By Chris Bateman
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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 Carlton streets. The...
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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 arrival of space age...
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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, Dickinson listened to...
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Toronto’s Summerville pool is a slice of the Mediterranean
It’s easy to overlook the Donald D. Summerville Olympic Pools. Despite its sturdy presence on Lake Shore Boulevard East, the futuristic elevated...
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The Toronto Park Pavilion needs your love
It’s hard not to love the Park Pavilion. Designed in 1958 by British-born architect Alan Crossley and consulting engineer Laurence Cazaly, the space...
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40 in the shade: Toronto’s worst heatwave
For an excruciating week in July, 1936, Toronto, the province, and much of Canada burned. An unprecedented and deadly continent-wide heatwave...
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How Toronto built the CN Tower
The CN Tower is one of the most important buildings ever constructed in Canada. Like it or loathe it, the absurd, 553-metre concrete tower, which opened...
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How City Hall ended up on St. Clair Avenue
In the late 1940s, Toronto City Hall was bursting at the seams. Now known as Old City Hall, the building on the northeast corner of Queen and Bay streets...
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Who will save Toronto’s old streetcars?
Toronto’s outgoing fleet of streetcars could be the first not to get a second life in another city. Perhaps due to advanced decrepitude, the current...
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The Don Mills Safety Village taught kids to drive
1962 was a rough year for kids. In the 12 months between January and December, 20 young people under the age of 14 were killed on Toronto’s streets...
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The “great monster of death” arrives in Toronto
Lenton Williams worked in the printing department at Eaton’s department store. On the evening of June 14, 1905, the 60-year-old was jogging south along...
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When Haileybury burned, Toronto sent streetcars
The town of Haileybury sits on the shore of Lake Timiskaming, a serpentine body of water on the northern reaches of the Ottawa River that marks the border...