This is the last stop of the tour, but it is not the end of the story.
11
Carlaw and Gerrard
City of Toronto Archives
Image by Susan Drysdale
The Dundas and Carlaw neighbourhood continues to change and evolve to meet the changing needs of the city.
Once the site of a varnish factory and the Riverdale Shopping Centre, the northeast corner of this intersection will become the Ontario subway line’s Gerrard station. There are many new mid-rise residential buildings planned or under-construction along Gerrard Street.
At the northwest corner of Carlaw Avenue and Gerrard Street East is the Real Jerk Caribbean restaurant, a local institution. The 2016 video for the song Work by Rihanna (featuring Toronto rapper Drake) was filmed at the Real Jerk.
This tour is one in a series of community projects that link historical buildings and stories with public space improvements in the Dundas and Carlaw neighbourhood.
Initiated by Councillor Paula Fletcher in consultation with the local community, the “Bridges to Art” Underpass Project will create nine new murals across Toronto’s east end.
Taken together, these projects tell the story of Dundas and Carlaw’s transition from agriculture, to industry, to place where people now come to live, work, and play.
Though the area has undergone a major renewal in the last decades, it remains a place where many come to work.
Check it out…
Art Deco fire station
Just behind the Real Jerk is Fire Station 324, a heritage building built in 1931 and designed by the city architect, J.J. Woolnough.
A faded CN logo
Look closely at the railway overpass. The Grand Trunk Railway, which built this line, became part of the Canadian National Railway (CN) in the 1920s. The design is the work of Toronto graphic artist Allan Fleming. He was a contemporary of Clair Stewart, the former Art Director of Rolph-Clark-Stone, who went on to found his own successful graphic design firm.
Getting back…
That was our last stop.
From here, you can take the 506 Carlton streetcar (east-west route) or the 72 Pape bus (north-south route, last stop north is the Line 2 Pape subway station).
Or you can walk south on Carlaw Avenue to Queen Street East for the 501 streetcar (east-west route).
