1930's Toronto Archives

Another month is zipping on by like it was almost never here, can you believe it? I have had a fairly quiet month, beside my yearly Vegas Trip for German Karneval (Mardi Gras), I have stayed pretty close to home. This means I have had lots of time to do some reading and some YouTube watching. Today’s post is a highlight of some of the vintage goodies I have enjoyed this month.

Today’s post features:

Women pilots making their mark in history
Badass animals of WWII
Stories of a shop girl
Fiestaware
Room to Room Guide to Vintage Shabby Chic
Rare photos from the birth of the ‘New Look’
Miss Toronto Pageant 1938 & 39
Mary Tyler Moore Bloopers

Grab a coffee, sit back and enjoy.

1. Bessie Colman and the Women Pilots History Shouldn’t Forget by CNN

Thursday’s Google Doodle was of a woman, named Bessie Coleman. Bessie was the first African-American woman to hold a pilot license. She was also the first American woman to hold an international pilot license. Wow this is truly fantastic!

I have had never heard of Bessie but she will forever be on my mental mantle of awesomeness, right up there with the other women mentioned in the above article.

2. The 26 Most Badass Animals from WWII by Buzzfeed

3. There is a Twitter page called ‘Diary Dear‘ that tells the tales of a shop girl living in Toronto, starting in 1938. They tweet a page from her diary every day and so far what I have read has been fascinating for the vintage lover like myself. I will be interested to see if they get far enough into her diary where she begins to mention WW2, and what it is like in Toronto at that time.

4. The ingenious story of how Fiestaware invaded the baby boomer kitchen by Stephanie Buck

5. Need ideas on how to give your home a bit of that Vintage Shabby Chick look? Then this Room by Room Guide to Vintage Chic by Laura Preston, inspired by the Rosebery Hotel is perfect for you!

6. LIFE with Dior: Rare photos from the birth of the ‘New Look‘

Designer Christian Dior in his Paris salon, 1948 — Source: The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

7. “Toronto, the city with the most beautiful girls”. Miss Toronto Pageant 1938 and 1939 (LOVE THIS!)

8. Sadly we lost the wonderful Mary Tyler Moore this week, but I think one of the best ways to remember her, is thru laughter. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend Friends!

Liz

During the 1920’s and 30’s, Toronto experienced an Art Deco building boom. Today’s Vintage Photo Tuesday will showcase a collection of some of those Buildings.

Vintage Photo Tuesday_ 1930's Art Deco Toronto

Eglinton Cinema-1936 Is considered one of the city’s greatest examples of Art Deco Style. It cost $200,000 to build, which was a lot of money when the city was in the middle of the Great Depression. It had 775 seats and was in the cinema business till 2002. Today the building has been renovated, keeping many of its Art Deco design and is used for Weddings and other functions. You can see the remodel HERE.

1930s vintage photo of Eglinton Theatre in 1936 from the Toronto Archives — Source: Historic Toronto

Interior-Lots of Art Deco details to behold.

1930s vintage photo of the Interior of the Eglinton Theatre Toronto Archives — Source: Historic Toronto

View of one part of the Lobby. Even the lettering on the sign is in the Art Deco style.

1930s vintage photo of the Eglinton Cinema vintage image of lobby Toronto 1936 — Source: Toronto Archives

Eaton’s 7th Floor Auditorium (image 1) and the Eatons Round Room (image 2) are recognized as a tour de force of Art Deco design. These spaces are located in the former Eaton’s College Street store (famous Canadian Retailer) in downtown Toronto (Source).

1930s vintage photo of the Eatons auditorium in the Art Deco style — Source: Historic Places

The series of Art Deco-style rooms, designed by French architect Jacques Carlu, muralist Natacha Carlu, and architect René Cera within the Eaton’s College Street department store, was built in 1930, opened in 1931 and sealed off by 1970 until they were restored in 2000 – 2003.

1930s Photo: Here is John David Eaton and Lady Eaton, his mother, arrive at the opening ceremony for the company’s College St. store. Same store where the 2 rooms shown above are found.

1930s Photo: Here is John David Eaton and Lady Eaton, his mother, arrive at the opening ceremony for the company's College St. store. They are wearing 1930s fashions — Source: BlogTO

Toronto Stock Exchange (1937), now the Design Exchange is one of my FAVORITE Art Deco Buildings in Toronto. It’s truly stunning.

1930s vintage photo: Toronto Stock Exchange (1937), now the Design Exchange is a stunning Art Deco Building in Toronto — Source: BlogTO

Here is an image I took during a recent visit to the building. These are the images you see above the clock from the photo above.

The TSX is a fantastic example of streamline moderne, art deco and stripped classicism architecture. The architects produced an elegant yet sturdy looking edifice with classic art deco touches throughout (source).

Design Exchange Toronto Stock Exchange Vintage Art Deco Building — Source: Blog TO

Maple Leaf Gardens (1931) – Canada’s “Cathedral of Hockey”. It took the builders only 5 1/2 months to construct the building and it has been home to twelve Canadian sports teams since first opening its doors. Today it’s renovated and is now the Athletic centre for the University I attended, Ryerson. You can see the renovation HERE.

Art Deco Highlights: Decorative stonework around the massive vertical rows of windows and fancy brickwork.

Maple Leaf Gardens 1930s vintage image — Source: Mattamy Athletic Centre

Here is a renovated image of the front of the building in present day (better view of the design).

For a ‘Non Hockey’ history post on the Gardens, check out one I wrote HERE (P.S. It includes Elvis!).

Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto Art Deco Architecture.

Tip Top Tailors Building.(slips in as 1929 Building). A Canadian menswear clothing retailer founded in Toronto in 1909. It is now a renovated Condo Building (and my husbands dream, win the lottery home).

Art Deco Highlights: Colourful decorative tile above the upper windows, giant concrete piers with pyramidical roofs, and elaborate carvings of people and mythological animals around the main entrance (source).

Tip Top Tailers Building 1930s Art Deco Building-Tip Top Tailors Building.(slips in as 1929 Building). A Canadian menswear clothing retailer founded in Toronto in 1909 — Source: Toronto Public Library

Here are some modern images of the building, so that you can see the design better. Starting with the Lobby.

Tip Top Tailors art deco lobby toronto — Source: Toronto Livings

The Art Deco front doors.

tip top tailers front of building Art Deco Architecture. — Source: Lomax Management

Ad for Tip Top Tailors as seen in the Vancouver Sun, Oct 18th, 1935.

art deco tip top tailers 1930s vintage ad — Source: Vancouver Sun

And there is a brief overview of just SOME of the Art Deco beauties we have in Toronto for Vintage Photo Tuesday. If you ever visit, make sure you check them out.

Question time: Do you like Art Deco Style? Architecture? If not, what is your favorite?

Further Reading:

Vintage Toronto Blog Posts Archive

Liz

Tag: 1930’s Toronto

My favorite Vintage Online Reads & Videos for January 2017

Vintage Photo Tuesday: 1930’s Art Deco Toronto