Unbuilt Toronto

A History of the City That Might Have Been

Mark Osbaldeston

• Publisher: Dundurn Press
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781459711723
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Unbuilt Toronto explores never-realized building projects in and around Toronto, from the city's founding to the twenty-first century. Delving into unfulfilled and largely forgotten visions for grand public buildings, landmark skyscrapers, highways, subways, and arts and recreation venues, it outlines such ambitious schemes as St. Alban's Cathedral, the Queen subway line and early city plans that would have resulted in a Paris-by-the-Lake.

Readers may lament the loss of some projects (such as the Eaton's College Street tower), be thankful for the disappearance of others (a highway through the Annex), and marvel at the downtown that could have been (with underground roads and walkways in the sky).

Featuring 147 photographs and illustrations, many never before published, Unbuilt Toronto casts a different light on a city you thought you knew.

SOURCES

Chapter 1: 1788 Plan for Toronto

Arthur, Eric and Stephen A. Otto. Toronto: No
Mean City, 3^rd ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003.

Gentilcore, R. Louis and C. Grant Head. Ontario’s History in Maps. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1983.

Stelter, Gilbert A. “The Classical Ideal: Cultural and Urban Form in Eighteenth-Century Britain and America.” Journal of Urban History 10, No. 4 (August 1984).

Chapter 2: Waterfront Walks and Gardens

Careless, J.M.S. Toronto to 1918: An Illustrated History. Toronto: James Lorimer & Co.; National Museum of Man; National Museums of Canada, 1984.

Doolittle, Robyn. “What happened to the city’s park plan?” The Toronto Star, 3 August 2007.

Frith, Edith G. “Russell, Peter,” in The Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. V. Toronto: University of Toronto Press and Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 1983.

“Garrison Common History: The Western Park.” The Fife and Drum 9, No. 4 (August 2005).

Gentilcore and Head. Ontario’s History in Maps.

Harding, Kathryn. “Simcoe’s grand idea.” The Toronto Star, 19 May 2002.

Otto, Stephen. “The Fair Green.” Condo Voice (St. Lawrence Condominium Ratepayers Association), No. 8 (February 1996).

———. “How the Railways Strangled Fort York.” The Fife and Drum 11, No. 2 (July 2007).

Reeves, Wayne. Visions for the Metropolitan Waterfront, 1: Toward Comprehensive Planning, 1852–1935. Toronto: Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto, 1993.

Stewart, Graeme. “History repeats itself.” Spacing (Winter/Spring 2007).

Toronto Esplanade Act. (Statutes of Ontario, 1853, Chap. 219).

Toronto Esplanade Amendment Act. (Statutes of Ontario, 1857, Chap. 80).

(City of Toronto) Walks and Gardens Working Group. Report on the Walks and Gardens Trust. (31 October 2001).

Chapter 3: Plans of the Civic Improvement Committee and Advisory City Planning Commission

Advisory City Planning Commission. Report of the Advisory City Planning Commission. Toronto, 1929.

Carr, Angela. Toronto Architect Edmund Burke. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1995.

“The city and Dominion Square.” The Globe, 24 April 1911.

Civic Improvement Committee. Report of the Civic Improvement Committee. Toronto, 1911.

“Civic Improvement in Toronto.” The Canadian Architect and Builder 20, No. 3 (1907).

“Council to extend University Avenue.” The Toronto Daily Star, 23 September 1930.

Dendy, William. Lost Toronto. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1993.

“Elbow room.” The Globe, 1 May 1911.

“Fifteen Years of Assured Steady Employment” (advertisement by the Citizens’ Committee for a Greater Toronto). The Toronto Daily Star, 28 December 1929.

“Forces at work to delay deepening of Welland Canal.” The Toronto Daily Star, 19 January 1912.

Gentilcore and Head. Ontario’s History in Maps.

“A great civic centre.” The World, 29 April 1911.

Hines, Thomas S. Burnham of Chicago: Architect and Planner. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1979.

Hunt, Geoffrey. John M. Lyle: Toward a Canadian Architecture. Kingston: Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 1982.

“The improvements.” The Toronto Daily Star, 7 January 1930.

“Improvements for Toronto.” The Canadian Architect and Builder 17, No. 201 (September 1904).

Lyle, John M. “Proposed Federal and Municipal Scheme for Toronto.” Construction 4, No. 8 (July 1911).

“Plan of financing called an outrage.” The Toronto Daily Star, 26 June 1930.

“Ratepayers reject town planning by-law in record total vote.” The Toronto Daily Star, 1 January 1930.

Report of the Civic Department Heads Re the Advisory City Planning Commission Report for the Improvement of the City of Toronto. Toronto, 1929.

“University Ave. extension follows city plan route.” The Toronto Daily Star, 23 April 1930.

“Vimy Circle opposed by aldermen again.” The Toronto Daily Star, 12 April 1930.

Wilson, William H. The City Beautiful Movement. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989.

Chapter 4: Eaton Centre

Archives of Ontario. F 229-501. T. Eaton Co. Fonds. Toronto Eaton Centre Property Management Records.

Baker, Alden. “Eaton’s refuses to revive $260 million development.” The Globe and Mail, 20 May 1967.

Best, Michael. “$200 million complex in Queen-Bay area.” The Toronto Daily Star, 15 April 1964.

“City names team to try to save Eaton centre.” The Toronto Daily Star, 19 May 1967.

“A day that will decide the future of Toronto.” The Toronto Daily Star, 24 June 1966.

“‘Deal of century’ or price too low?” The Toronto Daily Star, 2 December 1965.

“Decide.” The Globe and Mail, 24 June 1966.

“Eaton’s bold plan wins support of former Metro, city opponents.” The Toronto Daily Star, 1 March 1966.

“Eaton Centre scrapped.” The Telegram, 18 May 1967.

“The Eaton Centre issue now is public space.” The Toronto Daily Star, 25 June 1966.

“Eaton’s offer ‘deal of a century’ says Givens.” The Telegram, 2 December 1965.

“Eaton plan just outline, Owen says.” The Globe and Mail, 28 June 1966.

“Eaton’s rejects new talks on scrapped centre.” The Toronto Daily Star, 20 May 1967.

“Eaton’s unveil $260 million plan for downtown area March 1.” The Toronto Daily Star, 16 February 1966.

“$8 million for city hall.” The Toronto Daily Star, 2 December 1965.

“Executive decision: Wreck city hall, lease land to Eaton’s.” The Toronto Daily Star, 22 June 1966.

“$500,000 ‘rent’ hint by Eaton’s.” The Telegram, 17 June 1966.

Freedman, Adele. “1966.” Toronto Life 30, No. 16 (November 1996).

“Futile to have anti-Eaton’s forces in negotiations — Allen.” The Telegram, 20 May 1967.

“Givens exultant, councillors OK Eaton’s big plan.” The Toronto Daily Star, 16 September 1965.

Greenberg, Ken. Dreams of Development [Catalogue of an Exhibition held August 18–October 28, 1984, The Market Gallery of the City of Toronto Archives]. Toronto: City of Toronto, 1984.

Haggart, Ron. “Bad deal, bad price, bad government.” The Toronto Daily Star, 27 June 1966.

———. “Why they voted to wreck the hall.” The Toronto Daily Star, 28 June 1966.

Hanrahan, William. “Approval of Eaton Centre by Metro and City likely.” The Gl...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Introduction
• Master Plans
• Church and Government
• Transportation
• Towers
• Arts, Letters and Leisure
• Epilogue
• Sources
• Index