For the most part, the buildings on the north side of Dundas Street West between Spadina and Bathurst are an architectural hodgepodge. The one exception to the general heterogeneity was, until recently, the block of four matching storefronts at 606-614 Dundas West, between Augusta and Denison. In 1992, I photographed this quaint commercial row in black and white. In 2023, noticing how much it had deteriorated, I returned to document it in colour.
A widely reported calamity befell these modest buildings last Friday, August 16. Fortunately, no one was injured in the partial collapse of the facade of the Levol Convenience Food Mart, which also affected its neighbours, Lotus Hair Salon and Super Star Salon.
Emergency managers had no choice but to undertake a controlled demolition of the upper floors of the three affected buildings, leaving only the single facade at the east end precariously intact. Three businesses will now have to relocate, and their second floor tenants have lost their homes.
In architectural terms, the city has also lost something of value. These buildings date from 1872, when Dundas Street West was still called St. Patrick Street and Augusta Avenue was Grosvenor Street. While they remained in good condition, they exemplified what many commercial streetscapes in Toronto looked like when Canada was a new country.
All photographs copyright Peter MacCallum
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