Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Princes' Gates

The Princes' Gates mark the eastern entry to the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) which are located right downtown along the lakeshore and are the site of the CNE, numerous trade & retail shows, a hockey arena, soccer field, and also the Toronto Indy race which takes place in a couple of weeks. The Beaux-Arts gates were designed by Toronto architects Chapman and Oxley, and the sculpture of winged Victory was done by Charles McKechnie although the sculpture was badly deteriorating and was replaced in 1986 with an exact scale polymer plastic copy. The gates were opened in 1927 to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Canadian Confederation and have been known since as the Princes' gates because 2 of the royal princes came to the dedication. This was a drive-by/red-light shot!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great drive by photo, and magnificent gates!

ArtandArchitecture-SF.com said...

Not bad for a drive by shot. Gorgeous gates, thank you for including the history.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

No way ! You're pretty good at the old drive by Pat :) the Victory statue looks very impressive, white against the blue sky, fab!

Unknown said...

A beautiful arch!

TexWisGirl said...

it is quite impressive!

Sharon said...

What a great shot! I'm glad I'm not the only person who does drive-by shots out the car window.

Deb said...

Glad you had your camera ready, nice gates!

Shaun said...

That is one pretty imposing gateway right there.

Lowell said...

You can drive by this taking a photo anytime. You darn Canadians have so many neat buildings and other monuments! Very impressive. You didn't have to mention that the sculpture has been redone in "polymer plastic" though. Sheesh! ;)

Antjas said...

When I was a child, after a two hour drive, this magnificent gate was the entrance to a world of wonders - the CNE!

William Kendall said...

I've passed by it many times, but my family hasn't been to the Ex since I was a child.

Jack said...

Nice drive by shot, RedPat. We have a winged victory statue that I have shown before. Maybe I need to go look at it again and see if there is a second photo to take.

Randy said...

What a beautiful monument.

hamilton said...

Those red lights are useful!
And you were facing the right direction :)

Michael Rowland said...

For some reason it reminds me of craft shows ,,,M

EG CameraGirl said...

Very nice shot of the Princes' Gates, RedPat! I hope you were standing in a very safe spot when you were there. I always feel like cars are coming from every direction when I'm there. :))

EG CameraGirl said...

Oh, it just sunk in that this was a DRIVE-BY! You were very brave. :)))

Halcyon said...

I love that you can still drive through that arch.