I found some old photos that i had taken in the late '80s. They're of saw tooth windows from #9 hanna street in toronto - a sprawling two storey ramshackle of a building in what is now known as "liberty villiage", so called for liberty street, one over from hanna,(it once had a prison or two on it so the street was named liberty for the first street one would walk upon after release). once the railways came through in the 1850's this area of the garrison reserve, just west of the fort, quickly turned to industry. #9 hanna was where they made armaments during the war, but i knew it as artists studios. alot of the building was empty and pretty run down. the windows, just details shown here, ran for hundreds of feet as i recall, so the photos are pretty long. rather than fixing broken bits over the years they would just seal the cracks by painting tar on them. i guess what i found appealing was the calligraphic nature of them: little franz klines in cinematic form.
alas they are long gone, the IT industry and now condos have cleaned up the area. i guess its cleaner now, but i have fond memories of the mess.
I found some old photos that i had taken in the late '80s. They're of saw tooth windows from #9 hanna street in toronto - a sprawling two storey ramshackle of a building in what is now known as "liberty villiage", so called for liberty street, one over from hanna,(it once had a prison or two on it so the street was named liberty for the first street one would walk upon after release). once the railways came through in the 1850's this area of the garrison reserve, just west of the fort, quickly turned to industry. #9 hanna was where they made armaments during the war, but i knew it as artists studios. alot of the building was empty and pretty run down. the windows, just details shown here, ran for hundreds of feet as i recall, so the photos are pretty long. rather than fixing broken bits over the years they would just seal the cracks by painting tar on them. i guess what i found appealing was the calligraphic nature of them: little franz klines in cinematic form.
alas they are long gone, the IT industry and now condos have cleaned up the area. i guess its cleaner now, but i have fond memories of the mess.
john - I think the tear down of old buildings and putting up condos are a shame - the city needs more charming buildings than pre-fab condos.
ReplyDeletehi arounna and john,
ReplyDeleteI am so stiff and tired from shoveling snow that I decided to take a break and discovered your very early blog posts. It is like discovering a secret room in a house you thought you knew well. I love them!! John writes so well. Please write some new posts john. You have so much knowledge and insight to share. xo