

The original building on Bloor is gorgeous.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by Pavlov

The difference between those ~1890 photos of Quebec City and Calgary (the proverbial two horse town at that time) is stunning. A lot can change in ~125 years.

Calgary was much smaller than Quebec City well into the 1970s.

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Calgary was much smaller than Quebec City well into the 1970s.

Minor correction in that the cities reached parity in 71, and by 76 the gap had widened in the other direction to about 30 000.

The differences between the two definitely was striking though for sure. The difference 3 centuries of development verses 15 years of development makes Surprised to see stone masonry buildings in the Calgary pic, that early into its development.