High up at the top of one of the towers of Casa Loma sits this statue of a lion standing guard over the building and watching all who enter.
My camera was in for repairs in the east end of downtown (not my normal side of the city) and when I came out of the shop, I spotted this wonderful mural down a side street. I could see no signature but I am sure it is by the artist Elicser and could find no info on when it was done either. The building is called The Magic Building and he has certainly chosen great images for it although I have no idea why that is the name.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click here for more murals.
We finally got a bit of sunny weather this week and the Narcissus have started popping open all over the city. With the cool spring we are having the flowers should last longer than normal, I hope. I captured these beauties on the hill leading up to Casa Loma.
The driveway into yesterday's condos is nicely landscaped and all along Front St the gardens are bordered by these stainless steel panels that have shapes of willow leaves cut out of them. I particularly like the shadows which they throw onto the sidewalk. The artist for these is Marlene Hilton Moore, the same as yesterday.
The wavy structure seen in yesterday's pic is actually a pedestrian walkway joining 2 condo towers that is part of an art installation called Orenda. It was designed by Canadian artist Marlene Hilton Moore and installed here in 2003 at CityPlace as part of the city required art component of the development. The swirling stainless steel pieces are said to represent the branches of a willow tree wrapping protectively around the skywalk.
These are even more condo towers from the CityPlace area where the wonderful pedestrian bridge and the art pieces that I have shown lately are to be found, although these are on the north side of the railyard just down Front St from Draper St and its old cottages. There is a lot of controversy over the number of towers being built in this area but construction seems to be continuing and more and more people are now living in this previously industrial space. Tomorrow I will give you a close-up of the wavy structure visible in the middle of the pic towards the bottom.
This is the coat-of-arms visible on the clock tower in yesterday's pic. It was originally installed on the Yorkville Town Hall, which was located around the corner on Yonge St, when the hall was built in 1859. The Village of Yorkville became part off Toronto in 1883 but I'm not sure when the town hall was demolished and the coat-of-arms moved to the firehall. The symbols represent the occupations of the first councillors of the village - a brewer, a bricklayer, a carpenter, a blacksmith, and a butcher.
The letters below each symbol stand for the last initial of the respective councillor. The Beaver is the official animal of Canada and has been used on coats-of-arms since the 1600s.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click here for more signs.
