Bruce Bell is the historian of St. Lawrence Neighbourhood and other areas of Downtown Toronto.
Read More »Bruce Bell: Music Hall dominated Toronto while Vaudeville ruled U.S.
Bruce Bell– A few years back my good friend and neighbour the late actress Billie Mae Richard and I were strolling around the neighbourhood when we found ourselves walking through a nondescript parking lot on the southeast corner of Victoria ...
Read More »‘Intellectual enchantress’ drops hubby, city she detests
Bishop’s Block is on the northeast corner of Simcoe and Adelaide, a block west of University Ave. When first built in 1829 it was considered the finest apartment building of its day with stores on the ground floor and private ...
Read More »Bell in Brief: Basilica’s House of Providence gave shelter until Gardiner took it down
The House of Providence once stood in the middle of a huge park, just south of the still-standing St. Paul’s Basilica (on Power St. east of Parliament) with which it was affiliated. It had wings three storeys tall and was ...
Read More »Bruce Bell: House of Industry was ‘apalling’ alternative to the streets
As a historian, I really enjoyed watching Victorian Slum House on PBS. It shows (in quiet, realistic and graphic terms) how life was in the slums of London in the 19th century. We here in Toronto also had some horrid slums ...
Read More »Bell in Brief: Precious windows at Royal Bank Plaza made with gold
The Royal Bank Plaza on the northeast corner of Front and Bay streets was completed in 1979. The twin towers have more than 14,000 windows set into brushed aluminum frames. The golden-hued glass was manufactured by Canadian Pittsburgh Industries which used 2,500 ounces (71,000 grams) ...
Read More »Bell in Brief: Killer coal dust once darkened our Downtown
The burning of coal at the gigantic Consumers Gas complex—some of which still survives in the Berkeley and Front area—blackened the rich marble and brick facades of almost every building in Toronto. It was also coal gas that killed thousands ...
Read More »Bell in Brief: Local theatre made its first bow at Frank’s Hotel
Downtown Toronto’s first local theatrical performance with a cast made up entirely of local actors took place in 1820. That first play was a production of “The School for Scandal”by Richard Sheridan. It was put on in a back room ...
Read More »Bell in Brief: Superman would not recognize today’s Metropolis
Joe Shuster, the co-creator of the comic book Superman, once worked as a newsboy for the Toronto Star which at that time stood on the north side of King Street just west of Bay St. In an interview he gave ...
Read More »Bell in Brief: Hutchinson Block still stands on Wellington
John Hutchison was born in Scotland in 1817 and moved with his parents to Montreal in 1828. He went on to be employed with the mercantile firm of Torrance and Co. and in 1847 he came to Toronto where he ...
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