Looking southeast along Spadina Ave towards College St in the Discovery District and Chinatown neighbourhood of Toronto.
The grand church with the tall tower was the Broadway Tabernacle, a Methodist, later United church, which stood at the corner starting in the late 1880s. Designed by architect E.J. Lennox, the church could accommodate over 1,800 worshipers. However, in the 1920s, the congregation’s numbers began to decline, leading them to join with College Street United Church. In 1930, the church was demolished to make way for the current four-storey commercial building, which was designed by architect Benjamin Brown and completed that same year.
In the vintage photo, you can also see the building to the right of the church. Built in the early 1890s for the Dominion Bank, it was designed by architects Darling & Curry. This building was replaced by the present-day structure circa 1970 and housed TD Bank until the late 1990s. It has since become home to a variety of restaurants and businesses. Notice the CN Tower in the background of the present-day photo.
Then and Now
SOURCE
- City of Toronto Heritage Register
- Heritage Toronto
- Ontario Heritage Trust
- Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada
- Landmarks of Toronto: Volume IV by J Ross Robertson (1904), pgs 384-387
- The Globe Newspaper Archives: Feb 22, 1930, pg 15
- The Globe Newspaper Archives: Mar 4, 1931, pg 14
- Photo: Denise Marie for TorontoJourney416
- Vintage Photo: City of Toronto Archives
- City of Toronto: Maps
- Toronto City Directory courtesy of Toronto Public Library
