Doors Open Toronto

Great event.

one of the buildings we went to today is the old Simpsons flagship store, which is now the headquarters of HBC.

First year it's been in the program. We went on a tour of the outside of the building, with a discussion of the development of architectural styles - and tastes.

Marvellous sandstone details were revealed the last time the building was cleaned. I'd never noticed (how often am I even outside that building?) the different shades of the sandstone. This was apparently the style in 1895/96 when the store was first built (burned down within 3 months) and then rebuilt immediately (one of the first buildings built in Toronto in the Chicago style - with steel framing - the basis of skyscrapers). It's the oldest surviving building in Toronto built with that technique.

Walking around the building from the southwest to the southeast then northeast and northwest reveals marvellous details.

Here are three clues of changing styles in building ornamentation.





















1895 , 1908 , and 1923

the rs entwined in the centre of the numbers is for Robert Simpson