Skip to content

Spacing

Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

Urban Design

TAKE A GUESS: name this intersection, March 14th

By

Read more articles by

Since our current issue is all about intersections we thought it’d be fun to play a game.

We want you to identify this intersection. Leave your guess in the comments section: we’ll hold on to your picks until 3pm when we’ll unveil the answer. If you want to see a larger version of the photo check it out on Spacing Photos.

UPDATE AT 3:30pm: This one was certainly the toughest so far, but again, I was really surprised by our readers’ level of knowledge of Toronto’s intersections. This is the northwest corner of Yonge and Finch in 1972 during subway construction. I’m hoping the level of difficulty will continue to rise until this feature ends on Friday.

Recommended

31 comments

  1. Yonge & Finch? If so, looking south-west.

  7. Somewhat suburban, so a definite guess: St. Clair Ave. W. looking W maybe at Dufferin.Or maybe Jane/Bloor but I don’t know – good one.

  8. OK, you’ve finally stumped this downtown dude. I’m going to take a flying leap & guess Queensway & Islington

  10. Wilson and Keele, looking west. This is mostly a wild guess, although that CIBC building sure does look like what’s there today.

  12. If that’s the northwest corner of Finch & Yonge, then I believe that prior to ‘Wimpy’s’, that location was the one of the first (if not the first) McDonald’s in Canada. We have so much to be thankful for.

  13. That is the corner of Yonge and Finch. For other Willowdale people, south of the CIBC was a Red Barn as well.

  14. This type of low density, hyper-tacky Americana just sends shivers down my spine. I just can’t stuff enough charcoal house sloppy joes down my throat while waiting to get a “cabanana wax”? after my Chevy Malibu is washed!
    It wouldn’t surprise me if this was up on Dundas West, near runnymede. I’m just glad I was only 0.1 years old when this photo was taken!

  15. Wow. While I’m hungry for a burger now, I’ve no idea what intersection this is.
    I’d guess either somewhere along the Queensway in Etobicoke, or maybe along Finch in North York? Definitely in the inner suburbs at least.

    As an aside, isn’t carnauba wax the stuff they put in jelly beans?

  16. This one took a bit of sleuthing.

    The giveaway is that the road is planked, almost certainly for subway construction. This places us on Yonge somewhere between Sheppard and Finch.

    A Canada411 search of CIBC branches reveals that there is one at 5255 Yonge, about halfway between Sheppard and Finch.

    This view looks north judging by the light and so the bank is on the correct side of the street. Wimpy’s is long gone.

    That’s the best I can do today.

  17. Ooops – I just looked again.

    The light is in the wrong place for my previous guess. The clock says 3:30 pm and so we are almost certainly looking northwest.

    Still think it’s a subway construction site, but I will leave it to others to track it down.

    Another nice bank for Matt.

  18. That bank looks like the one at Millwood & Laird Dr. in Leaside.
    But, of course, many branches of the Commerce look the same.

  22. Can’t get this one – I get a real Eglinton feel about it, but maybe I should be thinking further up like Sheppard, Lawrence or somewhere – otherwise I’m all over the map, Bloor West a way out there somewhere? Kingston Road a away out there somewhere? That CIBC must be distincitve…. and Wimpy’s was no help – I know it was founded in 1961 as a drive-in but after the company was bought in 1988 their location moved and then they started a-franchising. Hmmmm….

  23. One of the suburbs. I think I see “Entrance on Finch” on the car wash sign, so I’ll say Finch and Yonge. My initial thought was Queensway in Etobicoke, Queensway and Islington, to be exact.

  24. (a) Jane and Finch looking north

    (b) Happy Nooruz! This is Yonge looking north towards Finch

    (c) This carwash with the entrance on Finch is at Keele Street

    (d) This composite photograph of the above three intersections stitched together by m@b including the ever-present corner bank branch building is posted here today to throw us all off ;-P

    (e) This is peanut plaza without the peanut

  25. Difficult! I’m thinking Queensway and Kipling because of the CIBC on the corner, but this could be anywhere. Way cool googie architecture in this pic.

  26. For some reason I want to say Queensway…Queensway & Islington?

  28. I’m sure I’m right now about Finch and Yonge. The wooden planking (now visible on a better monitor) dates it to around 1970-1974 with the construction of the Yonge North subway extension. The old McDonald’s Wimpy’s is an interesting touch.

  29. This is a wild wild guess – it looks like that strip of Dundas near Kipling. I love this picture!!

  30. Changed my mind. Queensawy looking west at Islington.

  31. Wow…it’s a wasteland…I can’t believe anyone would think of building a subway there!!

    That was sarcasm, by the way.