Architecture
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Toronto’s Art Deco legacy celebrated
Facing each other across Spadina Avenue just north of Adelaide, the Tower and Balfour Buildings frame a striking entryway into Toronto’s Fashion District...
By Daniel Rotsztain -
How Exhibition Place got the retro Dufferin Gate
You can tell a lot about a place by how it greets its visitors. The goofy lights at Honest Ed’s tell customers “there’s no place like...
By Chris Bateman -
The modernist Bloor-Danforth line at 50
The Bloor-Danforth line turned 50 today. Five decades ago, on February 25, 1966, the first section of Toronto’s first east-west subway opened...
By Chris Bateman -
Pour one out for the Toronto Coach Terminal
The Toronto Coach Terminal is a sorry sight. Marooned a significant distance from the city’s main railway station, disconnected from other forms of...
By Chris Bateman -
Toronto’s history in two buildings
Back in May and June of 2015, the Guardian newspaper ran an intriguing series on its Cities page entitled “A history of cities in 50 buildings.” The list...
By Sean Marshall -
How the TTC lost and found its subway style
Not many people could have known that behind the advertising billboards on the platform of College station was something no-one had seen for more than...
By Chris Bateman -
How the Eaton Centre nearly wrecked Old City Hall
Ever since Toronto city council moved over the street in 1965, Toronto hasn’t quite known what to do with Old City Hall. The exquisite heritage...
By Chris Bateman -
Awe in the city
The study of awe — the kind of jaw-dropping experience that makes you recalibrate your understanding of the world — originated with natural phenomena...
By Dylan Reid -
Dead rail lines, lost streets, and more Toronto oddities
There’s a couple of new lofts at the southeast corner of Carlaw and Dundas. The courtyard between the two buildings curves elegantly south...
By Chris Bateman -
LORINC: Telling our story
Not for the first time, and certainly not the last, I came across a family of tourists in the subway the other day, trying to figure out how to get to...
By John Lorinc -
The fall of Sir Henry Pellatt, king of Casa Loma
A carved marble fountain of child figures supporting a dolphin, a solid bronze buffalo head, and hundreds of champagne flutes, wine glasses, and ceramic...
By Chris Bateman -
A dizzy history of revolving restaurants in Toronto
Nothing epitomizes space age urbanism quite like the revolving restaurant. Imagine sitting at the top of a modern skyscraper, the lights of the city...
By Chris Bateman