BenchMark: Persistence of Liberty Village and the Toronto Factory Carpet Building Paintings

BenchMark Blogs: the Art Benches of Liberty Village

If you have missed the previous posts explaining the Liberty Village Benchmark program and the art benches we have located in our village go here to fetch them all and read the earlier posts.  This is the 15th post in the series which features the art benches of Liberty Village.


The bench I am presenting today is located on the north side of Liberty Street between Mowat and Fraser on the south side of the Toronto Carpet Building complex. It is bench number 2 on the Benchmark Map which can be accessed here. Titled "Persistence of Liberty Village", it was created by Renata Mohamed and is sponsored by Allied Properties, who own a number of properties in the immediate vicinity. It is the last bench I will write about in the series until the LBVIA adds some more pieces to the inventory - I have now covered all the benches.

The bench itself looks fairly unremarkable from a distance, with 8 metal disks that are embedded in the horizontal boards of the bench being the only distinguishing feature. As I sat on the bench and carefully examined each side of the disks I noticed that they spun on an axis and were inscribed on each side. As I looked at each disk, I contemplated the meaning of the piece.

The top left disk has the inscription "Thaumatrope The name of this optical toy comes from the Greek word meaning wonder turning ". And on the other side was inscribed "Through persistence of vision, spin the disks to embrace the history of Liberty Village".

There is an interesting animation of a thaumatrope on wiki here. So one is supposed to derive some image, a combination of the images presented on each side during the persistence of vision experienced as the disk is spun.

I had quite the challenge trying to photograph the disks and finally gave up save for the one shown here. As I cannot show you a picture, let me describe each of the disks:




On the top board on the bench from left to right
Left: as described above
Middle: On one side an upside down stylized question mark and the other contains a triangle
Right: A street sign image (above) and the other side "Liberty Street"

On the middle board:
Left side: A simple partial sketch of a dove and on the other side a cross hatch pattern which might suggest jail bars
Right: A rough image of a maple leaf and on the other side the words "World Wars"

On the bottom board:
Left: A thimble of thread and on the other side a laptop
Middle: "www.lvbia.com" and on the other side "Learn about Liberty - Liberty Village Business Improvement Area"
Right: "for more info visit" and " copyright 2006" and "www.renatomohamed.com


Certainly most of these elements are very relevant to Liberty Village and if you have been reading my Liberty Village blogs you will know why but I am not sure about the question mark/triangle one though... Any ideas?

Make your Own Thaumatrope Anyone?

To learn how to make a thaumatrope go here.

More Liberty Village Public Art

I wrote about the Carpet Factory Building in this BenchMark Post some months ago. I did not do justice to the building but instead focused on the history of the building and the Bench sponsor who are the current owners. Today I would like to show you some of the art that is painted on and around the building.

The first two photos are of the most noteworthy painting on the side of (of course) the Toronto Carpet Factory Building.   The second photo shows the wonderful detail. 

The next two photos are on the side of the School Bakery and Cafe Building. I blogged about this building here.  It shows an aerial view of the Toronto Carpet Factory Complex.

BenchMark: The Path Home

BenchMark Blogs: the Art Benches of Liberty Village

If you have missed the previous posts explaining the Liberty Village Benchmark program and the art benches we have located in our village go here to fetch them all and read the earlier posts.  This is the 14th post in the series which features the art benches of Liberty Village.


The bench I am presenting today is located on the east side of Atlantic Avenue between Liberty and Snooker Street.  Don't you just love our Monopoly Street Names?  It is bench number 3 on the Benchmark Map which can be accessed here. Titled "The Path Home", it was created by Po Chun Lau and is sponsored by Liberty Village BIA. I have written about the LVBIA in previous blogs go here to find out more.

The painting on the bench was incredibly difficult to do justice with given the camera I have.  The bench has an autumn woodsy tone serving as background to a drawing of sorts.  You will need to visit and inspect the bench yourself.  The drawing reminds me of tree branches.

The sculpture is quite an nice addition to the bench and places this one a tad above many of the other bench installations, for sure!  At first glance it looks like this guy is thoughtfully strolling over to the bench.

I am wondering if maybe he is wandering over to visit his friends stationed up Liberty Street a wee bit, mid way between Jefferson and Fraser.   He looks like he got away from a crowd of like minded creatures which have been installed by the entrance to the Lambert Stadium Parking Lot.

These guys look like they are on a hunt for something...  Dropped your car keys, maybe?  Or just milling about?

I quite like the sculpture, but not to be too critical, I find the backdrop for this piece to be less than ideal.  The grey of the statues blend into the grey of the parking lot and surroundings.

NEWS FLASH: Alejandra Ribera at Hugh's Room

My very favourite local rising star  is once again gracing us with a performance at Hugh's Room this Saturday night for anyone local who wants to listen to some great music!  Don't know who Alejandra is?  Go Here to read my blog about her performance at Hugh's Room in January - it was fabulous!  I am hoping that I get great seats again!

BenchMark: Breakbench and The Toy Factory Lofts

BenchMark Blogs: the Art Benches of Liberty Village

If you have missed the previous posts explaining the Liberty Village Benchmark program and the art benches we have located in our village go here to fetch them all and read the earlier posts. . This is the 13th post in the series to feature each of our 19 art benches.


The bench I am featuring today is located on Hanna Street at the corner of Liberty St by the parking lot.  It is bench number 5 on the Benchmark Map which can be accessed here. Titled "Break Bench", it was created by Pam Lostracco, Christine Stephens and Craig Wing King and is sponsored by the TOY FACTORY LOFTS/ LANTERRA DEVELOPMENTS.  Lanterra Developments is one of Toronto's major builders of Condos, particularly in the downtown area.  The Toy Lofts Condo Building is a project of theirs.  On their site they have a wonderful flash presentation which gives a capsule summary of the historical highlights of Liberty Village since 1the mid 19th century to the present.

This bench was one of the first ones I noticed when I moved into Liberty Village in 2007.  I was at that point unaware of the BenchMark project and did a second take when I saw what looked like a red Persian carpet sitting on the corner with the park bench, as if it were in a living room.  At that time, there was also a small round side table in front of the bench with a book on it.  What a grand idea for a bench!

When I went back last summer to take photos, I noticed that some sod had made off with the table and book.  The carpet is all that remains to suggest the relaxed setting of a living room for a break from the stress of the day - and even it is looking pretty sad.   Perhaps this bench will be refurbished next summer as I know the LVBIA do a certain number each year.  Hopefully they can re-construct the missing bits and nail them down really well because there are idiots about, for sure. 

The Irwin Toy Building and Toy Factory Lofts

View from the South West

The Toy Factory Lofts are in the refurbished Irwin Toy Factory Building.  Originally the home of Canada's largest paper manufacturer Hinde and Dauche, the building was bought by the Irwin Family in the mid 20th century who earned the hearts of Canadian children for over 50 years.   Irwin Toys remained a family business and despite being well known and respected name in Toys, it fell on hard times and the company was sold to outsiders in 2000.   There is a happy ending though, 18 months later, when the company collapsed in bankruptcy his two sons bought back the name and 15 toy lines and has seen the company revive with a new line of i-toys.   Samuel "Mac" Irwin, son of the company founder, died at age 76 in 2003 knowing that his grandchildren were working with their fathers in the family business.  

The Toy Factory building had new owners at that point and was a Toy Factory no more.  But even better, it was destined to become The Toy Factory Lofts, which has been under "evolution" since that time. 

In 2004 the Toy Factory lofts project by Lanterrra sought to retain the architectural authenticity of the original building. It was and still is a mix of commercial residential space so as one news article put it (see here for a fascinating explanation of the difficulties and history of the project)

...sharing the corridors and green spaces will be slipper-clad artists taking Rover for walkies and office workers seeking a caffeine fix at Balzac's or a photon fix near the Jacuzzi....

There is a fabulous sketch on flickr here.  It shows the building as seen in prior to the renovation, in the period before the Liberty Village gentrification began, when it was a run down industrial area.  It was probably sketched from a view very near to where I shot the picture below.

View from the East

The other noteworthy addition to the Toy Lofts complex, and kitty corners to the "Break Bench" is the Balzac Coffee Roasters Cafe. It is the 3rd Cafe opened by this purveyor of premium coffees. According to Toronto Life:

Balzac’s romances condo dwellers with all the requisite touches: broad chalkboards, cane-backed bistro chairs and potent espresso...

View from the North East

I wonder what will go into this portion of the building, it is a large complex and while most of it is complete, this part is as yet untouched.

BenchMark: Give Me Liberty and the Lamport Stadium Site

BenchMark Blogs: the Art Benches of Liberty Village

If you have missed the previous posts explaining the Liberty Village Benchmark program and the art benches we have located in our village go here to fetch them all and read the earlier posts. . This is the 12th post in the series to feature each of our 19 art benches in Liberty Village.

The bench I am featuring today is located on Liberty Street by the Lamport Stadium Parking Lot.  It is a new bench installed last summer and not yet on the BenchMark Map (LVBIA, take note)  If you want to see for your self - the Benchmark Map which can be accessed here - the bench is sort of where the "P" (for parking) is shown.
Titled "Give Me Liberty" is the work of Ian Amell and is sponsored by the Liberty Village BIA.  A few weeks ago I wrote about another of Ian Amell's benches - the smilies one -  "Face It".  You can read about the Liberty Village BIA at a previous TorontoIsMyTown blog or you can go to their web site here.

I must admit, the top bench  picture looks dismal (the blue sky not withstanding) - because it is winter and the only thing going for the location is the nice tree and a bit of grass in front of the parking lot.  Of course being winter there is no greenery in sight, but I guess we should be glad that there is not a mountain of snow covering up the bench.   The big white lump you do see is the winter covering for Lamport Stadium.  This year they got a "sports bubble " topper so that the stadium could be used in winter.

Allan A. Lamport Stadium, named for one of Toronto's past mayors, is a multi-purpose stadium on  King Street West between Fraser and Jefferson.  It was built in 1974 on the site of our long gone Women's Prison which is featured in the bench.  Until the BMO Field was built it was one of the cities major soccer fields.   Today, it is used mostly for soccer, with both Portugal FC and the Toronto FC's Academy playing their Canadian Soccer League home games here. The OUA's Ryerson Rams soccer teams also call the stadium home.  Also noteworthy, is that it hosts  the City's Caribana Celebrations each year. The stadium holds 9,600 people.

You would think for such a well used stadium it would have a better main entrance!  

OK, so lets get back to the bench.


Pictured on the right top side of the bench is the Mercer Reformatory for Women, which was demolished in 1965, nearly 10 years before Lamport Stadium was built on the site.  The only building remaining from the reformatory is the Superintendent's residence which is at the corner of Fraser and King Street, beside the stadium.

Mercer Reformatory for Women

On the left top side of the bench the artist has painted a picture of the Central Prison for Men, which was located further east in Liberty Village at King and Stratchan, right where we now have condominiums. 

The artist's comment on the bench: "When they had served their time they would have emerged onto Liberty Street."  which was how the street and our village got it's name.

Toronto's Central Prison for Men

The only building left today from the Central Prison is the Chapel building, which is located in Liberty Village Park, to be surrounded by Condo towers once all the residential buildings are finished.  I took the photo below from my balcony.   Rumour has it that the building will house a restaurant, but for now it is boarded up and will need a fair bit of work before it is able to be used for anything.

 

Benches and Buildings and Sex in the Bathroom

BenchMark Blogs: the Art Benches of Liberty Village

If you have missed the previous posts explaining the Liberty Village Benchmark program and the art benches we have located in our village go here to fetch them all and read the earlier posts. . This is the 11th post in the series to feature each of our 19 art benches in Liberty Village.

The bench I am featuring today is located just steps from the bench which I blogged about last week, near King Street, just east of Atlantic Avenue at the top of the stairs adjacent to the rail way underpass and was created by the same artist - Christopher Hayes.  It is located in the walkway between the West Elm Furniture Store and the First Capital Realty Building.  Notice their logo on the building photo below - oddly it is quite similar to the Facebook logo LOL.  This building also houses the restaurant Mildred's Kitchen, the liquor store and a Goodlife Fitness Gym.  It is bench number 11 on the Benchmark Map which can be accessed here. Titled "Stream" is another sponsored by First Capital Realty.

This bench has a similar top part to the bench #6 -Transfermation, blogged about last week. So it too makes mention of the Red Rocket and Route 504 and the scenes of the local buildings and people. The seat of the bench extends this theme and is, in my mind a bit of a puzzle. I can see a yellow ski-doo parked in the parking lot on one side and a blue bus like vehicle on the other side of what looks to be an architectural diagram of a building ... not sure what this has to do with the title "Stream" - unless we are talking of streams of traffic - people inside the building and the vehicular traffic outside - which is seemingly all parked and not in motion.

Sex in Mildred's Temple Kitchen Bathroom
As mentioned, this bench is outside of the Mildred's Temple Kitchen Restaurant, which has been in the news this last week.  The Star Newspaper ran an article which "exposed" that the restaurant was encouraging sex in its bathrooms during Valentine's Weekend!    The journalist had done all their homework on the topic of sex in the bathroom, having called the City Dept of Health to enquire whether this was an issue.  No problem was the reply - as long as it isn't in the kitchen. 

I have been in Mildred's bathrooms.  They are pretty nicely decorated, modern, a good size - and co-ed - and well out of the way of the dining area.   Yup, it is do-able, that is for sure. A new variation on "Get a Room!" LOL

Actually, I came across the news whilst surfing the Salon E-Zine's reader blogs (Open Salon).  Salon is a US based web publication - so the news has spread pretty wide!  The blog, was titled "Toronto the Good Now Toronto the Naughty",  and I have to quote the last couple of paragraphs:

It was only thirty years ago that more than 300 gay men were arrested for having consensual sex in  the now infamous Bath House Raids. At that time, the city was shocked and outraged, but this gets barely a mention. Oh my, just look how far we’ve come?

   

I'm thinking that this gives Toronto’s new brand identity “Toronto Unlimited” a whole new meaning.

If you are thinking of going to Mildred's Temple Kitchen - for sex or just for a meal, it is a great place for that special dinner and I bet Valentine's weekend will be pretty booked.  My son Jeff and his friend Amanda took me there last summer for my birthday and I had the most elegant and scrumptious meal you could imagine.  Go here to read about it and see pictures of the wonderful presentation on plate.


Let there be no mistake, I am not against anyone having sex in the bathroom of a restaurant;  however there is certain etiquette which must be followed.  I don't want to hear moans of passion while I am I am eating my dinner and I don't want to find a mess in the bathroom when I go there.  Also, you have to be prepared for a smirk or two if I see you  exit the bathroom flushed and "with a glow on".  Apparently, they are going to hire a maid to keep the room tidy during the night of passion and as to the noise, as I recall the music was loud enough that so unless there are some real screamers, love noise should not be an issue.  Moreover, no chance of me being there anyway, I will be at home alone with a good movie on Valentine's night - hmm, I am tempted to book a reservation and see who else shows up looking for sex.  LOL

BenchMark: Transfermation and the Red Rocket

BenchMark Blogs: the Art Benches of Liberty Village

If you have missed the previous posts explaining the Liberty Village Benchmark program and the art benches we have located in our village go here to fetch them all and read the earlier posts. . This is the 10th post in the series to feature each of our 19 art benches.

The bench I am featuring today is located on King Street, just east of Atlantic Avenue on the edge of the parkette adjacent to the rail way underpass.  It is bench number 6 on the Benchmark Map which can be accessed here. Titled "Transfermation", it was created by Christopher Hayes and sponsored by the First Capital Realty. FIRST CAPITAL REALTY INC. is Canada’s leading owner, developer and operator of supermarket and drug store anchored neighbourhood and community shopping centres. They happen to own the shopping centre which houses the Liberty Village Metro Store.



There are several visual focal points in the scenes painted on the bench.  The left side shows the industrial period in Liberty Village in the early part of the 20th century,  when   when the Toy Factory Condo Lofts were part of an Industrial complex inhabited by various companies such as Irwin Toys and Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co. (manufacturer of billiard tables and bowling alleys).  The top of this side of the bench shows a more modern scene with folks strolling down Atlantic Avenue MP3 player in hand, earphones plugged in.

On the other side of the bench is a very familar Toronto urban sight.  This side is devoted to our street car - the King Street Car Route #504.  This is the TTC service which passes by just yards from the bench.  If you look on the top most picture above, the lower half of the bench side  is painted to look like a paper "transfer", which passengers take from the driver in order to transfer from the street car to the subway without paying another fare. 

Given the "paper transfer" and the idea of the neighbourhood being transformed, I guess that is why it is called Transfermation.  I note that the identification plaque on the bench identifies the name of the work as Transfermation but the LVBIA PDF incorrectly identifies the bench (#6) as Transformation.

Lastly, you might not get this if you are not from Toronto, but you can see "Thanks for R" and "The Rocke" - which of course refers to our Red Rocket, as we call our TTC, since the cars are painted red. 



Go here to see more of Christopher Hayes work on his MySpace site.

I also want to make mention of what a great job the LVBIA is doing to keeping all our benches looking great.  This one (and  others)  was removed last summer and refurbished, so it is just like new.

BenchMark: Musical Bench and School Bakery & Café

BenchMark Blogs: the Art Benches of Liberty Village

If you have missed the previous posts explaining the Liberty Village Benchmark program and the art benches we have located in our village go here to fetch them all and read the earlier posts. This is the 9th post in the series to feature each of our 19 art benches.

The bench I am featuring today is on the north east corner of Fraser and Liberty Street. It is bench number 12 on the Benchmark Map which can be accessed here.  Titled "Musical Bench", it was created by Paul Aloisi and sponsored by the Softchoice Corporation.   Softchoice is a local business providing Business Solutions, IT Asset Management and Technology Acquisition from their Liberty Village Offices.

Don't you just want to pick up the mallet and tap out a tune?  There are so many clever art benches and most all of them make me smile as I walk through the village.   When I first wrote this blog I used the summer pictures -the two left most - and noticed that there was something missing - a mallet to play the benchzylophone with.  I was thinking that perhaps  someone made off with it - I have noticed that at one other art Bench (which I have yet to blog about), pieces have gone missing.  I drove by the bench on Sunday and saw that the mallet was now in place!  So I took some additonal pictures of the Music Bench with mallet, though the day was rainy and they are not so good as the summer ones do add a lot to this bench blog's completeness. 




A restaurant or Café on Every Corner...

Across the street from Musical Bench is the School Bakery & Café, located  at 70 Fraser Street.  It does seem that there are a tremendous number of restaurants, bistros, bars, coffee shops, and the like in Liberty Village.  Just to recap the ones I have already covered in previous blogs:  Mildred's Kitchen (where I went last summer for a scrumptious birthday treat), Liberty Bistro (lots of blogs about the Liberty Bistro!), Brazen Head and the Roastery.  I have just done a mental count and that still leaves more than a dozen places that I've not even mentioned yet.  For an area which is only 38.6 hectares (less than .15 square miles) it is quite dense, consisting of 109 properties zoned commercial or industrial, home to about 500 businesses, employing 6,000 full and part time employees.  The residential area, mostly the easterly half, is (by my guess - I've seen no census) maybe only 1,000 people but will reach perhaps 10,000 in the next decade when the 10 or so high rises eventually fill that area.  So there are lots of restaurants now and there will be even more needed in the years to come.

 You can see the Toronto Carpet Building in the background. It is a really hopping place during the summer with tables in the front and side patios. It services mainly the daytime business crowd and the brunch - lunch weekend crowd - the kitchen is closed at 4pm, although the bakery is open until 7 pm on a weekday.  They are open for dinner part week during the summer.  Go here to read a review which describes the school house decor and also gives a very unflattering judgment of the food. There are however a few rebuttal comments from the local regulars. As I said it seemed to be pretty busy whenever I walked by this last summer.

BenchMark: Face It and the Roastery

BenchMark Blogs: the Art Benches of Liberty Village

If you have missed the previous posts explaining the Liberty Village Benchmark program and the art benches we have located in our village go here to fetch them all and read the earlier posts. This is the 8th post in the series to feature each of our 19 art benches.

The bench I am featuring today is on the east side of Pardee Avenue near Liberty Street. It is bench number 7 on the Benchmark Map which can be accessed here.  Titled "Face It", it was created by Ian Arnell and sponsored by the Liberty Village Business Improvement Association.

The interesting thing about this bench is that each board of the bench is filled with emoticons.  While there is no agreed standard definition of emoticons - except a few basic ones like :) and :( - they all share the same feature that if put on their side they resemble a face i.e. eyes, a nose and mouth.  If you want to brush up on your emoticons, you might need to access the following while you sit on the bench and drink your coffee.


Dictionary of Emoticons and Internet Lingo -

The Roastery

Across from the Bench "Face It" is the Roastery, which while not a heritage building, has an interesting fascade none the less and does make a statement about how important food for the eyes is for the village locals. We do like to have the scenery "coloured up" - more on that in a future blog - art is everywhere in Liberty Village.

One of several European styled coffee shops in the Village catering to the local work force, you can also get a light lunch there.I hear their jerk chicken is quite good.

BenchMark: Wired Up and the Toronto Carpet Facory

BenchMark Blogs: the art benches of Liberty Village

If you have missed the previous posts explaining the Liberty Village Benchmark program and the art benches we have located in our village go here to fetch them all and read the earlier posts. This is the 7th post in the series to feature each of our 19 art benches.

The bench I am featuring today is on the west side of Mowatt Avenue near Liberty Street. It is bench number 1 on the Benchmark Map which can be accessed here.  Titled "Wired Up", it was created by Michael Brown.  The artist has very cleverly made the boards of the bench look like cabling and has painted the boards with the codes for various cabling standards.
Michael Brown is a Toronto-based visual artist working primarily in Painting, Installation and Performance art.  For Michael Brown's Web site go here.  There is a significance to the bench in that there were/are a number of .net startup ventures which were/are housed at the Toronto Carpet Factory.  When we think of internet we think of cabling.

This bench is sponsored by the Toronto Carpet Factory, which is not really a carpet factory!     If you go to the York Heritage Properties Website it is described as follows:

A centre of creativity, a full city block in size, originally built as a carpet manufacturing facility between 1899 and the 1920s. A historically listed, turn of the century office complex featuring several buildings clustered around internal courtyards and laneways. They feature high ceilings, exposed brick and beams with large, operable windows and extremely secure, economical internet connectivity. Companies in in the Toronto Carpet Factory maintain that the nature and quality of the office accomodation has enhanced their ability to recruit and retain employees.

 Note the words "centre of creativity" - that is because Liberty Village is the home to many creative types (as mentioned in my earliest blog on Liberty Village).  and this is the kind of clientele that York Heritage caters to as it specializes in alternative office spaces. 

It seems that the Toronto Carpet Factory and the York Liberty buildings in Liberty Village have acquired an international reputation for the adaptive reuse of historical complexes, thanks to York Heritage Properties. The York Heritage designers have attempted to create space that is youthful, exhilarating and attractive to a new corporate culture that requires its office accommodation to be a resource rather than merely four walls to house employees and equipment.  (according to the York Heritage Properties web site).

York Heritage Properties website also has a page detailing  building history and  pictures from 1899 and during WWI.

Our Liberty Village is full of Heritage Buildings and I intend on featuring each them, along side the benches which sit near them in the coming blogs.