City
Toronto's Forgotten Landmarks: Bank Of Toronto at 205 Yonge Street
The derelict Bank of Toronto at 205 Yonge Street had always struck me as an architectural anomaly. Built in 1905 of Lennox design, the austere neo-classical facade always seemed to me a sad symbol of modern decay.
Several years ago, long before the current economic crisis, a visiting friend asked me why there were two massive abandoned banks across the street from one of Toronto's most popular malls - the only answer I could give at the time was "well, there used to be three?"
Gears are finally in motion to redevelop this magnificent piece of Toronto history, which started a few years back when a visiting Irish entrepreneur fell in love with the spot, co-purchased the property, and proudly flew his native flag above the main entrance.
For those of you wondering about the bizarre 'parkette' between this bank and its sister, it used to be a bar called 'The Colonial Tavern' until the 1970s, when it was leveled . Also of note is the seemingly anachronistic wheelchair ramp to the buildings south - an appendage added to the edifice during Heritage Toronto's occupancy of the site, which lasted from 1992 until as recently as 2001.
Many of you will recognize the beautiful main arcade/atrium of the building, as it featured prominently in the television series Flashpoint recently - a show with an odd fondness for many of my usual haunts...
The Bank of Toronto itself was founded in the late 1850s, with its original location being farther East, on Church St...
Sadly, the beautiful dome on the roof of the old bank is a fake, as my visit to the top floor revealed...
Yonge street intervenes on a very telling conversation between 205 and its modern surroundings; it appears that the shadow of annihilation rests in and on every building, old and new alike. In a very Hegelian moment, Paul Virilio once noted that "you could say that architecture is nothing but the art of making ruins."
(To see the rest of the photos from this set, as well as high-res. versions of the ones above, please visit my flickr slide-show below.)
Discussion
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It is an odd space, especially the main arcade, but they have already started to put up heritage photos / plaques around, so it might just serve as an atrium, with the rest of the building as offices, etc. Again, these (the info-boards) may have been there because the building was occupied by Toronto Heritage...I don't know the details in this regard...
jonathan@blogTO
I watched one episode of Flashpoint - hostage situation in a bank...I recognize the hallway shots from the episode :)
Actually, the funny part is that if you walk behind the south building you mentioned, there is a hole in the door you can peek through to reveal that there are worker lights on, and that they've been doing work there as well! It looks fairly boring compared to 205 though...
jonathan@blogTO
ps. Keidi - if you're the Keidi I think you are, we've actually met several times for explorin' - you can e-mail me for details...
Back in those days, bank managers had revolvers, so who knows who fired the shot?
jonathan@blogTO
Also, both bank buildings were featured in their exhibit "Building Storeys" this year:http://www.heritagetoronto.org/building-storeys-photo-exhibit-torontos-aging-spaces
I got to check out 'Building Storeys' at the Gladstone - very interesting work!
jonathan@blogTO
Yonge St. branch to the Bay/|Queen branch.
The CIBC to the south closed its doors when the Eaton
Centre opened up and it moved in on the lowest level
opposite Shoppers' Drug Mart.
The Eaton Centre caused a general emptying out of
street stores on Yonge Street. Birks Jewellers and
Tip Top Tailors also followed suit and their buildings
still stand 3 decades on having fallen into desultory
use by their tenants.
Indoor malls and underground concourses have sucked the
life out of the streets of the centre city. There was
a greater vibrancy and each store was individually special
rather than pattern-book-predictable in its looks
and general appearance.
O, give me back the days when people dressed up to go
to Yonge Street!
Let's hope this Irish entrepreneur does something with a public purpose once something happens.
As an addendum, the current developers have contacted me regarding the images, and asked to use them to present to Heritage Toronto (as well as taking some more B&W's)... : )
jonathan@blogTO
it was deliberately designed to have blank walls facing yonge street, so that no "bums" or other street people could find niches in which to sleep, perchance to piss, etc. this resulted in the affected blocks essentially dying from lack of interest in strolling. people just wanted to get thru the spot asap.
the colonial was a favourite spot for musicians. gary burton, thelonius monk, rahsaan roland kirk, carmen mcrae, fatha hines, george shearing and oscar peterson are among the many with whom we shared the air. tearing it down caused an uproar met with the typical toronto expression of a shrug (no wonder the city went wild for trudeau)
True shame and embarrassment every time I walk past the now caged front of this stunning building.
Who is the mysterious Irish co-owner of 205 Yonge street???
http://www.thestar.com/news/ideas/article/698250
Thanks for you (very) rapid response.
It was a car dealer from Waterford in Ireland (Tommy Farrell) who bought # 205. Word is there was/is a partner!
E.