This is the section of the roof over the altar in the Chapel of St Alban the Martyr at the Royal St George's College, a private school for boys in the Annex neighbourhood. The chapel was intended to be part of a cathedral to be constructed in the late 1800s but the cathedral was never built, leaving us with a magnificently detailed chapel. The short horizontal beams are called hammers thus making this a hammerbeam roof, the only one in a church in Canada and it is actually a double-hammerbeam since there are 2 hammers along each of the ribs of the roof. The 2 angels look down right above the altar of the chapel.
Taking part in Inspired Sunday. Click here for more churches & other religious buildings.
Another shot from the grounds of Spadina House shows a portion of the stone wall that surrounds much of the property and also the wonderful gate that you find at the end of the path through part of the garden. Everything is so lush!
The season seems to be a bit behind the normal schedule with the Horse Chestnut trees around town all abloom now. I spotted this majestic one on the grounds of Spadina House. I wonder if kids still play conkers with the chestnuts - we would put a shoe lace through a hole drilled in the centre of the nut and then you swing the nuts at each other in an attempt to break the other one. Somehow I don't think it can compete with video games.
This mural is found above the entrance into the front of yesterday's building. This part of the building was built in 1965 and Toronto artist York Wilson was commissioned to create this 5 part mural called "Communication". Each of the 20' X 5' panels represents a stage in man's progress in communication - writing, drawing, music, voice, and satellites - although all the images are quite abstract. I have returned several times to shoot this work since the light changes radically throughout the day as the sun passes by the surrounding skyscrapers. This is my best effort so far in getting all 5 panels nicely lit!
I was taking a shortcut along a small street that is mainly a service street in the downtown business district when I spotted this lovely door and sign, so I immediately pulled over to investigate. I love all the carving around the door and in the sign itself which identifies this as a Bell Telephone building. So much detail for a back door! Bell Telephone is the supplier of most phone services in Canada I think. I could find no info on the age of this part of the building but will show you some detail from the newer front tomorrow.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click here for more signs.
Film-shoots are really common on the streets of downtown Toronto but not all of them have such a great trailer like this Airstream. This shoot was for a cookie commercial and involved renting a local cafe for a whole day and employing a huge crew including caterers. And then the next day they were at another location just down the block. All for a short commercial! The reflection on the trailer was a surprise when I looked at the shot later.
This is another mural in the Islington neighbourhood done by John Kuna - this one done in 2011 and titled "Aftermath" and depicts the clean-up that took place after Toronto was hit by Hurricane Hazel in October of 1954. 81 people were killed in Ontario during the hurricane, most of them in Toronto when the houses on a whole west-end street were swept away during the night by a raging Humber River. Those floodplains have now been turned into parks but extreme flooding that is taking place in Western Canada now has demonstrated that whole towns can be flooded out in very short time periods no matter what precautions are taken.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click here for more murals.
