Looking northeast towards the corner of Dundas St E and Victoria St in Toronto’s Garden District.
The three-storey building was once home to the pharmaceutical drug manufacturer Powell Chemical Company, as shown in the archive photo. Known then as the Powell Building, its uniquely angled façade resulted from the city’s decision in the early 1920s to take a portion of the building for a new diagonal piece of roadway for the crosstown streetcar line. In later years, the building served as an office for Teela Digest Publications and a Hakim Optical storefront before becoming vacant.
In 2023, Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) acquired the city-owned property. However, as of May 2024, the century-old building was in the process of being torn down due to safety concerns.
Then and Now
SOURCE
- City of Toronto Heritage Register
- Heritage Toronto
- Ontario Heritage Trust
- Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada
- The Globe Newspaper Archives: Nov 15, 1922, 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
