Looking southwest towards the intersection of Yonge St and Bloor St, in the Bay-Cloverhill and Yorkville neighbourhoods of Toronto.
The archive photo shows Yonge St over 55 years ago. In the right foreground is the former Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce building. Across Bloor St W stands Stollery’s clothing store, while a few doors down are the Golden Nugget Tavern and the Uptown Theatre. Notice the illuminated Bloor St E street sign on the left.
Stollery’s was established in 1901 as a gentlemen’s furnishing shop located at 750 Yonge St. A decade later, the store moved to its prominent location at the southwest corner of Yonge and Bloor. In 1928, Mr. Stollery purchased the property for $400,000 and commissioned architects S.B. Coon & Son, who designed the white, two-storey building with a red-tiled roof, which was completed in 1929. In 2014, Stollery’s property was sold, and in October of that year, the store announced its closure. The building was demolished in January 2015.
Since 2017, an 85-storey tower, now known as One Bloor West, has been under construction on the site. It is set for completion in 2028 and will be the tallest building in Canada.
Then and Now
SOURCE
- City of Toronto Heritage Register
- Heritage Toronto
- Ontario Heritage Trust
- Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada
- The Globe Newspaper Archives: Jul 23, 1928, pg 13
- The Globe and Mail Newspaper Archives: Oct 8, 2014, pg B1
- Photo: Denise Marie for TorontoJourney416
- Vintage Photo: City of Toronto Archives
- City of Toronto: Maps
- Toronto City Directory courtesy of Toronto Public Library
