Hopkin Design

One of my favourite places in Toronto.

Confederation Life: Here's a nicely engraved advertisement that I found while rifling through my 1899 Globe newspapers. Completed in 1892, this Romanesque Revival office building has endured the test of time, still standing at 214 Richmond Street East in Toronto. Recognized for its unique characteristics, the building was designated a historic property by the City of Toronto under the Ontario Heritage Act on November 26, 1975. Six years after designation it was almost lost f...orever when the top floor was gutted by fire during renovations in June of 1981. Thankfully the Toronto Fire Department was able to contain the blaze and the damaged areas were restored. #confederationlife #advertisement #newspaper #architecture #19thcentury #romanesquerevival #officebuilding #localhistory #history #historical #vintagetoronto #tdot #the6ix #torontolife #torontohistory #tohistory #toronto #ontario #canada #hopkindesign

Here's old Fire Station #30 of the Toronto Fire Dept., at 39 Commissioners St., shortly after it was built in 1923 and my comparison of it from a couple of years ago. The Toronto portlands are currently undergoing a massive renovation; I recently discovered that this building will be saved, moved south and reused as a some kind of welcome centre to a new park there. #portlands #preservation #torontofiredepartment #tfd #firehall #firestation #fire #1920s #history #vintagetoronto #tdot #the6ix #torontolife #torontohistory #tohistory #toronto #ontario #canada #hopkindesign

#OnThisDay in 1858, (Apr. 13) violent rain and waves from a large storm severed the peninsula guarding Toronto's harbour, permanently opening the eastern gap, which also created what we now know as the Toronto Islands. In recognition of the anniversary, here's a wonderful 1922 John Boyd photo of bathers waving to ships in the eastern gap. I colourized & mashed it together with the Globe newspaper article that it was featured in the same year to create this new image. Original... photo: Toronto Public Library collection. #TorontoIslands #easterngap #1920s #ship #harbour #digitalediting #colorization #mashup #localhistory #history #historical #vintagetoronto #tdot #the6ix #torontolife #torontohistory #tohistory #toronto #ontario #canada #hopkindesign

Unfortunately, 'the good old days' harboured some hidden dangers. Here's a seemingly innocent ad for Hurlbut Shoes for Children, fitted Correctly with Eaton's X-ray Machine, published #OnThisDay in 1928. Shoe-fitting fluoroscopes, also sold under the names X-ray Shoe Fitter, Pedoscope and Foot-o-scope emerged during the 1920s and lasted until the 1970s. They were discontinued primarily due to public backlash over the high amounts of radiation that they leaked. We will never k...now just how much damage these contraptions inflicted on customers and shoe store employees because no records of their use were kept. #otd #1920s #xray #eatons #vintage #localhistory #history #historical #vintagetoronto #tdot #the6ix #torontolife #torontohistory #tohistory #toronto #ontario #canada #igerstoronto #instatoronto #hopkindesign

Made a bit more progress last night on the 1930 photo of Capt. Earl Hand at the Leaside Aerodrome, I think it may be finished. Added sun highlights and played with the hue & saturation levels throughout in an effort to make it feel more natural. Thanks to @Torontomobilia on Twitter for pointing out that I had covered up a couple of the plane's windows with red, these Buhl aircraft had strangely unique window arrangements. I was able to reference a couple of items within the i...mage: 1. The logo for Hamilton Standard appears on the propeller, although it seems that the colours might be reversed at that point in time. 2. A small pin can be seen on Earl Hand's lapel. I'm fairly certain that this is a Toronto Flying Club membership pin. It's one of two variations I've seen, I was able to pick up both a few months ago. This one was made by Birks Ellis of Toronto. Thanks for checking this out! Have a good one.

Good morning! All the basic colours of the photo edit I started last night have now been blocked in. Now moving on to highlights and subtle alterations to hue and saturation. The gentleman here is Captain Earl McNabb Hand DFC, a Canadian World War I flying ace. He was also one of the founders of the Toronto Flying Club, and was its President for a number of years. Here he is standing with his Buhl C5-A Airsedan in front of an airplane hangar, which is most likely situated at the Leaside Aerodrome where the flying club was based from 1928-1931. Mr. Hand also practiced law in Toronto and was appointed magistrate for York County in 1949.

Progress on the photo so far: Straightened & cropped it, upped the resolution, sharpened some areas while blurring others to get rid of jpeg compression artifacts. Since nobody is alive to give me colour references, all colourization done from here on in is made with educated guesses. First off, I feel that his suit is blue.

Editing this photo tonight.

On this day in 1917, (Nov. 17) the cornerstone of the Masonic Temple on the north west corner of Yonge St. & Davenport Rd. was laid by M.W. Bro. W.H. Wardrope, K.C., Grand Master of Canada. Although threatened by demolition a number of times, the building still stands and is currently known as 'The Concert Hall' event space. #masonictemple #freemasons #therockpile #venue #concertvenue #eventspace #1910s #vintage #localhistory #history #historical #vintagetoronto #tdot #the6ix #torontolife #torontohistory #tohistory #toronto #ontario #canada #hopkindesign

Here's the place where the kid in me will re-emerge and thrive online this Friday night. Awww yeah Retrontario & Retrokid_TO!

Hi everyone, hoping that you all had a good weekend! Recently I've been researching and compiling a tenant history listing for the former Parkdale Theatre building. I thought you might like to see what I've learned. Do you remember any of these?... 1920-1923: Allen’s Parkdale Theatre 1924-1971: Parkdale Theatre (Managed under the 'Neighbourhood', Capitol, & Famous Players theatre chains) 1972: Vacant 1973-1977: Eaton's Bargain Centre Clearance Store (1605); Eaton's Bargain Centre (1607) 1978: Vacant 1979-1980: Design Internationale (Opened April?) 1981-1992: Brewer's Retail Store (1605) 1981-1984: Archway Crisis - mental centre office (1605) 1981-1994: MacLean Hunter Cable TV Parkdale (1605a) *Sold to Rogers Communications 1994, location closed. 1981 (Nov. only): City of Toronto Elections (1605) 1983-1986: Unistaff Temporary Help Ltd. 1989-1990: Parkdale Golden Age Foundation 1989-1990: Creating Together Parkdale Ltd. 1995: 3 Lexicon Book Store 1995-1996: Luxtile Warehouse (Nov. 1995 -Jul. 1996) 1997-2014: Queen West Antique Centre: Arcadia Antiques; Hideaway Antiques; Uppington House. 2015-2019: Toronto Designer’s Market (Opened May 31, 2015) March 2019- March 2020: Northern Contemporary Gallery (eastern section) 2020: (Oct. 18 - present) The Parkdale Hall I'd like to send out a special thanks to Wanda, Jane, Mary Bissell, and Chelsea from the Humanities & Social Sciences Department of the Toronto Reference Library for remotely looking up information for the more recent tenants. As always, take care out there!