The Jarvis Street Baptist Church is located at 130 Jarvis Street, on the northeast corner of Jarvis Street and Gerrard Street East.
The Church has its origins in a small group of people who first gathered in October of 1818, in what was then York, Upper Canada. By 1832, the congregation had moved to Lombard Street, and by 1848, to Bond Street. In the late 1860s, church membership was such that a new, larger building was needed.
In 1875, the church moved to the current location at the intersection of Jarvis and Gerrard Streets. A fire in 1938 destroyed much of the church building. At this point, a rebuilding was accompanied by an expansion of the Sunday school and offices.
The Jarvis Street Baptist Church was designed in the Gothic Revival style by the architectural firm of Henry Langley and Edmund Burke who served for many years at Jarvis Street Baptist Church as a Sunday-school teacher, chair of the choir committee, and deacon.
It was one of the first churches in Canada to be built with an amphitheatre-shaped interior. The ground floor seating is grouped in a semicircle, while the gallery above is horseshoe shaped. The gallery is supported by iron columns. Above the gallery, another set of columns support a faux-Gothic ceiling.
The church has been protected under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act since 1999.
The main facade of the building is made from brown stone obtained from the regions of Queenstown. The stone is laid unevenly with a pattern that varies in different shades of browns and dark yellows. The material used for the roof is Canadian slate.
The roof is constructed from a series of pitched segments centrally connected by a horizontally sliced dome. There are eight entrances, each consisting of solid oak double doors framed with pointed sandstone arches.
Yesterday I thought I might go to Chinatown to shoot the events of the Lunar New Year celebrations at Dundas Steet West and Spadina Avenue (it’s Year of the Dragon, by the way). When I got there I found the Dragon City Mall to be a little too packed for me, so I headed through Chinatown to see what other photo opportunities might present themselves.
Dundas Street West
Walking along Dundas Street West opposite the AGO, I spied Vincent van Gogh in front of the Mayberry Fine Art Gallery at 326 Dundas Street West:
One of the things that made this piece so compelling was its presentation in a three-dimensional perspective. van Gogh’s face is carved and embedded into the rest of the frame; unfortunately the effect doesn’t translate well in a photograph but is still impressive nonetheless.
I always love passing by the Mayberry Gallery as they consistently exhibit such interesting pieces street-side. This recent installment was promoting the Immersive van Gogh Exhibit at the Lighthouse ArtSpace Toronto, located at 1 Yonge Street. More info and tickets here. By all appearances it looks like a great exhibit.
Alleyway Murals
I made a turn on to McCaul Street and headed north. One very short block north of Dundas Street West I encountered a laneway leading off McCaul Street:
I could see quite a bit of colour in the distance so I went further in to check things out… I wasn’t disappointed with my findings:
This van was covered in street art. I guess anything that stood still long enough got the full treatment.The lane itself is quite unspectacular, but I loved the street artExiting the alley, I noticed these hands gracing the side of someone’s garage
Just Off Baldwin Street
Walking further north up McCaul Street, I encountered another scenic laneway just south of Baldwin Street. This alleyway art was not quite as extensive as the previous lane, but interesting all the same.
Last year I published a post on the unique “Cube House” in downtown Toronto. A lot of readers expressed interest in that post, found here.
The Cube House recently surfaced in the news, and I instantly thought of the post I had written earlier. Further to that, here’s an article on the Cube House from CBC News, written by CBC Toronto Reporter Ryan Patrick Jones.
Uncertainty swirls for Toronto artists after iconic cube house sold to developer
Property at Sumach Street and Eastern Avenue sold for more than $19M in November
Musicians renting Toronto’s unique cube house say they’re unsure how long they’ll be able to keep their creative gathering space alive after a new developer purchased the site.
Block Developments bought the 8,700-square-foot parcel of land at Sumach Street and Eastern Avenue, along with several nearby row houses, last year with plans to redevelop.
But Luis Vasquez, a music producer who’s rented one of the three cube units for the past year and a half, said he’s not sure what the plans are, the timeline — or what it will mean for the community of music lovers currently using the space.
“There’s this uncertainty,” he said. “We’re kind of in the dark.”
The ownership change is the latest in the saga of the unusual structure, which has been used as a billboard for a local coffee shop, aprivate residence and, most recently, as a space for recording artists and musical performances.
The cube house was built in 1996 by two Canadian architects inspired by cube homes in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. The three elevated green cubes include a residential unit and two commercial units.
While it isn’t a designated heritage property, the cube house land is listed on the city’s heritage register, meaning it’s believed to be of cultural heritage value or interest.
Vasquez, owner of The Audio Station, transformed his unit into a music studio where artists pay for recording, mixing and mastering services. He hosts live music and other community events on weeknights and weekends.
The cube house has become an important gathering place for musicians and music lovers, said Ronan White, a musician who puts on community events. He said he would be sad to lose it to development.
“The more and more these things happen, the less spots we actually have to congregate and be ourselves,” he said.
The potential loss of the cube house shows that art, culture and music aren’t being prioritized as the cost of living increases, Vasquez said.
“I think the community is really hurting for it.”
Redevelopment plans already underway
Plans to redevelop the cube house land have been in the works for years.
Previous owners submitted a development application in August 2021 for a mixed-use community called Sumach Artsplace. It would have resulted in a 35-storey, triangular-shaped tower being built on the site with 443 new homes, including 324 market-rate condo units, 119 affordable rental units, and a public plaza.
However, former co-owner Taso Boussoulas told CBC Toronto that the application fell apart shortly after it was submitted because it incorporated nine homes across the street that his company did not own.
Boussoulas said he had an “arrangement” with the homeowners but some pulled out. As the project sat idle, Block Developments swooped in.
“We negotiated a deal, something that we felt was fair for us and fair for them, and we sold,” Boussoulas said.
New developer working on ‘revised application’
Property records show Block Developments purchased 1 Sumach St. for $19.125 million on Nov. 30, 2023. That same day, records show the company purchased six of the nine homes across the street from the cube house.
In an email statement, Block Developments said it is working on a “revised application,” incorporating feedback from city staff on the previous proposal as well as “community priorities that have been flagged for us.”
“We are taking our time and do not want to rush this process until we feel we are ready for a robust resubmission that represents Block’s best vision for the site,” the statement said.
The first quarter of 2025 is the earliest tenants would need to vacate the cube house, according to Block Developments. It did not respond to a question about whether the company plans to demolish or move the cube house.
In the meantime, the developer said its staff are inspecting the buildings to identify any issues and to make essential repairs to make sure the units are “safe and suitable” for the existing tenants.
The company didn’t respond to a question about whether it plans to demolish or move the cube house.
Alex Walker, owner of recording studio 3CubeMusic, said he hopes he can continue running his business out of the cube house while the developer plans the site’s next steps. (Paul Borkwood/CBC)
The city of Toronto confirmed via email that it’s been talking informally with the new developer about potential changes to the previous development application, but that no new plans have been formally submitted.
Alex Walker, a beatmaker and music producer, recently opened the 3CubeMusic recording studio inside one of the cubes. He hopes he can keep operating out of the cube for at least a year.
“The future is uncertain and it’s a little scary for me as a tenant here trying to run a business,” Walker said.
“I’d be happy just to be able to say that we were part of the cube’s legacy, you know? We go down with the building.”
Ryan is a reporter with CBC Toronto. He has also worked for CBC in Vancouver, Yellowknife and Ottawa, filing for web, radio and TV. You can reach him by email at ryan.jones@cbc.ca.
This post was originally from a couple of weekends ago when the weather was not cooperating. I am reposting this one as I don’t believe it was published recently given all my trouble with my automated sender.
This post is one-part city walk mixed with two-parts photography experiment.
Does anyone remember what sunshine looks like?
It’s a distant foggy memory, much like the weather we’ve had recently. Given that, I thought it would be interesting to take a walk in the fog/darkness and shoot in black and white to emphasize the moodiness.
I love shooting in black and white; it makes everything look so different and dramatic – details stand out, creating emotions. In addition to shooting in soft black and white I used a diffusion filter which removed much of the “digital edge” from modern digital cameras, leaving a soft B&W treatment looking like it was shot on film. The shots are intentionally dark and muted, and the fog enhanced the effect.
Condo on Jarvis Street, below Gerrard Street East. Taken from Mutual St.
Mutual Street below Gerrard Street East
Condos at Jarvis Street & Dundas Street East. Shot from Mutual Street
St. Michael’s Hospital, Shuter Street
Fran’s on Shuter Street
Diamonds on Shuter Street
Inside OctoZone
Located at 247 Yonge Street, across from the Eaton Centre, is OctoZone. OctoZone is a huge claw machine-themed gift shop. The interior is very Asian-styled, infused with copious amounts of bright turquoise and hot pink neon (the effect lost, of course, in my black and white shots). I’ve passed this place several times and have always wondered what it is; this time I decided to take temporary refuge from the fog and drizzle, go in and check it out. It’s quite an interesting place: click here if you’d like to watch a short YouTube video about OctoZone.
Later, Back On Yonge Street…
Looking north on Yonge Street. Shot from Yonge-Dundas Square.
The electronic billboards of Yonge-Dundas Square in the fog
“I see you”: Eaton Centre in the fog
The Aura condo in the fog. Shot from Yonge-Dundas Square.
Renfrew Place sounds like a posh street but in actuality is a back alley. It’s located one block north of Queen Street West and runs between Simcoe Street and John Street:
An interesting and colourful segment of Renfrew Place is the small section between St. Patrick Street and McCaul Street, which is where I captured these images:
Crossing McCaul Street and moving toward John Street, the alley is a little bland at first but becomes more interesting and colourful as you progress further west:
The Green Glow of Renfrew Place
As I moved further west down Renfrew Place I became aware that everything was bathed in this odd green light. The green glow in these shots is from the setting sun reflecting off the green exterior of the Umbra building on the corner of Renfrew Place and John Street. It was late afternoon when I took these shots, so the slowly setting sun was strong, illuminating everything in the alley and turning it green:
More Elicser
If you’ve been following TO Cityscapes for a while you’ll find the occasional post about the very talented Toronto street artist Elicser. I’m a big fan of his urban art. His style is instantly identifiable and his murals can be found in so many interesting spots in the city. I was pleased to find some more of the man’s work in this alley.
If you’re interested in reading some of my previous posts featuring Elicser’s mural art, please check out the posts below:
The colours of these Elicser murals may seem a little odd but, again, the alley was bathed in a strong reflected light from the Umbra building on John Street:
And here is the very building which was casting the unusual green light on the alley
Renfrew Place terminates at John Street. Just before exiting the alley to John Street, a couple more Elicser murals can be found:
Looking back at Renfrew Place from Queen Street West, one more Elicser mural can be found atop the building. Note the Umbra building in the background, responsible for casting such an interesting green glow on the alley.
You’ve no doubt noticed the absence of TO Cityscapes recently. I’ve been at war with technology – my automated sending service just stopped sending posts, leaving me high and dry. I’ve spent untold hours over the past week trying to get Mailpoet to run again, but the tech gods have defeated me.
Not to be outdone, I am just getting started with a new provider and hoping to have things back on line shortly.
While working feverishly on my new site TO Utility Boxes (which is now complete by the way), I noticed a few utility boxes that could be grouped together thematically to portray Music and Dance in Toronto.
First, though, a shameless plug for my new site: TO Utility Boxes. If you’d like to take a look, it’s here.
With that out of the way, here are some Toronto utility boxes dedicated to music and dance in our city:
Jeff Healey Tribute
Utility box painted by artist Adrian Hayles, 2018 147 Tecumseth Street just south of Queen Street West
I had looked forward to photographing this box for some time. When I finally reached the site I was extremely disappointed to see the damage done by taggers and vandals since the piece was created in 2018.
The box artist comments on his work:
Jeff Healey is a profound member of our Rock and Roll Canadian history and his knowledge of jazz is unmatched. His part in the classic movie Road House will forever mar my memory. Jeff once owned a bar called “Healey’s” at the corner of Bathurst and Queen just a couple of blocks away from his freshly painted bell box. At first, like with most public projects, I was meet with very suspicious eyes as passers-by would question my reason for being there spraying. After about two hours, the piece started to take form and the compliments came pouring in.
Queen Street Vibe in the 80s
Utility box painted by artist Glen Guerin (aka Noxious), 2018 4 Markham Street, southwest corner of Markham Street and Willis Street
Ah yes, Carole Pope and Nash the Slash. So 80s, so Queen Street West back in the day. It was all about the look – shoulder pads, raccoon eyes and bandages.
The box artist comments on his work:
The theme given me was local musicians of the “Queen St. Days”. As a patron of the Gary’s Horseshoe days, then a regular on the “Queen St. scene of the 80’s” I thought of many, many artists I’d like to commemorate in a mural who inspired me as a young artist. Then it hit me, NASH THE SLASH! However, boxes are usually two panel, and who to compliment him, but his friend Carole Pope of Rough Trade. One guy in a car stopped and yelled out who they were, gave me a thumbs up and moved on. Another middle age woman with a thick accent told me she saw Rough Trade in Poland when she was younger (who knew?!). Others were curious and asked who they were and I explained the best I could. All in all, it was a fun and learning experience and I’d do it again any day.
Echo Beach, Far Away In Time
Utility Box painted by artist Julii McMillan, 2019 5 McCaul Street, northeast corner of Renfrew Place and McCaul Street
Continuing in an 80s Queen Street vibe, this box is an excellent tribute to Martha & The Muffins.
Gordon Lightfoot
Utility box painted by artist Adrian Hayles, 2021 6 Scollard Street, in the Frank Stollery Parkette
Gordon Lightfoot… a Canadian institution.
Tribute to Salome Bey, Canada’s Queen of the Blues
Utility box painted by Adrian Hayles, 2021 2 Grosvenor Street, northwest corner of Grosvenor Street and Yonge Street
Bell Box Murals comments on this box:
If the style looks familiar, this DJ/artist/muralist has done numerous murals in the City. In 2016, Adrian took 8 weeks to paint a 22 storey Downtown Yonge BIA music mural on the north wall of 423 Yonge Street, just south of College Street. The next year, he painted the south wall of the same building, continuing the musical theme. Adrian also painted a substantial mural on Reggae Lane in the Oakwood Avenue/Eglinton Avenue West area.
The Dance
Utility box painted by artist Keight MacLean, 2017 230 College Street, northeast corner of Huron and College Streets
The box artist comments on their work:
‘The Dance’ celebrates Toronto’s communities, past and present, as a literal dance. Everyone holding hands in a continuous circle around the box, jumping and dancing barefoot and smiling and laughing. Bright fluorescent splashes of colour weave in and out of the dancing group to further highlight how people come together in Toronto to form a unique tapestry.
Dancer
Utility box painted by artist Louise Reimer, 2017 542 College Street, northwest corner of College Street and Euclid Avenue
The box artist comments on their work:
The design is an homage to dancer. In our current world, where most people work at highly sedentary jobs, it is important to promote movement and an active lifestyle. Dance is not only exercise, but expressive, non competitive, and joyful. All cultures have some form of dance, which brings people together and allows for joy and expression. Contemporary dance is the result of a lot of work done by pioneering women, and especially queer people, and people of colour, which deserves to be honoured. These groups of people are all cultural producers in Toronto who still struggle for space and recognition within the art world.
Parkdale Social Club
Utility box painted by artist Cesar Rodriguez, 2017 2 O’Hara Avenue, northeast corner of O’Hara Avenue & Queen Street West
The box artist comments on their work:
‘Parkdale Social Club’ pays tribute to the history of vibrant music and arts communities in Parkdale. It was a great experience. I met many interesting people and met some friends who happened to live and work around the neighbourhood. Some people brought me gifts and others were interested in commission some of my work as well. I was not expecting that. Even a guy who seemed homeless said he had money and would love to get some of my art.
Piano Hands
Utility box painted by Jerry Silverberg, 2013 244 Bloor Street West, northeast corner of Bedford Road & Bloor Street West
Outside The Box comments on the work:
Jerry Silverberg’s box is located across from the Royal Conservatory of Music. He chose to depict hands playing piano to acknowledge the presence of the conservatory and create synergy between the two.
Sams + A&A Records
Artist and date unknown 189 Mutual Street, northeast corner of Mutual Street & Gerrard Street East
This box is a bit of a mystery; the only ID on the box is the artist’s email address: myyummyart@gmail.com. I appreciate the throwback touch, though, to when record stores at Yonge and Dundas ruled that stretch of Yonge Street.
All this inclement weather lately has put me in mind of the infamous Toronto ice storm in late December 2013. This happened 11 years ago now, so I guess it qualifies for one of my so-called From The Vaults posts (i.e. Toronto events and photos from several years past).
At the time of the storm I took a little walk around the neighbourhood to see everything more or less encased in ice:
The massive ice storm began on December 19, 2013 and dispersed on December 23, 2013. In addition to hitting Ontario the storm also reached Quebec, Atlantic Canada, Maine, New England, New York, Michigan and even Arkansas. In Toronto, the ice was so heavy it resulted in damaged hydro lines and trees weighing down onto roads and vehicles.
The 2013 ice storm consisted of 40-plus hours of freezing rain and more than 30 millimetres of ice, leaving 416,000 customers without power, 500 wires down and two million trees damaged. During the ice storm, Toronto Hydro said 73,000 metres of service wire and 80,000 pieces of hardware had to be replaced. The storm had a total cost of $200 million.1
The storm killed 27 people, particularly from carbon monoxide poisoning in enclosed and poorly ventilated areas as people attempted to keep warm and cook with gas generators and charcoal stoves.
Streets And Cars Were Shrouded In Ice…
An Icy Allan Gardens
Lots Of Broken Trees…
At the time I remember thinking how weird everything felt; the city had mostly came to a halt throughout the storm. The ice storm of 2013 remains yet another Toronto vignette I will never forget.
Below the main platform of Bay subway station there is an additional platform which has long since been abandoned. The platform was used for only six months in 1966 when the TTC experimentally ran trains whose routes included portions of both the Yonge–University and Bloor–Danforth lines.
This abandoned platform is sometimes referred to as “Lower Bay” by the general public or “Bay Lower” by the TTC.
A few years ago the station was opened to the public during the Toronto Doors Open event, and there were a ton of interested people – myself included – exploring the station.
At the entrance to Lower Bay Station
Heading down into Lower Bay station
The platform was in service from February to September 1966, after which time it was shelved. The experiment (called “interlining” in transit-speak) was deemed a failure, largely because delays anywhere on the subway line quickly cascaded to affect the entire system. Also, as the stations had not been laid out effectively for cross-platform interchange, trains travelling east from St. George and west from Yonge alternated between the two levels, leading passengers to wait on the stairs in-between the levels, since they were unable to tell which platform would receive the next train.1
A Second Life As A Film Set
Lower Bay and the tracks leading to it still exist and are now used to train new operators, to move trains between the two current lines, for platform-surface experiments, and to allow filming in the subway without disrupting public service. For film sets, the station has been modified several times to make it look like a regular North American subway station.
Notable movies shot at Lower Bay include The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Don’t Say A Word, Johnny Mnemonic, Bulletproof Monk, Mimic, End of the Line, The Recruit, and The Sound. The sandwich boards for the movies shot at the station were prominently on display that day:
Lower Bay did not look terribly different from the regular, upper platform, but it was an interesting experience nonetheless.
I thought I’d start the year by introducing a new site I’ve been working on for the past couple of months. Actually, it’s more of an addition or adjunct to TOcityscapes. Enter…. TO Utility Boxes! (OK, not the most exciting/glamorous topic or website on the planet, but some may find it interesting….).
For about 10 years now I’ve been capturing shots of those painted utility boxes you see scattered around Toronto – they exist either to control the traffic lights or house Bell Canada’s telecommunication lines.
There’s been a movement for some time now to turn these grey, ugly, utilitarian boxes into something a little more attractive in the urban landscape. Local artists have transformed hundreds of these boxes into their own personal masterpieces. Viewing these boxes over the last few years it’s obvious there are some extremely talented people out there.
This is my first site off-shoot from TOcityscapes. I have two other urban photo projects which I plan to launch sometime later this year, time and energy permitting. In addition to TO Utility Boxes, eventually you will see TO Sculptures and TO Murals as part of TOcityscapes.
OK, so how exactly do you check out this hot new site? Simple – you can either click on the link TO Photo Projects > TO Utility Boxes on the top TOcityscapes website menu above, or click on the big button below.
As I mention on my TO Utility Boxes site, it – like TOcityscapes – is a constant work in progress, and I will be adding to it on an ongoing basis.
[…] weekend: the Roncesvalles Polish Festival and the Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival. I’ve posted previously about the Ukrainian…