Ye Olde Toronto Postcards

[Simpseatles]

I found a neat package of old postcards from the Canadian National Exhibition just lying around in someone's basement!. It does not say the year, but my guess is sometime in the 1920's. Perhaps a Toronto forumer could better identify when they are from.

Anyways, sorry for starting a whole thread, but I couldn't think of where else to post these.

1

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3

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6

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8



(There are a few more, but those were the highlights.)

http://s1141.photobucket.com/albums/n596/Simpseatles/

[Architype]

Interesting, I was checking out something you posted, and came across the following link:

http://historytothepeople.ca/2011/01/the-great-architects-of-canada-e-j-lennox/

[haligonia]

That last one is great! It's amazing how much the city has grown.

[Andy6]

I have a pretty big Winnipeg postcard collection and I would guess from the look of your cards that they came from about 1911-12. But the Canadian Pacific Building was built in 1913, apparently, so it must be 1913 or 1914. The mix of automobiles to horses and people in the streets changed pretty rapidly between about 1905 and 1915 so after awhile you get a feeling of when these old images came from, plus or minus a year or two.

That's a nice collection. The King Eddy one is nicely coloured.

[caltrane74]

Davidavid from Quebec started a nice thread last week, history and architecture. This would have gone good there.

[Simpseatles]

Originally Posted by Andy6

I would guess from the look of your cards that they came from about 1911-12. But the Canadian Pacific Building was built in 1913, apparently, so it must be 1913 or 1914. The mix of automobiles to horses and people in the streets changed pretty rapidly between about 1905 and 1915 so after awhile you get a feeling of when these old images came from, plus or minus a year or two.

.

Thanks for the information! I had a feeling that they were a bit older than the 1920's. That means this set is nearly 100 years old!

BTW are the Canadian Pacific Building, and King Edward Hotel still standing? Both are beautiful buildings that I've never really heard of before.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by Simpseatles

Thanks for the information! I had a feeling that they were a bit older than the 1920's. That means this set is nearly 100 years old!

BTW are the Canadian Pacific Building, and King Edward Hotel still standing? Both are beautiful buildings that I've never really heard of before.

Yes, they certainly are.

[Andy6]

Given the numbering and the content of the images, the first few monochrome cards look to me to be somewhat older, maybe around 1908 or so.

The corner towers have been removed from the Canadian Pacific Building at some point but otherwise it is just the same. It's where the Shoppers Drug Mart is at the SE corner of King & Yonge Streets.

[WhipperSnapper]

^^It's a little more than just the corner towers. The building was reclad replacing the terra cotta with limestone.

[Andy6]

Interesting. There's surprisingly little terra cotta cladding on the old buildings in downtown Toronto, compared to Winnipeg where it was exuberantly used almost everywhere.

My office used to look down on the CP Building until 1 King West got in the way. There are little rounded dome-like structures where those towers used to be, I think.