Join me & the Tokina 12-24mm in a wordy little walking tour

[JeffR]

Down Toronto's Don River to the bay and back up through the oldest part of town:

The first bridge across the Don was described by Elizabeth Simcoe, wife of the city's founder, in 1796. ‘I passed Playter’s picturesque bridge over the Don; it is a butternut tree fallen across the river, the branches still growing full leaf. Mrs Playter being timorous, a pole was fastened through the branches to hold by,’ Mrs Simcoe’s diary noted. Today's bridges aren't so Romantic.



Highways converge near the mouth of the river, which was once a huge wetland. The river now meets the harbor via a flood-controlled channel. A couple of centuries ago, some decent landscape painters recorded the pastoral beauty of the Lower Don Valley. This is how it looks now:





Downtown from the Keating Channel, the mouth of the Don:



I loved this old truck, parked in the Distillery District:







A little history of the Distillery District: The Gooderham & Worts site is the largest remaining Victorian industrial complex in North America. The firm’s beginnings can be traced to 1832, when William Gooderham arrived from England to join brother-in-law James Worts in his new milling venture. The complex eventually grew to include over 45 structures, and was the world’s largest distillery by 1877.

One prominent former feature, a 70-foot windmill built by Worts in 1832 to power a flourmill, was demolished in 1859.

The distillery was mothballed in 1990. In May 2003, it officially reopened as the Distillery District, with artists’ studios, commercial space and restaurants. It continues to be a popular location for film shoots, and rewards any photographer with surprising little vistas and 50 years worth of splendid 19th Century industrial architecture.



The Pure Spirits Building, one of the city's unsung architectural gems:



One of the customs warehouses. This building is being converted to studio space.



A little north of the Distillery District is Little Trinity Church, established in 1843 as an Anglican parish for the working class of the Corktown area, whose cottages still dominate the streets here.



Rectory, Little Trinity Church, 1853. I have a weird obsession with good bricklaying. This is just immaculate.



Enoch Turner School, 1848, behind the church. Enoch Turner made his fortune with beer. He was also one of the city’s earliest noted philanthropists. He built this, Toronto’s first free school, in 1848. Turner’s school accommodated 240 students, who were treated on its opening day to a free roast beef dinner. The first schoolmaster was Reverend William Ripley, the first rector of Little Trinity. Ripley served only a year here before his death from cholera.

[Maestro]

1. Awesome architecturals and artistic images (the truck)

That district looks like it is full of opportunities for photography. Enoch knew how to bread his butter...with beer. :rofl: It is nice to see that he spent his money well. Beautiful area.

[NV Whino]

2. Thanks for the tour.

I love that brick and copper (?) architectural gem. What a beauty.