The archive photo features the Royal Bank Building, an impressive six-storey structure constructed between 1906 and 1907, initially known as the Trader’s Bank Apartments. Designed by architect Francis S. Baker, the building originally housed the Trader’s Bank of Canada, along with retail shops on the ground floor, dentist and doctors’ offices on the second floor, and luxury apartments on the upper floors. The top floor included a café that offered panoramic views of the city.
In the early 1910s, the Royal Bank of Canada acquired Trader’s Bank. By 1914, the building was referred to as the Royal Bank Apartments until the 1940s, when it was named the Royal Bank Building, which by then primarily served as office space. In the mid-1970s, the building was demolished, and within a few years, it was replaced by the current RBC branch. Since then, the block has also been home to a complex formerly known as the Hudson Bay Centre, which is now called 2 Bloor East.
A few other items to point out in the vintage photo are the green 1970 Dodge Challenger and a white circa-1970 Chevrolet Nova (City of Toronto Archives, Ellis Wiley fonds, Fonds 124, File 2, Item 112)
The Second Empire-style mansion was built in 1881 and designed by architect Charles J. Read for James Cooper, a prominent partner in the footwear manufacturing firm Cooper and Smith. Cooper lived in the home until 1894.
The mansion later became known as the Keeley Institute for Nervous Diseases. In 1910, the Knights of Columbus acquired the property and remained there until approximately 2005. Next, the Tridel Group repositioned the historic mansion closer to the sidewalk and integrated it into a residential tower, which was completed in 2010 (City of Toronto Archives, Toronto Planning Board fonds, Fonds 2032, Series 841, File 7, Item 5)
The archive photo shows when the storefront in the centre background was home to San Francesco Foods. It was then followed by Pizza Pizza, and currently, Koz Bingol Express occupies the space (City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 620, Item 89 – Avard Woolaver photographer)
The archive photo features the sign for the One Minute Lunch & Ice Cream Parlor on the right. Directly across the street is Wagner Brake Service Co. Ltd., and behind it stands a 2.5-storey Second-Empire style house that once belonged to the Farquhar family.
This grand, two-family house was built in the early 1870s and served as the home for James and George Farquhar and their families. Although descendants of the Farquhars continued to live in part of the house until the 1940s, it was also an apartment building and later a rooming house. The last record of this house appears in the Toronto City Directory from 1961. After that, it was demolished, and the site became a parking lot. Today, the area features green space that backs onto the Gabrielle-Roy schoolyard, along with a condo tower.
The Farquhar family were contractors who operated a stone-cutting business, selling lime, stone, and wood from a yard located just east of Church St, between The Esplanade and Front St E. Since the early 1870s, Farquhars Lane has continued to bear the family’s name. Some of the Farquhars’ first contracts in Toronto included work on City Hall, which is now part of St. Lawrence Market, and St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica. James Farquhar was born in Scotland, and the name “Farquhar” is pronounced “fa-kwa” (City of Toronto Archives, E.L. Ruddy Company fonds, Fonds 1488, Series 1230, Item 4233)
Over the past century, the architecture of the streetscape has remained relatively unchanged, with many of the buildings constructed in the late 1800s still standing today (City of Toronto Archives, E.L. Ruddy Company fonds, Fonds 1488, Series 1230, Item 2336)
The archive photo shows when the corner was home to the Di Fonzo Brothers’ Texaco Service Station (City of Toronto Archives, Alexandra Studio fonds, Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 7938)
The archive photo shows the time when Vitosha Food Market was located in the former building, which was known as Walnut Hall (City of Toronto Archives, Toronto Planning Board fonds, Fonds 2032, Series 841, File 69, Item 9)
The townhouses numbered 207 to 213 were constructed in 1879, while those numbered 215 to 219 were built in 1863. In 1977, they were listed on the city’s heritage register. The archive photo shows the former Grand Hotel and Suites in the background (City of Toronto Archives, Harvey R. Naylor fonds, Fonds 1526, File 61, Item 27)
The Art Moderne-style building was constructed in the early 1940s and originally served as the offices for the National Drug and Chemical Company of Canada Ltd. The archive photo shows the Stop Fixture & Design Co. occupying the building, and today it is home to Shoppers Drug Mart.
In 2017, the city designated the building as a heritage structure and included it in the King-Spadina Heritage Conservation District (City of Toronto Archives, Toronto Planning Board fonds, Fonds 2032, Series 841, File 78, Item 6)
The archival photo shows a time when part of the Rawlinson storage warehouse also housed The Manatee, a gay disco, along with an establishment called Sweetwater.
The three-part warehouse for Marmaduke Rawlinson, whose company specialized in cartage and storage, was built in two phases. The first phase was completed in 1895 by the architects Dick & Wickson, followed by the second phase in 1898, designed by A. Frank Wickson. Rawlinson Cartage operated from several buildings within the surrounding block, including this warehouse at 11 St. Joseph St and the neighbouring building at 5 St. Joseph St.
In the early to mid-2000s, the site was redeveloped for residential use. The heritage-designated brick and stone façade was dismantled and reassembled in its original location, forming the podium of the 17-storey condo known as the Eleven Residences (City of Toronto Archives, Toronto Planning Board fonds, Fonds 2032, Series 841, File 66, Item 6)
A few of the establishments in the archive photo, from right to left, include The Isaacs Gallery, Kashmir Valley Restaurant, Munro Flowers and Buzz Buzz Pizza. The vintage photo also shows the construction site for Cumberland Terrace, which opened in 1974. In the background, the office building known as Two Bloor West is visible.
In the present-day photo, the right foreground features the recently completed restoration of shops that now front two towering condominiums. Regarding Cumberland Terrace, which can be seen in the distance, there are plans to build residential towers on that site (City of Toronto Archives, Harvey R. Naylor fonds, Fonds 1526, File 1, Item 143)
The archive photo shows the Warwick Hotel, built in 1910 and originally known as the Royal Cecil Apartments. The Warwick closed in 1980 and was demolished shortly after. The 1983 directory lists the location as a Sears parking lot. (City of Toronto Archives, Toronto Planning Board fonds, Fonds 2032, Series 841, File 9, Item 8)
The Richardson Romanesque-style building was constructed from 1886 to 1892 and officially opened in 1893. It was one of the 490 structures on Heritage Toronto’s initial induction list in June of 1973. The archive photo shows a Ford Model T, which was nicknamed the “Tin Lizzie,” heading south on Queen’s Park Crescent (Toronto Public Library 2015-2-170)
The archive photo features several billboards on the left, including one for Wrigley’s gum on the side of the Nealon House Hotel. This four-story hotel was constructed in 1888 for James Nealon. After Mr. Nealon’s passing the following year, the hotel was operated by the O’Connor family into the 1920s. It later transitioned into a rooming house, then reverted back to a hotel, before becoming a tavern/pub. Eventually, it was converted into a hall and commercial space. Today, the heritage-designated building, which was restored in 2024, is home to Sonder The Nealon Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy. The grand building still showcases a ghost sign over a century old on its west-facing side.
In the right foreground of the vintage photo, there is a sign for Consumers Cordage, a maker of rope and twine. Another constant in both photos is the portion of the building visible on the right. It was constructed in 1917 to serve as an additional factory and warehouse for Christie, Brown & Co., a biscuit manufacturer. Today, this building is part of George Brown College – St. James Campus (City of Toronto Archives, E.L. Ruddy Company fonds, Fonds 1488, Series 1230, Item 2416)
The archive photo shows the Grads Club located in the corner building. This building originally opened in the mid-1910s as the Rex Theatre. By the early 1940s, it was renamed the Joy Theatre, and it ultimately closed in the mid-1950s, at which point it became the Grads Club. From 1989 to 2021, the building housed Stratenger’s Saloon. Today, it is home to Dave’s Hot Chicken (City of Toronto Archives, Alexandra Studio fonds, Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 463)
Built between 1919 and 1920, the theatre was one of Canada’s last combination vaudeville/movie-house theatres and was part of the Pantages chain. While Alexander Pantages operated it, it was owned by Famous Players. In 1929, the Pantages theatre chain collapsed. It was taken over completely by Famous Players, who renamed it the Imperial Theatre and began showing movies only the following year.
In 1972, the theatre underwent significant renovations, becoming one of the world’s first multiplexes when the interior was divided into six auditoriums. It reopened as the Imperial Six Theatre.
In the mid-1980s, new owners removed the partition walls and restored the theatre’s original interior style, returning it to a live theatre venue under its previous name, the Pantages. While the theatre has undergone a few ownership and name changes, including being known as the Canon Theatre, it has been owned by Mirvish Productions since 2008. It’s currently called the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre (City of Toronto Archives, Ken Webster Fonds 251, Series 1278, File 7)
SOURCE
- City of Toronto Heritage Register
- Heritage Toronto
- Ontario Heritage Trust
- Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada
- The Globe Newspaper Archives: Aug 18, 1862, pg 2 (Farquhar House, southeast corner of Dundas St E & George St)
- History of Toronto and County of York by C Pelham Mulvany, Adam Mercer & Christopher Blackett (1885), pg 362 (Farquhar House, southeast corner of Dundas St E & George St)
- Ontario Heritage Trust: 197 King St E (Nealon House, looking southwest on King St E from Frederick St)
- The Irish Canadian Newspaper Archives: Aug 29, 1889, pg 5 (Nealon House, looking southwest on King St E from Frederick St)
- The Irish Canadian Newspaper Archives: Dec 5, 1889, pg 5 (Nealon House, looking southwest on King St E from Frederick St)
- The Globe and Mail Newspaper Archives: Dec 22, 1979, pg 1 (Rawlinson Cartage Warehouse, southwest corner of St Joseph St & St Nicholas St)
- The Globe Newspaper Archives: Sep 10, 1907, pg 12 (Trader’s Bank Apartments, northeast corner of Bloor St W & Yonge St)
- Ontario Heritage Trust: 244 Victoria St (Pantages/Imperial/CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre)
- Photos: Denise Marie for TorontoJourney416
- Vintage Photos: City of Toronto Archives, Toronto Public Library, Archives of Ontario & CNE Heritage
- City of Toronto: Maps
- Toronto City Directory courtesy of Toronto Public Library
