Pride Weekend in Toronto is soon upon us. In preparation, this month an explosion of rainbows and inclusion messages from local business and merchants have been appearing in the downtown core. Here’s some of what I’ve come across in the last few weeks:
Eaton Centre
Rogers Headquarters, 333 Bloor Street East
Manulife Head Office, 250 Bloor Street East
OrangeTheory Fitness, 160 Bloor Street East
160 Bloor Street East
175 Bloor Street East
Circle K, 121 Bloor Street East
The Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CPA)
RBC, 2 Bloor Street East
Holt Renfrew, 50 Bloor Street West
TD Canada Trust
Bay & Bloor StreetsBay & Bloor StreetsChurch & Wellesley Streets
A Pride Chicken at Nandos, 832 Bay Street
Ontario Nurses’ Association, 85 Grenville Street
Pride Bicycle Lock, Church Street
LCBO
Underneath Hudson Bay Centre, 2 Bloor Street EastUnderneath Hudson Bay Centre, 2 Bloor Street EastYonge & Wellesley Streets
Rexall, Church & Wellesley Streets
Scotiabank, Yonge & Wellesley Streets
Shopper’s Drug Mart, Yonge & Charles Streets
Jack Astor’s, Yonge & Bloor Streets
Toronto Public Library, Yorkville Branch
The Wine Rack, Church & Wellesley Streets
Dudley’s Hardware, Church Street
And, of course, the epicentre of it all: the corner of Church & Wellesley Streets
On an oddly-angled section of Dundas Street East, just east of Yonge Street, sits a heritage building which recently has become nothing more than a hole in the ground.
Many will remember this building as the old Hakim Optical store from several years ago:
Photo: Adam Wynne
In June 2023, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, formerly Ryerson University) announced the acquisition of two new properties, including 38-40 Dundas Street East. Prior to the sale closing, the City of Toronto deemed 38-40 Dundas Street East in a state of disrepair and required it to be demolished in order to protect public safety. The building has sat vacant since 2010 after its most recent tenant – Hakim Optical — vacated the property.
Despite its history tracing back at least 113 years, the building at 38-40 Dundas Street East lacks heritage protections, and, in its current condition, has been deemed non-salvageable.
Street Murals Found a Home
Despite the building being unsafe on the inside, the south exterior side was in good shape, providing a wide canvas for several murals over the years.
Here’s how the building appeared in October 2021:
On the Yonge Street/Victoria Street sideOn the Yonge Street/Victoria Street sideOn the Dundas Street East side
In August 2022 we were treated to this new Made In Canada mural:
Then, in October 2022 we were greeted by Harry Styles, gazing down at us:
So Long, Harry…
And now – in June 2024 – we say goodbye to Harry and 38 Dundas Street East, as the demolition proceeds in earnest. When I passed the building last week, Harry was quickly disappearing:
A Bit of Building History
The construction date of 38-40 Dundas Street East has been identified as 1913 in several sources. However, there is the possibility that the extant building may have incorporated parts of an older structure predating the 1910s. Notably, 38-40 Dundas Street East is situated directly on the site of the former, long-time residence of Rev. Dr. Egerton Ryerson and family. Several historical resources indicate the former residence of the Ryerson family may have been heavily renovated and incorporated into the design of the existing building at 38-40 Dundas Street East instead of being outright demolished.
38-40 Dundas Street East appears to have been painted since at least the mid-1920s and it is possible the paint was obscuring details, such as evidence of an older underlying structure and/or alterations over time. Peeling paint on the rear elevation had revealed yellow brick (likely from the mid-19th century) on the lower levels with red brick (likely from the early 20th century) on the upper levels.
The property is one of two buildings sold by the City of Toronto to Metropolitan University (TMU) in 2023, along with the adjacent Toronto Public Health building at 277 Victoria Street, topped by the iconic Sam the Record Man sign:
The iconic ‘Sam the Record Man’ sign, mounted on top of 277 Victoria Street.
Photo update
Here’s what the site looked like on June 29, 2024:
Last weekend played host to desiFEST, the annual celebration of South Asian music, art, food and culture, held in Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square. In this, the festival’s 18th year, the entertainment lineup consisted of exclusively Canadian talent. Mayor Olivia Chow was also on hand to address the audience; she was the first-ever Mayor to participate in desiFEST. The festival lasted over 12 hours, wrapping up at 11:00PM that night.
Here’s a bit of what last Saturday afternoon offered:
Dancers
BollyX hosted by Dance with Safa
Games
Music
Maple Masala Band
This homeless guy was feeling the vibes of the Maple Masala Band and decided to do something about it…
Shirjeel Jackson
Food (lots of it…)
If you’d like to learn more about desiFEST, click here.
Continuing on in the Yonge-Eglinton area, I came across a couple of interesting sculptures on Roehampton Avenue:
What’s Your Name? by Ilan Sandler (2011)
This sculpture is located at 70 Roehampton Avenue beside “The Republic” condo building. What’s Your Name? identifies North Toronto Collegiate Institute (NTCI) students past and present by reproducing their proper names and handwritten signatures on the sculpture’s stainless steel surfaces.
One sheaf shows all the first names of students who have attended the school since 1912, beginning at the top of the inner page. Each name is present only once, and at the moment it first appears in the school record. The chronological list includes new names through to 2010 with a total of 2053 different names. The names of the last students to occupy the original NTCI building appear at the bottom of the outer page.
The second sheaf creates imprints of the students’ public and private identities by contrasting the names of those who attended the school over the past century with a selection of signatures from alumni and current students.
‘What’s Your Name?’ is often the first question we ask someone, and by answering we announce ourselves to each other and to the world. During adolescence our relationship to proper names tends to change; a name is no longer something given but something made, crafted and personalized through the deliberate art of the signature. Schools, and particularly high schools, are where the proper name and the signature intersect.
Paper and print, which are the core tools of education, become dynamic sculptural forms on which an imprint of students’ public and private identities is inscribed.
Points of View: Looking North by Tony Cragg (2023)
Located outside the condos at 101 Roehampton Avenue is a work entitled Points of View: Looking North. The stainless-steel sculpture combines precise geometries with expressive organic form — an exploration between the rational and emotional aspects of material forms:
The entire material world, whether natural or man-made, consists on a fundamental level of rational geometries-ratio. Our appreciation of their complex appearances is, however, our emotional response. ‘Points of View: Looking North’ combines these apparently very different worlds and traits of human thought.
Outside the condo buildings at 150 and 155 Redpath Avenue, there is an interesting 2-part sculpture entitled Stargate.
Designed by Toronto and Krakow-based artists Blue Republic (Anna Passakas & Radoslaw Kudlinski), the 2016 installation includes alien-inspired pieces on the two west side corners of Redpath Avenue, fronting the entrances to the condo towers at 150 and 155 Redpath.
The crew of blue and yellow characters, each weighing thousands of pounds, create a window into outer space, both through the bold creatures themselves and their surrounding landscape of swirling vortices.
150 Redpath Avenue
Our inspiration for this piece came from the unique diversity of this city. For some, moving to a new neighbourhood is like moving from one universe to another. So many people bring various experiences and cultures with them from all over the world. We are both science fiction fans, and we felt that “Stargate”, drawing from this popular genre, could be the glue between these narratives.
155 Redpath Avenue
Inspired by both Eastern and Greek mythology and science fiction, Stargate serves as a connection between different worlds and a call to explore the unknown.
This is such a lovely part of the city. I love how they fixed up that square and the fountain…