Plans are to open its doors again in November, 2021. In July, 2021 the venerable concert hall already celebrated its 127th birthday. 
Originally constructed to seat 3,500 patrons, and built then for about $150,000 in 1894, it’s now finishing up a multi-million dollar renovation. The brand new attached Allied Music Centre will feature state-of-the-art performance venues and spaces for artist development, education and outreach initiatives. 
These will make use of the 7-storey tower (attached behind) Toronto’s oldest concert hall and National Historic Site. Financed by the federal and provincial governments as well as the city, this project will no doubt be over the top. 
Renovating the old building and constructing the new one, along with modern loading docks, new artist dressing rooms and improved technical facilities for large touring productions, it will be one busy place at 92 Shuter Street.
Monthly Archives: October 2021
‘THE ONE’ IS ITS NAME, AND IT COULD BE THE TALLEST HABITABLE BUILDING IN TORONTO & CANADA
There’s a competition for being the “tallest” in Toronto and Canada since other ‘giants’ are now going up daily. Should the City approve and the increase permitted ‘The One’ would retain the record of the tallest in the country, with a fine development site and glorious views. The structure still has a way to go, but it’s already attracting multitudes of Torontonians, and record amounts of media. <Above – ‘The One’ is on the Bloor Street West level.> 
<Photo above – Constructing ‘The One’, which is in the foreground.> 
<For More information – MIZRAHI Developments – “AN ICON IS RISING”.indeed>
MERIDIAN HALL FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, FRONT ST. EAST, WITH CANADA’S LARGEST SOFT-SEAT AUDITORIUM
The use of Carrarra marble throughout the main lobby transmits a sense of grand opulence to the Centre, along with artist York Wilson’s famous mural, ‘The Seven Lively Arts’. A personal comment on that mural – as a student at Toronto’s Ryerson University, there was an exam on theatrical history, focused on the. mural. 
A copy was distributed, and we had to write several paragraphs about what we saw in the mural, end-to-end, for two hours. I haven’t forgotten that challenge. It was always on my mind whenever we took in a show. There have been several names attached to the building – The O’Keefe Centre, The Hummingbird Centre, The Sony Centre, and now it’s The Meridian Hall.
ON THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF SHERBOURNE & ADELAIDE STREETS SITS A FINE GEORGIAN HOUSE
Built in 1842 by first-class blacksmith, Paul Bishop, the House is really a pair of historic townhouses located at 363-365 Adelaide Street East downtown. Those houses, constructed in 1848, also by Paul Bishop, sit upon foundations laid by William Jarvis for his home in 1798. 
William Jarvis was a member of the Queen’s Rifles, as well as Provincial Secretary and Registrar of Upper Canada. After William Jarvis’s death in 1817, his son Samuel divided the two acres of land where the townhouses sat on smaller parcels, and sold them. Bishop’s House went through a number of owners and was expanded in the early 1820s. <You’ll find many more details on Paul Bishop’s historic House in Wikipedia.>
MARCUS GEE, GLOBE AND MAIL COLUMNIST, STANDS UP FOR THE TORONTO TRANSIT COMMISSION
Marcus writes – “The TTC, now celebrating it’s 100th anniversary, is the third busiest system in North America after New York’s and Mexico City’s. It’s a comprehensive, city-wide grid. You only have to travel to just about any American city to see how good we have it. . . . . Both federal and provincial governments are investing billions.
The result is a series of huge projects, from the Finch West LRT and the Eglinton Crosstown to the Scarborough subway extension. 
And there’s the upcoming Ontario Line, a whole new subway route for Central Toronto. 
The TTC is buying 60 more of those sleek new streetcars, replacing old diesel buses with cleaner diesel-electric hybrids and trying out a battery-powered model. 
Subway service is speeding up by getting new trains . . . . It’s spending many millions making stations more accessible.” 
There’s much to consider, thanks to Marcus Gee.
38% OF TORONTO CONDOS AREN’T ALWAYS OCCUPIED BY OWNERS – GLOBE AND MAIL SEPT/2021
The number of non-owners who occupied properties went up by 34,915 in 12 months to January/2020. The Canadian Housing Statistics Program (CHSP) said “when a property is not owner-occupied in the cities with major universities, they are most likely rented or vacant. When it’s more rural they might be used for recreational purposes.” 
CHSP reported the percentage of foreign-owned property remained steady from 2019 to 2020, with the highest share in the Vancouver region. That area was close to the University of British Columbia – where 17% of foreign owners topped the list, followed by 7% in Toronto. The data is based on early 2020.
FRED HERZOG LOVED VANCOUVER & IT SHOWS IN HIS ARCHIVE OF COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY
<‘Modern Colour’ Vancouver – by Fred Herzog, courtesy – Estate of Fred Herzog & Equinox Gallery.> 
German-born, Vancouver-based (1930–2019) he was a pioneer of colour street photography in the 1950s, when only black and white was considered fine art of the medium.
In 1953, he was regularly covering city streets, camera in hand. snapping photos of the docks, the airport, the street, the people. Adds Herzog – “I loved the city for its grittiness”—a quality he captured in vivid colour using Kodachrome slide film.
NATURE’S PERFECT NEST DESIGN – MADE BY BEES, HORNETS . . . . OR WASPS? PHOTO – BRYAN BLENKIN
Bryan says the photo above is “Nature’s Perfect Design.” Yes, they’re good at making nests, but be careful with stinging insects. We’re not sure what stung Bryan yesterday morning during a trip to The Toronto Dump. The trip was fine at first, but then he discovered an insect on the car seat, and picked it up. The insect stung him, and Bryan tossed it out the window. Not certain what it was exactly. . . . . . I got stung a couple of weeks earlier at College Park on my upper lip, by what I believe was a hornet. That sting took about three weeks to subside.
IN THE 1960’S SURFACE CAR PARKS WERE ‘KING’ IN TORONTO – BERCZY PARK WAS ON ITS WAY
While tearing stuff down to make way for the car was considered progress, Toronto’s city centre was littered with autos and their surface parks. But eventually wiser heads prevailed, and these days all but a couple of surface parking lots are gone. Some have been converted into below-grade parking. Nearly all of the lots have been developed, while a triangular-shaped Berczy Park with its’ dog fountain was built behind the Flatiron Building. This much-loved park seems to be a change for the better in this old part of Toronto. <Photo – St. Lawrence Market Neighborhood, ca1970’s, City of Toronto >
CABBAGETOWN’S WINCHESTER STREET CHURCH AND THEATRE DATES BACK TO 1891
Former home to St. Enoch’s Presbyterian Church it’s one of the few bold examples of Romanesque Revivals in Toronto – with round arches over windows and doors, deep entry points, thick masonry walls, brick or stone facades, and rounded towers. The architects, Gordon and Halliwell, designed nearly 200 commercial, institutional, ecclesiastical and residential buildings over Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia. 
Best of all today is the church, now a longtime home to The Toronto Dance Theatre. The company’s name is known far and wide – from New York’s Joyce Theatre, a six-city tour of India, a sold-out season at London’s Royal Opera House, performances at the Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa and the Festival TransAmériques in Montreal, as well as numerous performances in Toronto and across Canada . . . . . . . <Information from the PSN newspaper>
Toronto Savvy 