This is Vaughan Estate, the largest of the manors at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre that are used for event rentals. It was built in the Elizabethan style as a private home in 1931and was originally called "Donningvale" for its view along the Don River ravine. After restoration in 1991 it became an events venue and it has several ballrooms available for use.
This is another pic taken in the fall and it shows one of the wonderful Gothic Revival cottages that were extremely popular in Ontario before 1950. This one has had a modern addition put onto the back but the addition fits very well and doesn't overpower the original cottage at all.
This is the lantern that you could see on the fence in yesterday's post. I imagine it originally was lit by gas but it seems to only be decorative these days although I haven't been by in the dark to be sure!
This is one of the supports for the fence that runs along Bayview Ave and surrounds the Glendon Campus of York University. This is not a fence post that will be easily knocked over. I'll show you a close-up of that wonderful lantern tomorrow.
Taking part in Good Fences. Click HERE to see more fences from around the world.
These are more from the collection of WWl posters in the Vet's Centre at Sunnybrook. I must get the name of the person who donated the collection.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
This large painting can be found above the fireplace in the lounge of the Vet's Centre at Sunnybrook. The artist has used a lot of license with the poppies at the bottom leading to farmland and an inland lighthouse but I like it and it certainly lights up the room!
This is probably my favourite part of the Lawrence Ave mural with the colourful lady and fox looking up at the night sky while the old man's cup seems to be the source of magical lights. The figure fishing in the globe is perfect! It is hard to know which artist did which parts of the mural - Shalak, Smoky or Fiya.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
I took this shot in the fall of this elegant statue in the fall but somehow never used it. She stands in a small pool that empties into a lower pool and provides a bit of peace along a busy roadway.
There is nothing like a male Cardinal captured on snow (even if it is scattered with seeds) to show what a real red looks like. I shot this a couple of weeks ago just after a snow but the birds had already been eating and spilling! The Juncos are always a sign of winter but the Cardinals stay here all year.
Taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more creatures from around the world.
I love the look of this bench that is on the grounds of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre but I think I will wait until spring to try it out. In the background you can get an idea of how beautifully treed the grounds are and up towards the right top you get a peek of one of the manors which are rented out for events.
We have finally had a bit of fluffy snow and it certainly does brighten things up after all the grey days we have had. I thought this little white church in the north-west part of the city looked quite pretty in the snow!
Taking part in Good Fences. Click HERE to see more fences from around the world.
This is another from the collection of WWI posters that have been donated to the Veteran's Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. They are all behind glass so it is impossible to get a pic without reflections! I like all the posters on the wall in the poster itself.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
We finally got a good snowfall last week and I managed to get a few pics before the wind came up and blew it off all the tree branches. Not a good day for a picnic!
The next section of the Lawrence Ave mural features a wise owl who the artists say "is a creature of the night, and in this sense connects us to the world of dreams and otherworldliness". As we keep moving left into the woods you can see the surreal magical world emerging. Love the owl! I still have several more sections from this mural to show you over the next weeks.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
This is truly a united church since it is made up of the former St George's United Church and the Eglinton United Church who joined together in 1999 to from the Eglinton St George's United Church now located on the site of the former St George's. The main building was constructed in 1924 and the church school wing to the right was built in 1934. I'm not sure when the link section in the middle was added but it provides wonderful spaces for concerts and for event rentals - important things in this age of shrinking congregations, I bet.
Taking part in Inspired Sunday. Click HERE to see more religious buildings from around the world.
The vet's centre at Sunnybrook is in a well treed area and they have a lot of bird feeders out and it is amazing to see the variety of birds they attract in the middle of the city. This one feeder was taken over by these sweet Ruby-Crowned Kinglets ( I think). They may be Goldfinches in winter coats. Any birders out there may correct me on that ID!
The Vet's Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, where my dad is now, has a wonderful collection of Inuit art but it is all behind glass and hard to photograph without getting a lot of reflections. I particularly like this soapstone one which is titled Hunter and was done in 1970 by the artist Saralie (I think).
Taking part in Weekend Reflections. Click HERE to see reflections from around the world.
A shot from the archives, taken last fall while wandering down to College St for a Sunday brunch. This table is a tiny one - the fence behind it is only about two feet tall to give you an idea of scale. It looked so cute tucked into this overgrown garden.
Taking part in Good Fences. Click HERE to see more fences from around the world.
It was wonderful to see so many works by Turner all in one show at the AGO as I mentioned yesterday. It was much easier to get a pic of the poster outside the entrance to the show than it was to fight the crowds inside.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
There is a show of J.M.W. Turner paintings on at the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) and they actually allow photography but there were so many people there when I went that it was hard to take pics of the work. I thought I would take a crowd shot and was spied by this gentleman who didn't look totally amused!
This is the next section of the mural which I started to show you last week. The polar bears have evolved into a brown bear wandering in a lush forest but there seems to be a strange orb rising from the water! You can see some of the scary bits starting to surface now. Great work by Shalak Attack, Smoky, and Fiya. There is always a lot of traffic here so pardon the vehicle
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
I took this shot at James Gardens at the duck pond which seemed to be a really popular place on a cold day this week. I think the water was probably warmer than the icy-snow but I loved the way the bright orange feet stood out against the white!
I spotted this rooster very high up on the top of a steeple of a church on Bayview Ave, right across the road from yesterday's gatehouse. He doesn't seem to move in the wind so he must be purely decorative rather than a weathervane. I'll try to get a pic of the church one day but it is surrounded by a lot of wiring so will have to search for a good sightline.
This window belongs to what had been a gatehouse to a large estate, Uplands, off Bayview Ave. It is now a private home and the estate itself has been divided into smaller lots. The Tudor style gatehouse was built in 1921 and designed by Eden Smith and now has heritage designation. Just as I took this pic a bus passed behind me which you can see in the reflection!
Taking part in Weekend Reflections. Click HERE to see more reflections from around the world.
This gateway is one of the entrances into Glendon College which is part of York University, one of the three universities in the city. The college is located on what had been the estate of E. R. Wood, a prominent financier who had built his home here in 1924. You can see a stylized W in the centre of the gate itself. I have never been on the grounds of the college so will have to make a point of visiting it soon.
Taking part in Good Fences. Click HERE to see more fences from around the world.
I found this old poster in the lobby of the Veteran's Centre at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre which my father has recently moved into. There is a bit of printing at the bottom that suggests it may be from 1915 but I'm not sure about that.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
I spotted this sculpture titled "Hope" on the campus of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, in front of the wellness centre. It was done by artist Bill Lishman in 1999 and is perfect for its location don't you think?
A mural was completed this fall on Lawrence Ave in the northwest part of the city and it has to be the longest one I have ever seen so I am going to show sections of it over the next several Mondays. I watched the artists, Shalak Attack, Bruno Smoky, and Fiya Bruxa working on it for many weeks as I drove by. This easterly section shows the very vulnerable iceworld that is so threatened by climate change and the bears themselves seem to be evolving as we move from right to left across the pic. When the mural was completed there were some complaints made to the city about it being scary and a public meeting was held where the overwhelming response was positive so it will remain intact. I'll show the next section next week.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
This is the coach house that belongs to yesterday's McLean House. It too is rented out as an event venue with the revenue going towards research at Sunnybrook Hospital. These buildings are located on the huge campus of the hospital and are in wonderful treed hilly spaces. Wouldn't this make a fine place for a small wedding party?
This wonderful Georgian style home is now known as McLean House and is owned by the Sunnybrook Health Science Centre and is rented out as an event venue with the funds going towards research at the hospital. It was originally built in 1928 and was called Bay View as it sat atop rolling hills on 50 acres of land looking down towards Lake Ontario. Tomorrow I will show you its coach house.
The theme for January for the City Daily Photo Blog community is 'Photo Of The Year' and I chose this one which I had posted back in February 2015. I had taken it from the Centre Island ferry as I travelled back to the mainland and was surprised that the movement of the ferry hadn't disrupted the pic! You can see the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre (aka Skydome) beside it where our Toronto Blue Jays play baseball.
Taking part in the theme day. To see more Photos Of The year from around the world click HERE.
