Looking southwest towards the corner of Bay St and Richmond St W, in the Financial District of Toronto.
The archive photo shows the streetscape from nearly 100 years ago, with a constable on point duty at the intersection and the streetcar line that ran along Bay St. It also shows the buildings that once occupied the corner, including the Hotel Widmer, which were being boarded up for demolition. The hotel was listed in the Toronto City Directory from 1911 to 1927.
In the same year that the vintage photo was taken, property developers Yolles & Rotenberg constructed Sterling Tower at the site. This 22-storey office building, designed in the Art Deco style by architects Chapman & Oxley, was added to the city’s heritage register in 1976.
Then and Now
SOURCE
- City of Toronto Heritage Register
- Heritage Toronto
- Ontario Heritage Trust
- Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada
- The Toronto Daily Star Newspaper Archives: Jan 14, 1928, pg 25 (Sterling Tower, southwest corner of Bay St & Richmond St W)
- Photo: Denise Marie for TorontoJourney416
- Vintage Photo: City of Toronto Archives
- City of Toronto: Maps
- Toronto City Directory, courtesy of Toronto Public Library
