20150228. An aerial sunset view of the towers of Toronto’s Bloor East Village.

20150228_6390_2015_1043x1200There is quite a concentration of tall buildings on Bloor Street starting at Yonge and going east. Note the sun streaming between buildings down Bloor street which stretches off into the sunset. If you look carefully you can identify Yonge and Bloor by the tall building under construction (1 Bloor East currently at 46/75 storeys) and the CIBC and Hudson’s Bay buildings.

20150227. In an aerial photo of Toronto, The CN Tower stand sentinel over the downtown west.

20150227. In an aerial photo of Toronto. The CN Tower stand sentSpadina Street stretches out to the north and if you look carefully you can see its intersections with King and Queen. Most of the King-Spadina Heritage Conservation District is also visible of which a study is being conducted. Queen West, Kensington Market, Chinatown and the Entertainment District are all visible.

To the right are the unmistakeable forms of the blue Art Gallery of Ontario and the checkered pattern of the Ontario College of Art’s Sharp Centre for Design. North of that in the top right corner is the massive brutalist Robarts Library and the University of Toronto Campus. In the foreground the Ritz Carlton dominates the skyline apart from the very tall CN Tower.

20150225. The Toronto skyline and Canadian National Exhibition Grounds from 2000 feet.

20150225_6373_2015_1800x1145From this point of view you can see how many more tall buildings we have – evidence that Toronto has more towers going up than any other city in North America. In the foreground, notice how large the Canadian National Exhibition grounds are and particularly how massive the Direct Energy conference centre is. It is the biggest squat square building in between the expressway and the lakeshore boulevard. And to the far right is the permanently sleepy Ontario Place. And finally I love how you can see the 32-year-deceased Hearn power plant on the other side of town in the barren port lands (reddish building with huge smokestack near water).

20150216. York University’s award-winning Seymour Schulich Building and Executive Learning Centre in Toronto. Hariri Pontarini Architects, 2004.

20150216. The award winning Seymour Schulich Building and ExecutHariri Pontarini Architects in joint venture with Robbie/Young + Wright Architects designed this building, a 2006 Governor General Medal in Architecture winner.

20150210. With Global Village Backpackers’ Hostel now closed, what’s next for this 1875 Second Empire building at King and Spadina?

20150210_6195_2015_1600x1100This building was originally the Richardson House. It was built in 1875 but then modified in 1882 and 1890. In 1917 it became the Spadina Hotel where Leonard Cohen and the Rolling Stones played, a Jack Nicholson film was made and Ernest Hemingway stayed. In 1997 it became the Global Village Backpacker’s Hostel. Late last year the owner died and the place was quickly closed up.