Located at 2178 Bloor Street West, near High Park; this branch is nationally recognized for its distinctive Canadian style of architecture.
It was designed by John M. Lyle in 1929 and is dominated by a steeply pitched slate roof with bell-cast eaves.
The walls are made of variegated red and yellow Credit Valley limestone.
The doorway is framed with totem poles of stylized ravens, beavers and bears.
The aboriginal theme continues in the building's ironwork, which includes inverted triangle and arrowhead patterns.
Other Canadian motifs highlighted in the stonework are lilies, pinecones, plus keystones of squirrels and native Indian heads.
As part of Heritage Toronto's Plaques and markers program, an unveiling of a plaque took place in June of 2008.
According to this plaque, the branch was featured on a postage stamp celebrating Canadian architecture in 1989.
Like most libraries, these days, this one has had a couple of renovations done in order to modernize and enlarge the space.
It was renovated first in 1978, and then again in 2004.
Thankfully, the architect's original building was carefully restored.
What is a Blog, if not for posting stuff about the City and its environs.
So, herewith is some pictures and trivia taken over the years about Ward's Island - which is part of the Toronto Islands.
First of all, you must take one of three ferries to these islands (there are 14 islands in all).
Pictured above, is the Ongiara, an open concept ferry that runs to Ward's.
It is my favourite ride, and is able to carry work vehicles.
As the plaque here explains, these islands are simply a sandbar that was created about eight thousand years ago.
One Saturday in September, Heritage Toronto, in conjunction with the Riverdale Historical Society, conducted a tour of a Broadview Avenue with some history.
We assembled behind the Dairy Queen at the corner of Broadview and Pottery Road./Mortimer Avenue.
Here, the tour leader spoke about the surrounding area, and what it was like around the turn of the century. Nearby, (where Sobeys is now located) was the Todmorden Hotel.
One could have a pint, while the blacksmith (across the road) worked on your horse.
At the bottom of Pottery Road is Todmorden Mills, which is now a heritage site.
- It started out as a lumber mill in a small settlement around 1795.
- The Skinner family operated this mill that produced construction materials
- In 1820, a brewery was built next to the mill and was operated by Thomas Helliwell
BTW, the Helliwell House (which still stands on the site) is believed to be haunted.
To read further about this, you can go here.
Have a look at his picture of a ghost-like vapor hovering around the chair in the house.
But, I digress....on with the tour!
We left the parking lot and walked south along Broadview (originally named Don Mills Road).
We then turned onto Chester Hill Road and proceeded down to the end of the street, where there is a lookout.
If you get a chance stop by the lookout and catch the view.
It is especially grand during the fall when the leaves have turned.
There is also a zodiac painting that was done by Victor Fraser.
You can check his works out by logging into "whatsvictorupto" on Instagram
Here are a couple of views:
From this street, we moved along to Cambridge Avenue, and pass by a few "workers cottages" that were built by the local businesses for their employees.
Back to Danforth Avenue and continuing south on Broadview, we pass by Riverdale Park East.
This is a 18 - hectare park that is popular for winter tobogganing, and has 3 softball diamonds as well as a ice rink.
Further south near Langley Avenue, is the St. Matthew's Lawn Bowling Clubhouse.
It was moved from its original location on Gerrard Street in 2009, so that the land could be used for the expansion of the Bridgepoint Health facility.
Here we watched the unveiling of a plaque commemorating the clubhouse history.
Photo by Alan Brown 2015.
Today (May 16) is the day that we travel to Seattle aboard The Clipper.
We needed to pack our bags and check out of the hotel by 10 am.
Once finished, we were ready to have some breakfast.
So, with baggage in tow, we headed down Douglas Street to find a Denny's or something similar.
As it happened, we found a place that was part hotel and part diner, called The Ruby.
It was very 60's, with a Volkswagen Camper parked in the driveway.
We found out that they offer their hotel guests free bicycles, while staying as well as discounted meals in the diner.
Too bad we did not find this place when we were booking our accommodations.
After breakfast, we bused to downtown Victoria and trooped over to the dock area where the ship was anchored. We needed to check our baggage, because it would be a drag to cart all of our stuff around Victoria until departure time at 5 pm.
Afterwards, we walked a few blocks over to the Robert Bateman Centre.
The gallery is located in an old steamship terminal, and we took our time viewing all the paintings. He (Robert Bateman at 88) is a living Canadian legend.
His drawings are stunning and so very life-like.
We also spent time, and money in the gallery gift shop.
They had prints,books, mugs, calendars ad song bird recordings.
There was also some art work by a few local artists.
Now it was time for lunch....we worked up an appetite whilst touring the gallery and tourist trap (I mean gift shop).
We found a really nice (read expensive) restaurant nearby with an open-air patio on the second floor of the terminal building.
We settled in for food and wine with a view of the bay.
All too soon, it was time to head over to the docks and prepare to board the Clipper to Seattle.
We booked a five hour wine tour with Canadian Craft Tours for our first day in the city, and we arrived a little early, so we had some refreshments at Santiago's Cafe on Oswego Street.
This was a cute little place, with a view of the street. Inside, the decor was mostly bright yellows and reds.
Since we were vacationing in early May, things were a still a little quiet on the island.
As a result we had personal service from our tour guide (we were the only customers that day). I sat up front with the driver and we had a comfortable ride with great conversations.
Our first stop was at Unsworth Vineyards, on Mill Bay Road.
Here is Leona waiting for a taste of their wines.
The folks were friendly, but to be honest, neither of us liked the wines that we tried.
The second stop was Enrico Winery and Vineyard, and the wines here were yummy, especially the whites.
We were each served a plate of flatbread with cheeses and fruit on their patio, and we chowed it down!
Unfortunately, we could not buy any of the wines that day, because we would be traveling to Seattle tomorrow, and did not want the extra baggage, nor the hassle at the border crossings.
The third and final stop was the Blue Grouse Estate Winery.
The wines here were very good, but we both enjoyed the wines at the Enrico Vineyard a lot more.
All in all, the whole tour was enjoyable, and the weather was clear.
Since we were the only customers, the driver dropped us off at our hotel for a much needed nap!
