City
What the suburbs used to look like around Toronto
Although the former municipalities of Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough are sometimes still referred to as suburbs of Toronto, development in these areas over the last 30 years or so and the sprawl that's given birth to the Greater Toronto Area should probably mute such references. While not as dense as the downtown core, wide areas of Toronto's former suburbs have become more and more urbanized over the years — a point that was wonderfully captured by the Leona Drive Project a couple of years ago.
But what did they look like before this process took place?
Let's be honest, there aren't a lot of surprises to be found below. Sure there are a few shots of streets and intersections that have changed dramatically over the years (e.g. Jane and Finch), but the thing about suburban architecture is that its individual features tend to blend in with one another. Are we in Don Mills or Etobicoke? It's tough to tell, and I mean that quite literally: I'm still not confident in all the captions below.
There is, however, something fascinating about the post-war birth of the suburbs. In addition to demonstrating how mass car-ownership transformed planning principles, there's something else to be spotted in these photos. There's this strange combination of optimism and fear that seems built into the very form of these communities, from their well manicured but generally empty front yards to the eerie preponderance of abandoned tricycles. This is the stuff nostalgia is made out of.
Here's what Toronto's suburbs used to look like.
Don Mills
1956
Aerial of Don Mills Mall, late 1950s
Don Mills Mall, late 1950s
Near Don Mills and Lawrence, 1964
Scarborough
Eglinton near Kennedy, 1960s
Cliffside Drive in 1961
Brimley near Britwell, 1960s
Drive in theatre on Kennedy, 1960s
Esso gas station, 1970s
North York
Yonge and York Mills, 1957
Keele and Lawrence, 1959
York Downs Drive, 1950s
Dufferin and 401, 1960
Jane and Finch, 1960
1961
1961
1961
1962
1964
Yonge-Finch plaza, 1972
Etobicoke
Rexdale, 1950s
West Deane Park, 1961
Near Queensway and Royal York, 1961
Near Queensway and Royal York, 1961
1960s
Alderwood area, 1968
Alderwood area, 1968
Thistletown, late 1960s
Near Martingrove and Westway, 1960s
Near Martingrove and Westway, 1960s
Strip mall (but which one?), 1960s
Queensway and Wolgar, 1960s
Communal pool, 1960s
East York
Flemingdon Park, 1961
Flemingdon Park, 1961
Don Valley Parkway, 1961
Flemingdon Park, 1964
Bramalea
1961
1961
1961
Unknown locations
1960
1961
1963
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All photos from the Toronto Archives with the exception of those depicting Don Mills Mall, which derive from the Cadillac-Fairview archives.
Discussion
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I think that the lead photo of Don Mills really doesn't do the place justice. When it was created, it really was the standard all future subdivision developments tried to emulate. And according to the book Stroll, there were over 200 house designs used in that area (as opposed to the 4 or so you see now).
Not that I'm standing up for Don Mills... I just think that first photo really doesn't give it enough credit.
good article though
maybe a link to a google streetview is about as good as it can get, and again, only if the location information is specific (which is usually isn't)
Nice clean quiet neighbourhoods, looked it a great era to live in.
Pretty sure that strip mall is Richview Square Plaza [up the street from where I grew up], it still looks relatively similar ... Just a quick find of a current pic via flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashtonpal/4431578235/ .... though from different perspective, but w/those same columns.
I believe this is Richview Dquare, just east of the intersection Kipling + Eglington.
;)
(sorry, no troll intended)
I was a kid growing up in suburbs just like that (although spent a few years in similar suburbs in Vancouver). Undoubtedly nostalgia has glossed over a lot of the turbulence of the times, but these places were a great, safe place to grow up - at least at the time.
Our folks never worried about us walking home from school alone, going out on Halloween by ourselves. Sadly, some of those neighborhoods are crime-ridden cesspools today.
I actually think that it is the strip mall located at Martingrove and Westway (just west of Kipling Collegiate). They both look similar with the cedar shake canopy design. Maybe same developer built them.
On a side note, it's interesting this popped up today, I was reading a collection of academic journal articles on the inner suburbs that were released in a free ebook and what the past, present, and future holds for them against the outer suburbs (i.e. not the 4 boroughs shown here) and the old city. Interesting reads and I'll try to find the link to it for those interesting in urban planning.
Its the Brewers Retail Inc.
Current Location:
The Richview Square
250 Wincott Dr,
Etobicoke ON,
M9R 2R5
Unfortunately, my folks moved around a lot when I was a kid. However, the advantage is that I got to grow up in ALL forms of environments. We had a home on 10 acres north of King City, then we moved to Islington, north of Woodbridge on an 80 acre lot (back when Woodbridge was 2,500 people!), then to Vancouver where we lived in South Van, a stone's throw from Marine Drive, and then East Van, at Dundas/Naniamo. From there to a brief stint at my grandfather's in Rexdale, then to Bolton on another farm.
After that my mother and I parted ways, and I moved to my father's apartment on Bathurst St at the peak of Lastman days.
Most of my family lives in the suburbs. Since adulthood, I've lived downtown for most of the past 30 years, including St Jamestown when it was still nice and before, well, before it became what it is today.
I would not choose to live in the suburbs, although I appreciate the need for them. To me, I'd either live right downtown with the fire trucks and the crack hoes, or buy a place in Caledon. That is MY choice.
I do not derisively dismiss YOUR choice of where you would like to live. Both a downtown 400 sq ft box, 100 meters in the sky and a 1,200 foot bungalow in Don Mills have their place.
I'll tell you another area I would not live: these so-called gentrified neighborhoods in the Annex, the Junction or Riverdale. Sure, the 3,500 sq ft ex-mansions are gorgeous, but I drive along Dundas St in ANY direction and tell me those 100 year old brick shanties are not 'sad' or 'soulless.'
(Make sure you note all the lean-to garages on Dundas E.
"Jane and Finch, 1960" = at least 1963 as that's the first year for, funnily enough, THAT year Ford as well.