;.;
I am almost inconsolable today over the heartbreaking loss of a Toronto building that had so much potential, but was partially burned down on Monday, months after a wall of it fell off. Today, the city had to tear down a further portion of it to continue investigating the fire.
God knows I love history, and I love seeing old Toronto buildings lovingly restored to their former glory. I mean, yeah, okay, you can't save every heritage building, but this building was one of the larger and older buildings on Yonge and lies in a big tourist area. There are actually a lot of old, though small, buildings running up Yonge all the way to Bloor, where things get new again. A lot of them are in rough shape. Some have been restored, while others rot (with or without tenants in them, most with). It's hard to watch because Yonge is such a hub of the city. In Toronto, Yonge is like a grand meridian dividing the eastern and western sides of the city. When you hear a street with an east or west designation, it usually tells you which side of Yonge that location sits on. That's how critical Yonge street is to Toronto, so I feel it is a street that should always show off its best.
But back to this building. It's slowly been surrounded by these giant modern buildings that, while cool, lack the delicate beauty this building once had. You can see in older pictures of the building the workmanship that went into things, like the stained glass windows and wood details. This page describes the architectural importance of the building as having displayed aspects of two popular Victorian styles: Second Empire and Romanesque Revival. I had not really heard of Second Empire until now, and was familiar with Romanesque and some of the revival styles, Neo-Romanesque having been popular in Toronto for a time... I believe Queen's Park, the seat of government for the Province of Ontario, is in this style.
Anyway, I'm sure a lot of people here will sympathize with Toronto's horrible loss. On top of it all, the fire was a six alarm and a few firefighters almost died trying to put the thing out. It has also blocked off Yonge Street completely for a block for the past three days. The fire started around 3-4 am Monday morning, and they just reopened a portion of it today (Thursday) afternoon. It was a major headache because it's such a busy area and the businesses around there need to open again.
Also, I'm still recovering from that bad cold, but this is my best day since last Wednesday (I don't want to die today, for example. Yay!)
God knows I love history, and I love seeing old Toronto buildings lovingly restored to their former glory. I mean, yeah, okay, you can't save every heritage building, but this building was one of the larger and older buildings on Yonge and lies in a big tourist area. There are actually a lot of old, though small, buildings running up Yonge all the way to Bloor, where things get new again. A lot of them are in rough shape. Some have been restored, while others rot (with or without tenants in them, most with). It's hard to watch because Yonge is such a hub of the city. In Toronto, Yonge is like a grand meridian dividing the eastern and western sides of the city. When you hear a street with an east or west designation, it usually tells you which side of Yonge that location sits on. That's how critical Yonge street is to Toronto, so I feel it is a street that should always show off its best.
But back to this building. It's slowly been surrounded by these giant modern buildings that, while cool, lack the delicate beauty this building once had. You can see in older pictures of the building the workmanship that went into things, like the stained glass windows and wood details. This page describes the architectural importance of the building as having displayed aspects of two popular Victorian styles: Second Empire and Romanesque Revival. I had not really heard of Second Empire until now, and was familiar with Romanesque and some of the revival styles, Neo-Romanesque having been popular in Toronto for a time... I believe Queen's Park, the seat of government for the Province of Ontario, is in this style.
Anyway, I'm sure a lot of people here will sympathize with Toronto's horrible loss. On top of it all, the fire was a six alarm and a few firefighters almost died trying to put the thing out. It has also blocked off Yonge Street completely for a block for the past three days. The fire started around 3-4 am Monday morning, and they just reopened a portion of it today (Thursday) afternoon. It was a major headache because it's such a busy area and the businesses around there need to open again.
Also, I'm still recovering from that bad cold, but this is my best day since last Wednesday (I don't want to die today, for example. Yay!)