This 2016 monument of James Till PhD and Ernest McCulloch MD, created by artist Ruth Abernethy, resides at the MaRS Discovery District, 101 College Street.
James Till PhD and Ernest McCulloch MD are globally recognized as the Fathers of Stem Cell Science for their research in the 1960s at the Ontario Cancer Institute and Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. They received Canada’s Gairdner Award in 1961, and were inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2004. They also won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 2005.
St. Paul’s Basilica is the oldest Roman Catholic congregation in Toronto. It is located at 83 Power Street in the Corktown neighbourhood, near the intersection of Queen and Parliament Streets. Created by architect Joseph Connolly in the Romanesque Revival style, it opened in 1889.
For the following text I’ve borrowed heavily from the History section of the Church’s website:
Established in 1822, St. Paul’s is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Toronto. The first St. Paul’s, of red brick and Gothic style, was completed in 1824. After the diocese was created in 1841, Bishop Michael Power used St. Paul’s as his cathedral until the completion of the construction of St. Michael’s Cathedral in 1848. In 1847, a typhus epidemic raged through the city, killing 850 people, including Bishop Power. Many were buried on the grounds of St. Paul’s Church and School, though the majority were moved to St. Michael’s Cemetery at Yonge and St. Clair Avenue West.
In 1880, Bishop Thomas Timothy O’Mahony was appointed Pastor. He had served in his native Ireland and Australia and was a man of great vision and energy. The old St. Paul’s had to be replaced in order to accommodate the rapidly growing Catholic population of Toronto. Bishop O’Mahony soon began planning a new church with architect Joseph Connolly. They designed a large structure in Italian Romanesque style, which was rather extraordinary in a city of Gothic churches. The cornerstone was blessed in 1887 by Elzear-Alexandre Cardinal Taschereau, Archbishop of Quebec. The first Mass was celebrated just before Christmas of 1889. The statue of St. Paul was placed above the centre door in 1899.
To the memory of the Irish immigrants who were buried in the adjacent ground during the year of 1847, and in honour of the Right Reverend Michael Power, First Bishop of the Diocese of Toronto, who laid down his life for the fever stricken members of his flock, this monument is devoutly dedicated.Untitled sculpture in churchyard
Dean John Lawrence Hand was appointed Pastor of St. Paul’s in 1892 and served to 1936. If Connolly designed St. Paul’s and Bishop O’Mahony built it, Dean Hand completed the church and made it the work of beauty one sees today. He was responsible for commissioning most of the artwork inside St. Paul’s. The four major paintings in the sanctuary and the side apses were finished in 1893. The all-wood organ was installed in 1898 by R.S. Williams & Son, Toronto, and is the only one of its kind in North America. The stained glass windows were installed a year later, and the Stations of the Cross in 1901. The campanile (bell tower) with the bell from the original church was erected in 1905.
Scenes for the life of St. Paul were painted on canvas in 1911. The angels behind the altar were created with the same technique in the 1920s. The bronze Pieta on the front lawn was erected in 1933 as a memorial to Bishop Michael Power and hundreds of parishioners who died during the typhus epidemic of 1847. A plaque at the front entrance bears the names of 81 members of the congregation who died during World War I. Beside the front steps is the grave of Bishop Thomas Timothy O’Mahony.
In 1998, Father Tom Day began the process of restoring the church to its original splendour. This continued under Monsignor Brad Massman in collaboration with the architect Charles Hazell.
On August 3, 1999, Pope John Paul II elevated St. Paul’s to the rank of Minor Basilica by an Apostolic Decree. To be given this Papal honour, a church must be a centre of liturgical and pastoral life in the diocese and renowned for its antiquity, beauty, canonical significance or devotional popularity. Minor Basilicas receive special concessions such as the privilege of granting plenary indulgence on certain days in a year. The insignia of a Minor Basilica include the Ombrellino or Pavilion (a red and yellow umbrella) and the Tintinnabulum (a processional bell). St. Paul’s is the twentieth church in Canada to receive this honorific title.
And exactly where is Clover Hill Park you may ask? Situated in the northwest corner of Bay Street and St. Joseph Street, it is nestled in amongst the University of Toronto buildings and St. Basil’s Catholic Parish at U of T. It’s kind of small and easy to miss but has a few interesting things to offer.
At one point, neighbourhood residents were incredibly frustrated with the park’s development. In the late 2010s it was finished and ready to enjoy, yet remained closed for months surrounded by fencing. City Councillors at the time – Mike Layton and Kristyn Wong-Tam – received many letters of complaint from area residents. At the time, both Councillors cited issues with payment of the developers, Saddlebrook, which had prevented the City from opening the park.
The building of the park was part of a master plan in 2006 for new condos in the area along with a green space for residents tied to the 50 St. Joseph Street parkette enlargement. Construction of the park began in 2017; in November 2020 it was finally opened and warmly welcomed by the community as a much needed green space.
Although it looks pretty dismal in mid-January, as below, it’s a green and inviting park in the summertime. There’s a little bit of something for everyone at Clover Hill Park:
Mushrooms of the non-magic variety
Bunnies, snails and foxes, oh my…
Sculptures
This piece is entitled Zen West. Created in 1980 by Kosso Eloul, the stainless steel sculpture was donated by Father Dan Donovan of the Basilian Order in 1980.
And of course, the beloved Primrose!
Shameless self promotion: If you’d like to learn about her story, please visit my Primrose post here.
On the side of the Bond Place Hotel (which is currently serving as a Dixon Hall shelter) at 65 Dundas Street East there resides a 28-storey-tall mural entitled We Answer The Call. This mural shines a spotlight on nurses nationwide. It amplifies their voices and depicts them at a scale that reflects their monumental impact on our country as a whole and our people as individuals.
The mural, created by artist collective OneDay Creative, depicts the diverse faces of four nurses looking out at the city’s skyline. Complementing the static image featured on the wall, and as a nod to the art and science in which the nursing profession is steeped, the mural also contains an augmented reality overlay, launched via QR code on mobile devices. The AR experience brings the nurses’ faces to life with voiceovers and links to stories from the front line and other Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) initiatives.
The work is acrylic on concrete and was created in 2021.
I discovered these on King Street East a couple of weeks ago while walking over to Sumach Street to photograph the Cube House (if you’d like to read that post you’ll find it here).
Above these supports lie the Richmond and Adelaide Street East overpasses:
Not underpass art per se, but very cute nonetheless
For years I’ve noticed these structures in the Taylor Creek Park area beside the Don Valley Parkway. I’m sure anyone who has driven up or down the DVP has noticed these and wondered… what the…? In actuality, these objects are called Elevated Wetlands and were created by an artist named Noel Harding.
The structures are there for both form and function: they use their own solar panels to pump water from the Don River through their basins. The water is then cleaned by wetland plants in the structures and returned to the river.
I’ve always wanted to get some shots of these objects because of their unique shape; they can be examined from almost any angle and still provide a unique and interesting perspective.
In total there are 6 sculptures in 2 groups of 3, one group on either side of the Don Valley Parkway. Each sculpture is made of expanded polystyrene foam, acrylic stucco coating, recycled plastic soil structure, native plants, and water from the Don River.
The work was commissioned by the Canadian Plastics Industry Association in cooperation with the City of Toronto. The sculptures were officially inaugurated on October 1, 1998. If you’d like to read a full technical explanation of their operation, click here.
There is a small street in the Spadina Avenue/Richmond Street West area called Camden Street. While passing Camden Street this past weekend I noticed a flash of bright colour from a side alley there and decided I just had to explore further. What greeted me were some very colourful murals and artwork.
North Side
On the north side of Camden Street there is an unspectacular – actually rather dismal – parking lot. Here are the murals I found there (’tis a pity the tag vandals have damaged so many of them):
South Side
On the south side of Camden Street there is an unassuming, dark alley that displays some pretty impressive artwork. These cartoon-style murals remind of that Lichtenstein art that was so popular in the 80s.
The murals below were painted in 2006 by youth from the Cecil Harbourfront Community Centre as part of the City of Toronto’s Graffiti Transformation Project. These are seriously good:
In the same alley but not part of the City of Toronto’s Graffiti Transformation Project, are these pieces:
Frequently the best art can be found in the most unassuming places…. like this.
Sitting at 26 Telegram Mews in CityPlace, is a sculpture entitled Flower Power.
The piece, made of steel I-beams, has a bit of history behind it. Created by internationally renowned sculptor Mark di Suvero, Flower Power, along with a similar sculpture, No Shoes, was commissioned for the International Sculpture Symposium in Toronto in 1967 and installed in High Park. These works were the first large-scale works completed by the artist and had been installed in High Park for more than 40 years. In 2008, the works were removed by City of Toronto Cultural Services and sent to the United States to be restored by the artist. Since this transition, the work has returned to the city and resides in its current location in CityPlace, along the rail path.
The last time I was out on the Queensway I encountered a couple of interesting sculptures.
The Ballad Of Ice And Water 97 The Queensway
It’s kind of hard to see in these shots, but the side of the tall bottle-like object (which is actually a chimney billowing smoke), details the formation of what we now know as Lake Ontario over the last 15,000 years.
The Canoe & Calipers 15 Windermere Avenue
This sculpture of Canoe and Calipers, marks the meeting of two technologies: the calipers a symbol of the old world and the canoe a gift of the First Nations. Both were instrumental in shaping Canada and on a smaller scale both refer to the history of the area – First Nations peoples and early explorers canoed Lake Ontario to the south and the Humber River to the west.
Most recently the Stelco/Swansea Iron Works Factory, which made nuts and bolts, occupied this site.
[…] weekend: the Roncesvalles Polish Festival and the Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival. I’ve posted previously about the Ukrainian…