The Flatiron Building

My friend, Marcia and I attended Doors Open last weekend, and first on the list was the Flatiron Building at Front and Wellington.

There was a chap there from Heritage Toronto who regaled us of the history while we waited for the tour to begin.

In 1891, George Gooderham, the then sole proprietor of the Gooderham and Worts Distillery commissioned David Roberts Jr., the son of the architect who designed and built his nearby distillery to design a grand office building. George's personal office was located on the fifth floor directly beneath the green Cupola...that you see in the picture here.

The picture, below shows the Otis Elevator in the foyer.
It was the first manually operated elevator in the city.





There once was a safe on every floor and traces of a tunnel in the basement, confirm that Mr Gooderham moved his money across the street using an undergraound passageway.

A lot of the money came from selling his Canadian spirits to American businessmen (aka gangsters).
Apparently, it was not unusual to find George dealing with the likes of Al Capone in his office atop the Flatiron building.




Outside, the fire escapes were added on for safety reasons, since there is only one set of stairs for the five stories and two exits.




Here, we see the mural on the back of the building, painted by Derek Besant.
It uses the trompe-l'oeil effect (literally, “trick the eye”), that creates an optical illusion, which convinces the viewer of its realism.

The mural is a mirror image of the windows and facade of the F.G. Perkins Block across Front Street at #41.

Jane's Walk

On Saturday, as part of Jane's Walk, Marcia and I chose the tour/walk along the Humber River and environs.

Did you know that the Humber is the only Canadian Heritage River accessible by subway?
It was dedicated as a Heritage River in 1999.

We met at the Old Mill Subway station and followed Lisette Mallet from Societe d'histoire de Toronto.

We walked from the station past the Old Mill Inn which was built in 1793 and was Toronto's first sawmill.
As we strolled south along the shared path, we stopped underneath the Bloor Street Bridge that is being refurbished. Upon completion, it will have a permanent marker to show where the Humber River overflowed during Hurricane Hazel.

Unfortunately, many of the signs, structures benches, etc. have either been vandalized or have a lot of graffiti. This Heritage Plaque is a good example.



Our guide talked about the proposal to create an historical park on this 150 hectare site (370.65 acres) with interpretive nodes, benches, tables, facilities, plaques and way finders.

Here we have a public washroom(in the shape of a flying saucer) that has been neglected, vandalized and generally run down.

Much of the Kings Mill Park is a landfill site from the early 50's.

After moving south past the yacht club, and alongside the South Humber via Stephen Drive, we could see and hear a number of Red Winged Blackbirds.

I managed to get a picture of a Downy Woodpecker hunting for food on a nearby tree.

Here, also are some trilliums that are growing beside our pathway.

We were lucky that the rain held off until we were almost finished our walk.

It only started to become heavy once we were on the Queensway.

From there we were able to grab the 501 streetcar.

Thank you Lisette for a great tour of the Humber and its park system..