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	Church & Wellesley: Photos
	The four corners / Appx 670 words / 6 images / 139 K total

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Southwest

Church & Wellesley's
four corners

This is the stretch of Church that, until the early 1980s, was mostly a parking lot. That changed with the Churwell Centre, the brick structures running along this shot from Wellesley (right) south to Maitland.

The Village Green's silo peeks up here -- as it does over much of the area. Visible further down, behind the traffic light: City Park's 484 Church Street tower.

See more shots of all three sites highlighted here, on their own separate pages.

Northwest

Novack's drug store still holds this corner, as it did in 1971 and possibly long before. I don't know the building's date, but if it's 20th century it's pretty early 20th. The top three floors are offices and apartments.

A projecting sign near its left end marks Ernie's Barbershop -- Mario's in 1971. One at the right, on Church, belongs to the Devon Restaurant, there since the late 1940s.

Rising above: The Alexandra at 41 Dundonald; 33 Isabella; and the office tower of the Hudson's Bay Centre at 2 Bloor Street East. The little white building at the far left, 66 Wellesley East, was the home of the AIDS Committee of Toronto from 1983 to 1987.

Southeast, along Welleley

Holding this corner, as it has since 1926, is 77 Wellesley East -- "Cockroach Corners" in 1971. It's since been renovated, still apartments except on the ground floor.

Looking east along Wellesley, you can see the Lincoln and Caribbean apartment blocks. The big red wall at the end is Metro government housing, at Jarvis, built in the early 1990s.

Southeast, along Church

On the ground floor of 77 Wellesley, left to right: The Body Shop; then frozen yogourt; donuts next door; a 7-24 video outlet; and Bar 501. The last is famous for street theatre offered through its big open windows -- and infamous as the target of noise complaints from nearby residents.

On the street floor of the building beyond: Byzantium, a bar and restaurant; Pusateri's market (there in 1971); and a walk- in medical clinic. There's a health food store downstairs. The second floor (added in the late 1980s to the much older structures below) houses the offices of Xtra and Pink Triangle Press, and Pegasus Billiards, run by two gay daddies -- real ones: they were founding members of Gay Fathers of Toronto in 1978.

Northeast, along Church

In 1971, McDermott's drugstore was on this corner. Then it was Boot's, then Pharma Plus -- until its recent move to the Churwell Centre. So now, here, we have bagels. The top floors are apartments; the block was probably built as a hotel. Up the street, the brick building behind the trees is the 519 Church St. Community Centre. Dudley Hardware is this side of it; 86 Gloucester rises behind. (See other shots on separate pages.)

Northeast, along Wellesley

The Wellesley Street side of that 19th-century block has a basement rec room: The Cellar, a bath. Its slogan: "It's dark."

The towers here: The Castellana at 80 Wellesley East; The Wessex in its tacky new stucco dress at 88; and, looming behind, Plaza 100 -- also on view elsewhere.

Behind the trees down the street is Wellesley Central Hospital, just this side of Sherbourne. Stong community involvement has made it a very gay- positive institution. It also serves the thousands of non- English- speaking and often poor residents of St. James Town, just across Sherbourne (two of its 15 giant towers visible in the distance).

In 1999, by Tory government fiat, Wellesley Central will close, its services taken over by St. Michael's, a Catholic hospital more than a mile south. A walk- in clinic may survive on Sherbourne, south of Carlton Street.

Church & Wellesley Photos: List / Previous page / Next page: City Park

Time & Place: Toronto, 1971 / More on Church & Wellesley