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..

Street names

The other day, my friend Marcia was strolling along Grosvenor Street, when she happened upon a new street sign for a lane way running between Grosvenor and Grenville Streets.

Later on that day, she called to ask me if I knew about the name and why the City of Toronto chose it.
When I Googled the name "St. Vincent Street Toronto" I got a PDF document about 832 Bay Street (the old Addison on Bay Dealership).

As I scrolled further down, there was a review of the book "Toronto A Literary Guide" by someone in New Brunswick. Incidentally, this book won the Toronto Book Award in 2000.

The writer had looked through the book for an author named Willa Cather who spent some time in Toronto around 1910-1920.
Willa apparently stayed with a friend who lived at 38 St. Vincent Street. This short street was annexed by the City into the Terauley Extension, and then later as Bay Street.

So the lane way is named after a street that no longer exists in the downtown core; and it seems that there are a number of streets in this area named after saints, such as St. Joseph, St. Nicholas, and St. Mary.

Upon further reading, I found that a few doors away, in 1894, a man named Dr. Henry Holmes resided briefly. Select the link to see more information, and a picture of this man, who would become America's first serial killer.

The number 16 St Vincent Street became the centre of attention for the City and the local Constabulary, when someone discovered two bodies of little children buried beneath the house.

Holmes's exploits are chronicled in the non-fiction book titled "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Lawson.
This little bit of trivia sounds like a good episode for "Murdoch Mysteries".

The picture of the sign is mine, but the black and whites are courtesy of the Toronto Archives.

The Rex

On my way over to brunch at the Queen Mother Cafe, I happened to look up and see two guys painting a mural on the side of this building.

For those of you who are not familiar with this intersection.....it's The REX.

This is where Jazz lives on Queen West.





If you go to their web site; not only will you hear some jazz; but you can see the finished mural.

Cable Cars

I was browsing through Spacing Magazine's web page and happened upon an article about cable cars as a form of transportation, here in Toronto.

The title was "It's Time for Toronto to Get Cable Cars".

Apparently, there is a planner who thinks that cable cars, rather than streetcars are the answer to the T.T.C. problems.


Some people have grasped the idea, and it may very well FLY (pardon the pun), sometime soon.

The naysayers, of course will believe that it is more expensive and will become problematic in winter.

But, there a number of gondolas, cable cars, aerial lifts (whatever you want to call them) throughout the world in areas that are snow covered year round.

Banff is a good example, as well as France and Switzerland.

Probably the most famous lift is the Vanoise Express that links La Plagne with Les Arcs in France.

It was officially opened in December of 2003, but has had a few safety problems since.





I personally like the Sky Train in Vancouver.
It is the longest (49.5 km) automated rapid transit system in the world, and carries 271,000 passengers daily.






I would rather see this type of train linking the airport with the city, than an extension of the Yonge University subway line.

But then, that's just me.