The Dineen Building

It's May 2013, and once again I attended a Doors Open event, here in Toronto.

Since I am coaching a slo-pitch softball team most Saturdays, there was only time for a Sunday visit. Therefore, I chose the Dineen Building on the north west corner of Yonge and Temperance Streets.

 

Photo Courtesy the City of Toronto Archives

I actually posted this photo before, under the label "Toronto Then and Now".
(I'm thinking of changing to label to "Intersections of Note", instead).
In this photo (above) you can see some of the building (on the right-hand side).

The picture below, shows how it looked before it was purchased and restored.

 

It was pretty dingy looking, with an optical company on the ground floor, and rented office spaces above.

Built in 1897, it originally housed the offices, workshops and showrooms of the Dineen Hat and Fur Company, and was placed on the City of Toronto's Inventory of Heritage Properties, in 1973.

It is valued as a rare, surviving example of late 19th century Renaissance Revival architecture.

In 2012, after many years of neglect, this old building underwent a complete retrofit and modernization of both the exterior and interior spaces.

All systems and infrastructure were removed and re-engineered with special attention to its historical nature.

While all this was happening (under wraps) the workers were uncovering a few artifacts that were hiding behind the drywall. 

They found hand-painted directories in the lobby and a wall safe on the 5th floor.

 We were guided around the office spaces by volunteers who actually work in the building, now.

It certainly looks a lot better, from the outside than before:

 The attention to detail both inside and out can be easily seen when you look up at the roofline.

140 Wellington Street East

While surfing the internet, I happened upon "The Torontoist" web site and found some photos of Toronto that were taken more than 150 years ago.

One picture that showed "The Exchange" on the north side of Wellington, just east of Yonge Street, and adjacent to Leader Lane.

According to the web site, it was damaged by fire in the 1930's, and subsequently demolished during WWII.

 

Courtesy City of Toronto Archives, Fonds, 1498. 

Once I looked carefully at the photo, though, I realized that the building just east of it was somewhat familiar.

Curiousity caused me to crop the picture a little, so that the building at 140 Wellington was showcased a little better.

 

The lettering over the storefronts says "Hutchison & Co." and looks like it still stands today, despite the many fires on Wellington, over the years.

So I surfed over to "Google Maps" and "snipped" this picture, just to prove to myself that, indeed they were the same.

 

 Yep, when compared, they are definitely the same!

  

Queen and Bathurst

This is an old photo from the Toronto Archives of the building at Queen West and Bathurst (651).

It was a United Cigar Store, on the main floor, but according to Doug Taylor's web site (Historic Toronto) it was called the Occidental Building.
Built by none other than E.J. Lennox in 1876 for the Masons. 

The mansard roof disappeared when renovations were done in 1948.
For a while it was an ugly purple coloured bar called The Big Bop.

 

Just recently it was renovated again bringing it back to a better looking site on Queen.

 That's much better, it's hard to imagine that it is the same building.

Queen West

I took this picture in 2009 on Queen West, near Augusta.

It looks like there were two different ghost signs on the east wall of this building, at 541-543 Queen.

 

A little research on the web, produced some interesting points about this neighbourhood.

For instance, according to the Queen Street West BIA, this portion of Queen Street was the first Commercial Heritage Conservation District in Toronto.

The architecture of this four storied building is in the Queen Anne style, as evidenced by the dormers and turrets.

 

Eclecticism, asymmetry, and contrast were hallmarks of this Victorian-Era architectural design. 

One can see the stained glass transoms above the two middle windows on the second floor, as well as the decorated turrets on the top floor.

According to the Wentworth Architect web-site, the Queen Anne look was achieved in a variety of ways, using patterned brick or stone, and sometimes terracotta panels.

Decorative stone panels were frequently set into the wall, as were custom-molded with coloured bricks.

In this picture, you can see a face molded between the third floor windows.

 

More blogging will be forthcoming on architecture, because I find it fascinating!