By Chris Bateman
The short, mysterious life of the Beard Building
The Beard Building is a historical enigma. Toronto’s first skyscraper, the 7-storey building was constructed in 1895 to designs... Read More
The oddities of the Dundas Street Extension
In December 1954, the railway tracks near Logan Avenue presented the final obstacle in one of Toronto’s first major post-war... Read More
The lost streets of South Parkdale
No Toronto neighbourhood paid for the Gardiner Expressway quite like Parkdale. Before construction of the lakefront highway in 1958... Read More
The demise of the first “air rights” project in Toronto
When Toronto’s first subway line opened in 1954, much of track north of Bloor Street was located in a shallow, open trench. The... Read More
The Shell Oil Tower is a lost 1950s masterpiece
A little over 30 years ago this winter, one of Toronto’s earliest Modern buildings was pulled to the ground. When the Shell Oil... Read More
The rise and fall and rise of St. Lawrence Hall
In 1966, Toronto’s St. Lawrence Hall was in terrible shape. The venerable old neoclassical building at the southwest corner of... Read More
The story behind the first computer in Canada
In 1949, a team of professors and graduate students at the University of Toronto began building a machine no-one in Canada, and few in... Read More
When will Toronto love its Modern architecture?
What do you picture when you read the words “heritage building.”? It probably isn’t the Carlton Tower at Yonge and... Read More
The space age Parkway Plaza, Toronto’s first heritage supermarket
It was only a shopping mall, but when the Parkway Plaza opened at Ellesmere Road and Victoria Park Avenue in 1958, it signalled the... Read More
The life and death of Peter Dickinson and The Inn on the Park
Peter Dickinson was dying when he designed the Inn on the Park. From a bed in Mount Sinai hospital, his body weakened from cancer... Read More