By James Rayner
One of the more interesting walks that the Walking Club took this summer was to see the Yorkville Murals. Starting at the Bathurst subway station, we made our way east through the Annex over to Yorkville. The Annex, so named because Toronto annexed the area in the late 1800s, is a treasure of outstanding architecture, mainly Richardsonian Romanesque revival and Queen Anne styles with a few oddities or combinations thrown into the mix.
It is also the area where the Anglican Diocese of Toronto planned to build a great gothic cathedral to replace St. James’ which was considered too small. Alas, funding problems and World War I interfered, and the plan was abandoned with only the choir portion built along with the lower foundation walls for the nave. The site has since become Royal St. George’s College.
The Yorkville murals were impressive—the ones we saw. Unfortunately for us, two of the best were only seen from a drone: one was the top floor of a parking garage and the other was in the courtyard of Hotel W and could only be seen from a rented room. Nevertheless, the walk was interesting and informative about another section of our city that to many was unknown.
Starting at Bathurst and Bloor, we marveled at the transformation of the Honest Ed’s site into the condo city it has become.
Going one block east on Bloor, we turned north onto Albany Ave. up to St. Alban’s square which was part of the cathedral lands.
At the end of the square is the built section of the choir which serves as the chapel for Royal St. George’s College.
Beside the chapel is the house that was intended as the bishop’s residence, now part of the college.
Here are some of the architectural treasures we admired as we walked up and down the streets. Richardsonian Romanesque was popular at the end of the 19th century and features rounded windows and doors with heavy stone blocks in the foundations. Queen Anne style features whimsical towers and more delicate features.
Sometimes you get a combination of both:
We then crossed over Avenue Road into Yorkville, although documents suggest that Bedford Rd. is the border of old Yorkville.
Some murals were found at a gallery on Yorkville Avenue. Here is the entrance.
Up a flight of stairs, we found these murals:
This poster shows the mural on the top floor of the parking garage.
In the former Hazelton Lanes, an artist has created a tree out of discarded clothing that was destined for landfill.
One of the installations that we really wanted to see was on Bellair St., right on the pavement. As we rounded the corner from Yorkville, our hearts sagged as a large delivery truck was parked right on top of it and it wasn’t about to move as the crew was having lunch. Viewed from above, it was supposed to say: Look on the Bright Side.
The last site we visited was the Manulife Centre main entrance on Bloor St. On each wall was an LED mural.
We ended the tour with lunch at the Landwer café which features old-fashioned milkshakes.
Probus Club of Kingsway-Islington 