North Toronto is an ever-changing area of Toronto, and most recently has been shaped by condominium developments in several different neighbourhoods. For whatever reason, it was a lot harder to find good archive photos of the north end of Toronto, “good” meaning that there are recognizable buildings or infrastructure in the archive photos that you can still see today. Because of that, there are only three photos in this month’s Then and Now post.
OldTO is a website project that collects older photos (from the late 19th century all the way to the 90s) and plots them on a map so you can see how streets in your area and around the city used to look. Here’s some photos from the site that I’ve tried to duplicate to compare views. See if you can figure out where they are from the older photo!
1) This intersection/bridge is always busy during the evening commute. Because of the many parks and ravines in the area, it’s one of the only ways to get out of North Toronto if you’re travelling north/west. The distinctive decoration on the ramp wall is still visible today.
It’s the bridge connecting Lawrence Avenue with Bayview Avenue. The older photo from 1962 is from when the underpass was constructed to let Bayview Avenue traffic through – it was getting quite backed up with the Bayview Bridge construction and development of the Bridle Path bringing more and more traffic into the area.
2) This one is quite difficult as the archive photo from 1948 doesn’t show much, but this tucked away street in Lawrence Park still has lots of trees and borders a public park.
It’s at St. Edmunds Drive, specifically the view of Lympstone Ave looking north.
3) This busy intersection has changed quite a bit from this photo in 1949, for example, it doesn’t have streetcars anymore, but there are buses, and although the bank building isn’t a bank anymore, it hasn’t changed a bit (except for the billboard on top).
This is the intersection where Yonge Street and Yonge Boulevard meet.
If you liked this, follow me on Instagram to get updated when I have new posts – next time we will explore the past and present of West Toronto.
