Skip to content

Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

TEST: Which year was this photo taken?

Read more articles by

A few weeks ago, I posted a Toronto Archives photo challenging Spacing Toronto readers to guess the year it was captured. With the city currently experiencing a wide array of winter weather, I went looking for snowy archival pictures. The one I found (above) seems kinda timeless considering our current rash of winter-related posts.

So, can guess which year this photo was taken? View larger version.  To view the answer read the final comment.

photo from Toronto Archives: Fonds 1257, series 1057, item 0025

Recommended

6 comments

  1. wild guess of 1948 to early 50s.
    thanks

  2. Great quiz! The lines and length of the women’s coats/dresses and some of the hats suggest WWII, but of course the winter gear obscures the fashion detailing a lot. The architecture is of course way older, and it’s hard to see enough of the bus to date it, but it also looks ’40s-ish. The most recent looking figure is the woman to the immediate right of the bottom of the column with the plaid skirt; you could convince me she dates from the ’60s. Does the TTC stop post give it away???

  3. The skirts/dresses seem fairly short to me, suggesting mid 60’s although the car stop sign seems much older. Most but not all men were wearing hats, again suggesting to me that it is later.

  4. Such car stop posts were still in existence through the 1960s. (Maybe, or maybe not, the street light might be a giveaway, too.)

    I’m trying to squint and figure out the location (somewhere on King?)