Looking northwest towards the corner of Bloor St W and Avenue Rd in the Yorkville and The Annex neighbourhoods of Toronto.
The archive photo shows the Tecumseh Wigwam at the corner. Built around 1820, the one-storey log cabin with a verandah became a popular drinking spot for “city toughs and a sprinkling of lawless university students.” Also known as “The Wigwam”, it was destroyed in the mid-1870s. Afterward, Albert Nordheimer of the Nordheimer Piano Company purchased the property and constructed his residence on the site, which remained until 1912, when it was torn down after the property was sold.
In 1927, construction began on what was initially intended to be the Queen’s Park Plaza—a luxury apartment hotel. The project ran into financial difficulties and in 1934, was put up for sale. The building was eventually completed and opened as the Park Plaza Hotel in July 1936. A north tower was added to the site in the 1950s. In 1999, Hyatt acquired the hotel and renamed it the Park Hyatt Toronto. In 2014, Oxford Properties purchased the property and, three years later, closed it for extensive renovations. In partnership with the Park Hyatt, the original south tower building shown in the present-day photo—now known as Two Avenue Road—houses 65 luxury rental units, while the north tower remains a hotel that reopened in 2021.
Then and Now
SOURCE
- City of Toronto Heritage Register
- Heritage Toronto
- Ontario Heritage Trust
- Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada
- Ontario Heritage Trust
- Landmarks of Toronto: Volume 1 by J Ross Robertson (1894), pg 23
- The Globe Newspaper Archives: Jan 12, 1912, pg 9
- The Globe Newspaper Archives: May 6, 1927, pg 14
- The Globe Newspaper Archives: Oct 20, 1934, pg 2
- The Globe Newspaper Archives: Jul 10, 1936, pg 9
- Toronto Star Newspaper Archives: Nov 24, 2017, pg A3
- Two Avenue Road
- Photo: Denise Marie for TorontoJourney416
- Vintage Photo: Toronto Public Library
- City of Toronto: Maps
- Toronto City Directory, courtesy of Toronto Public Library
