# 35 ~ The Masonic Temple, Then and Now

On November 17, 1917, the cornerstone of the new Masonic Temple, at the north west corner of Yonge Street and Davenport Road, was laid. Overseeing the ceremony was the Grand Master of the local lodge. The masons had a long tradition dating back to the earliest foundations of the old Town of York, with masonic meetings taking place in a warehouse at the foot of Church Street, as early as the 1790s.

THEN : The Masonic Temple in 1919, shortly after it opened.  Oh, how the streets have changed!

This new Masonic Temple was designed by the architect William Sparling, and constructed at a cost of $197,000. Construction of the six-storey building was swift, with enough of the new building apparently complete that the first lodge meeting could be held there on New Year's Day, 1918.

THEN : The local Grand Master helps put the finishing touches on the Masonic Temple's cornerstone.

The Masons held sway within their temple for decades, but over the past forty years and more, the building has developed more of a reputation for local entertainment. From the late 1960s, it served as a venue for live music. When Led Zeppelin made their first ever live appearance in Toronto, in early 1969, they played at the Masonic Temple building. The space was later rented as a rehearsal space by the Rolling Stones, who were known for their penchant for “warming up” for upcoming tours in Toronto.

In recent decades, the Masonic Temple has been known as a home for broadcasting. Taken over by CTV, the “Open Mike with Mike Bullard Show” was broadcast from the Masonic Lodge, and from 2006, the building has served as the broadcasting home for MTV Canada.

NOW : The Masonic Lodge in its incarnation as MTV Headquarters.  With MTV moving out, the fate of the building seems uncertain.

Just a few weeks ago, earlier this month, it was announced that MTV would move to Queen Street West, calling the fate of the Masonic Temple into question. It seems certain that the building will change hands, and the Masonic Lodge may even suffer that seemingly inevitable and ignominious fate – that is, conversion into a condominium tower – but it's not the first time the Masonic Temple has been at risk. When developers threatened in 1997, a designation under the Ontario Heritage Act saved the building. It seems less certain that the Masonic Lodge can be salvaged a second time.

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I found an in depth article on the history of the Masonic Temple and the Masonry rite in Toronto here.

A timely article appeared in today's National Post.  You can read it here.

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THEN : This wonderful piece of Toronto ephemera is a ticket to the Masonic Ball, held at Saint Lawrence Hall on the evening of January 19th, 1859.

# 34 ~ Toronto Remembers, Then and Now





Every November 11th, in schools, near civic memorials and Cenotaphs, and in many private observations across Toronto and throughout Canada, life comes to a stop in a moment of solemnity, to mark Remembrance Day.  Every year, the city holds a Remembrance Day ceremony at the Toronto Cenotaph, located on the front steps of Old City Hall - this year, I had the honour of laying one of the wreaths, as I have done from time to time before.  A service is held every year at Soldiers' Tower, at the University of Toronto - this year, it was conducted on Friday, as Remembrance Day fell on a Sunday, when many students might be off campus.  I've attended that one in the past, too, and you can see the related photographs on my post from November 12th, 2010 (# 11 ~ Remembrance Services at Soldiers' Tower, Then and Now).

In addition to these annual services, there have been a few landmark years in Toronto's history, where events associated with the commemoration of our veterans have coincided with November 11th.  It was on November 11th, in 1918, that the First World War ended, and of course this is why it's embedded and set aside as a day of observation.  Hopeful rumours of the end of the war had circulated for some time, though, and on November 7th, 1918, the Toronto Daily Star prepared to publish the headline "WAR HAS ENDED!".  The editor had the story wrong, and the war continued for another few days.  Although the newspaper's editorial staff discovered the mistake before going to print, it was too late to prevent a few jubilant staff members of the paper from starting premature celebrations.  A member of the paper's editorial staff ran out of the Star's offices, then located at King and Bay streets, and into the street, blowing a trumpet.  Another reporter from the newspaper convinced the great American band leader, John Philip Sousa - who was in town appearing at Massey Hall - to lead an impromptu parade to the newspaper's headquarters.  A few hours later, word got out that it was all a mistake, and the grim visage of conflict continued until November 11th.

But a few days later, on November 11th, the First World War was really and truly over.  Nearly 620,000 Canadians fought in the First World War, and almost 67,000 of them died.  Of this number, about 70,000 from in and around the Toronto area served, and about 10,000 of those were killed during the conflict.  Toronto had put forward a considerable sacrifice during the conflict, and the city was ecstatic that the war was finally over.  As more legitimate rumours of the end of the conflict started to run through the city, and as they become more and more undeniable, crowds began to pour out in to the streets to celebrate what was originally known as "Armistice Day" - November 11th, 1918 - the end of the Great War and the foundations for today's Remembrance Day.

These photographs, below, have preserved how the streets of Toronto looked on that November 11th of 1918, nearly a century ago now, when residents first got the news and began to pour out on to the city streets to celebrate.

THEN : Rumours of the end of the First World War break out among riders on the Queen Street streetcar.

THEN : Jubilant Crowds on Yonge Street.

THEN : An impromptu peace parade at Queen Street West and Terauley (now Bay) Street.

THEN : Peace celebrations take over Yonge Street.

THEN : King Street West.

THEN : A family reads the newspaper headlines together, and learns of the German capitulation and the end of the war.

THEN : Queen and Yonge streets.

THEN : A crowd gathers outside the Toronto Star building at King and Bay streets.  Not a week earlier, they had incorrectly reported that the war was over, but fortunately, this time, it was.

THEN : A streetcar on Spadina Crescent is packed with revellers.

That great outpouring, a mixture of relief and grief and gratitude, would continue for a number of years after the end of the First World War, and would be solidified and enshrined in the various monuments around Toronto.  November 11th, 1919, would see the opening of Hart House, at the University of Toronto. Themes demonstrating the influence of the First World War, so recent in memory when Hart House was opened, can be found throughout the building.

 On either side of the Great Hall at Hart House are heraldic representations of universities either within the former British Empire - now the Commonwealth of Nations - or, on the other side of the hall, those universities that existed within allied nations.  America, Russia, Japan, France and many other nations are represented amongst those who were our allies, and nations like Canada, England, Scotland and Australia are represented within those "closer to home".  The centrepiece of the collection of what is today a testimony to the bonds among the Commonwealth are the Royal Arms of King George V, grandfather of the present Queen, who served as our Head of State during the war.

NOW : The Royal Arms of His Late Majesty, King George V, Canada's sovereign through the Great War. These arms are found in the Great Hall of Hart House, which opened in 1919, one year after the end of the First World War.

NOW : Some of the Canadian universities represented in the Great Hall at Hart House.  Top row from left to right, the University of Toronto, McGill University, Queen's University.  Bottom row from left to right, Dalhousie, King's College, and Manitoba.

Within the chapel of Hart House there is a curious collection of stained glass, salvaged from the destroyed churches of Belgium and France and brought back to Canada.  They were newly placed within the windows of the chapel, as a commemoration of the bravery of local soldiers, and a reminder of the ravages of war.

NOW : The chapel at Hart House.

NOW : Chapel windows, Hart House.

NOW : This photograph, and the three that follow, show some of the salvaged stained glass in the chapel windows at Hart House, salvaged from destroyed windows in Belgium and France.

Immediately adjacent to Hart House stands the previously alluded to Soldiers' Tower, the cornerstone for which was laid in 1919, with the tower completed and opened in 1924.  Again, for a more detailed history of the tower, visit # 11 ~ Remembrance Services at Soldiers' Tower, Then and Now.

Today, there are plaques and monuments to veterans of any number of conflicts from the past two-hundred years, scattered around Toronto. In churches and cemeteries across the city, we find tombstones and plaques that commemorate individuals that fought and died.  In banks, stores, schools and other places of business, we find those who were brought together by their education or profession as well as by their loyalty and patriotism and devotion to duty.  There are statues throughout the city, but perhaps the one most central to the commemoration of Remembrance Day in Toronto is the Cenotaph that stands in front of Old City Hall.

The cornerstone for Toronto's Cenotaph was laid in the summer of 1924, by Field Marshal, the Earl Haig, and the Cenotaph itself was dedicated on November 11 of the following year, 1925.  Inspired after the style of the Cenotaph in London, England, and carved out of granite from the Canadian Shield, Toronto's Cenotaph holds the name of nine battles of the first world war in which those from Toronto played a part - Ypres, Somme, Mount Sorrel, Vimy, Paaschendaele, Amiens, Arras, Cambrai and Zeebrugge.  A generation later, when commemoration was needed for those who fought and fell in the Second World War, additions were made to the Cenotaph and it was again unveiled in December of 1947.  Toronto's Cenotaph was updated, again, to commemorate the Korean War.

I conclude now with an illustrated history of Toronto's Old City Hall Cenotaph down through the years.  For an inventory of Toronto's war memorials, as kept by the City of Toronto on the website, visit here.

THEN : A makeshift resting place for wreaths outside City Hall in 1922, before the current Cenotaph was built.



THEN : The Cenotaph in its inaugural year, 1925.





THEN : The Cenotaph in its inaugural year, 1925.



THEN : A service in the front of the Cenotaph, on the steps of City Hall, in 1929.

THEN : Dwight Eisenhower (left) and Toronto Mayor Robert Saunders (right) lay a wreath at the Cenotaph.

NOW : The Cenotaph today, after the 2012 Remembrance Day ceremony.

NOW : Dedication Plaque, Cenotaph, 2012.

# 33 ~ Toronto and the American President, Then and Now

On the night of an American election that has had everyone talking, even more than usual, we wish our neighbours to the south the best of luck, and hopefully, it all works out!  It's always interesting to meet visitors who are in town, up from America, and chat about the slightly different way that we do things here.  A lot of Canadian kids are just as confused as American visitors, as to whom exactly our Head of State is, and I enjoy watching their eyes glaze over, a bit, as I do my best to offer an explanation.

But, Canadians seem to follow American elections just as fervently, if not more so, than we follow our own.  It's true that our relations with America seem to be, at least economically and strategically, the most important alliance that we have out there, and the way things go down there will probably influence us up here, too.  In keeping with all of that, and in mind of the important decision being made south of the border tonight, I thought I'd look into visits that American presidents have made to Toronto.  The list is probably not exhaustive, but there have been a few highlights over the last couple of decades.

Apparently, the American president did not travel abroad, while in power, until the end of the First World War.  But then, in 1919, Woodrow Wilson went to Paris, to attend the Peace Conference that put the cap on the First World War, and Americans have been coming out of their shells a little bit more, ever since.  More foreign visits were added, and a trip to Canada became an integral part of the American President's time abroad, given the growth in the relationship between our two countries.  In fact, it is now common that a visit to Canada will be the first foreign visit taken by any new American President.  There have been exceptions to this custom.  George W. Bush (President Bush the Second) visited Mexico before he visited Canada, and a few, like Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, never visited us at all.

THEN : American President Woodrow Wilson at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.

Who greets the American President depends a lot on the nature of the visit.  If it's an official state visit, the President may meet with the Queen in her role as Canada's Head of State.  Probably the most memorable and perhaps the only time that this happened is when Dwight D. Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth II opened the Saint Lawrence Seaway together, on June 26, 1959.  Other times, for more ceremonial State occasions, the visiting American President will meet either with the Governor General, or the Canadian Prime Minister.  Six American presidents have given an address to the Canadian Parliament, with both the House of Commons and the House of Senate in attendance - Harry S. Truman in 1947, Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953 and 1958, John F. Kennedy in 1961, Richard Nixon in 1972, Ronald Reagan in 1981 and 1987, and Bill Clinton in 1995.

THEN : American President Richard Nixon addresses a joint session of Canada's Parliament in 1972.

While there have been a number of presidential visits to Ottawa, to Montreal or Quebec City, and throughout both the Atlantic and west coasts, there have only been a few public visits to Toronto made by an American President while in office.  In June of 1988, Ronald Reagan assembled in Toronto, with other world leaders, to attend the G7 Summit.  Meetings were held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre down on Front Street, and there as a photo op at Hart House, at the University of Toronto, and it was all a lot quieter than the brawl we had a few summers ago.  That's a little surprising given the controversial nature of some of those in attendance, including the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and our own Brian Mulroney.

THEN : International leaders pose for a photograph at Hart House during the 1988 G7 Summit in Toronto.  Pictured from left to right are Jacques Delors (President of the European Commission), Ciriaco De Mita (Prime Minister of Italy), Margaret Thatcher (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom), Ronald Reagan (President of the United States), Brian Mulroney (Prime Minister of Canada), Francois Mitterrand (President of France), Helmut Kohl (Chancellor of Germany), and Noboru Takeshita (Prime Minister of Japan). 

Reagan's successor, George H.W. Bush (President Bush the First) was in Toronto at least twice, in April of 1990 and then again in July of 1991.  On both visits he met with Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

And tonight's incumbent, Barack Obama, made his first official foreign visit to Canada, coming to Ottawa in February of 2009.  He was in Toronto, in June of 2010, for the G8 Summit.

THEN : American President Barack Obama arrives in Canada in June of 2010.

Best of luck tonight, America.  Who ever your next president is, we'd like to extend a warm invitation, and if you're ever in town, look me up.  I have a special presidential rate for tours of the city.

# 32 ~ Saint Lawrence Market, Then and Now

Today, November 3rd, marks the 209th "birthday" of Saint Lawrence Market.  It was on this day in 1803 that Peter Hunter, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, established a public market in York, which was to be open each and every single Saturday throughout the year.  The law has stuck to this day, meaning that the market has been open at least once a week, fifty-two weeks a year, for over two centuries - making it the oldest continuous market in North America.

THEN : Peter Russell, the colonial administrator who took over where Simcoe left off.  He set aside land for Saint Lawrence Market, but nothing else was done until he was replaced by Peter Hunter.

Space had been set aside for a market by Peter Russell, who took over the reins of power when Simcoe returned to England.  Russell was given the title of "provincial administrator" but never given the full viceregal job listing or salary.  This would be a cause of some bitterness for Russell, who was a curious and eccentric figure, and is certainly worthy of a "blog" entry unto himself.  But Russell's tenure gave way to Hunter's, and the market moved forward.  The plot of land that Russell had laid aside remained empty, and it wasn't until Hunter took over that a market got constructed, and laws for governing a regular public market were set out.

Beginning nearly a year before, in December of 1802, farmers in the areas outside of York had started lobbying Hunter regarding the establishment of a market in the town.  It took nearly a year, but on November 3, 1803, after months of consultation with the Executive Council, Hunter read out the proclamation and noted that the first market would actually be held a few days hence, on Saturday, November 5th ... and every Saturday from then on in.

The market was situated on a five acre grant of land that lay between Front, Jarvis, King and "West Market" streets - West Market Street being what is now known as Market Lane, that square that now also holds a tanning salon and the Rainbow Movie Cinema.  It was here that the first public well for the town was opened up, and in the days before running water, a trip to the market square was also a chance to draw one's household water for cooking and cleaning.

NOW : The monument showing, more or less, where the first public well from the old Town of York once stood.  It also explains a little of the history regarding the use of the stocks in the square.  Sadly, the monument is beginning to show the ravages of time, and the fountain beneath it has been boarded over.  Drinking whatever water has collected at the base of the monument is not recommended ...

THEN : "Death at the Pump".  Local wells often became polluted with disease, and cholera would spread through the Town of York and the City of Toronto in the 1830s, killing at least 10% of the population.  During these outbreaks, everyone would have known someone carried off by the disease.

Since the market was literally the only place for townspeople to buy and sell what they needed, it was always crowded.  Farmers drove in their livestock and sold them in the market and square, with animals usually brought in live.  At a time before refrigeration, it was important that meat be fresh, and it was always freshest just before being slaughtered.  Townspeople could barter and haggle over other items, too - produce, of course, or even furniture and other household items.  In an era without mass production, online ordering, or even consistent, reliable shipping, and when many things were not produced locally, the market was a lifeline.  In those early days, there were no mills for staple products like flour, which had to be shipped in from a mill in Kingston, and the first business owners to buy mass quantities of imported flour from somewhere else and sell it at York's market generally had a monopoly, and made a killing.  Some aboriginals were given special permits to sell their own wares, too, and would have added an exotic flare to the market, for those British settlers who had recently started to call York home.

Other small stores began to crop up through the Old Town, but the monopoly at the market was enforced by a bylaw stipulating that no meat, poultry, butter, eggs, vegetables or fish could be sold anywhere else in York, except at the market, on a Saturday between the hours of 6 o'clock in the morning and 4 o'clock in the afternoon.  Any merchant who violated these Saturday commerce laws was fined 15-shilllings.  This was done for a very basic reason - all the trade was overseen by agents at the local "Customs House", who patrolled the market and ensured that all taxes, or customs, were collected and no illicit black market trading was done.  They no doubt missed a lot, though - York was a harbour town, and smuggling did take place.  The most heavily smuggled item into York was not, apparently, opium, poppy seeds, liquor or hemp, but rather tea, which was a heavily taxed luxury item throughout the nineteenth century.  According to some sources, 10,000 barrels of tea came into York's harbour illegally ever year.

In 2012, the market is a busy place on a Saturday morning, and the same has held true for two-hundred years.  It was a thrilling excuse to get out of the house.  Farmers were up before dawn to bring their wares down to the market.  Queen Street was still known as "Lot Street", as it was the great divide that marked the start of the farm lots north of town.  Farms were scattered along concession roads north of town, with these roads being marked off at intervals of one-and-a-quarter miles.  Queen Street, Bloor Street, St. Clair Avenue, and so on were the early concession roads that marked the dividing lines for farm or park lots north of town.  Areas north of today's muncipal boundaries, up in Richmond Hill, Thornhill and so on, often represented a trip of up to two days, and farmers from those areas would get started down to the market on Friday night, often stopping overnight at the Red Lion Inn, which stood for nearly a century on Yonge Street, just north of Bloor, near where the Jack Astor's is today.

THEN : The Red Lion Inn, in the background, stood on Yonge Street, just north of Bloor Street.  Today, the site is occupied by a Jack Astor's and a Starbucks, which has taken over the old Abert Britnell bookstore.  The Red Lion Inn was built by about 1808, and demolished in 1889.  It was an important stop, not only for those travelling from points north down into York, but also for political and social gatherings.  By the late 1840s, a commuter stage coach was started that ran from the Red Lion Inn down to Saint Lawrence Market and back again - this was one of the first public transportation initiatives in Toronto.

In the market square, local townspeople were treated to the spectacles of early life in York that are lost to us today.  The previously mentioned aboriginals would wander the square, selling wild fruit, game, fish, moccasins or woven items.  Soldiers from the garrison might wander over, too, strolling through the market in their red or green tunics, pooling their scant resources to augment the one meal a day that they were given as part of their enlistment.  The first prison in town was located just west of the market square, along King Street near Yonge Street, more or less where the King Edward Hotel stands today.  Although execution by hanging was a special event, and done only on the grounds of the prison, the whipping post and pillory was set up in the market square on a regular basis.  Weekly lashings and even brandings - where the offender is branded with a hot iron poker and marked for life - enforced the importance of living by the rules, and these punishments were very intentionally public.  One wonders if the cries of the punished were loud enough to waft back to those being confined in the prison. 

THEN : A floor plan for the first prison or "gaol" built in York.  Along with a market, a prison is a much needed piece of infrastructure for any growing town.

THEN : The first prison in Toronto, locateed on the south side of King Street, near Yonge Street.  Commerce and crime have always gone hand in hand, and the first documented execution in York came in October of 1798, when a retailer named Sullivan tried to pass a forged banknote worth a dollar.  The law was there to protect property, and theft carried an automatic death sentence.

NOW : The site of the first prison in the Town of York today - the King Edward Hotel.  The next time you feel yourself coming to the end of your rope, you can relax in their tea room.

The life of the early market culminated in 1837, when news of the accession of Queen Victoria arrived.  A public feast was assembled, which included a one-hundred pound plum pudding, not to mention beer, military bands and fireworks.  It may have been the liveliest market day up until that time, and although the revellers didn't know it, change was around the corner.  York had just recently passed away, and the City of Toronto had begun.  Rebellion was in the air, to be followed by sixty years of great municipal growth.  Through it all, Saint Lawrence Market has watched the Town of York grow up from a somewhat malnourished backwater to one of the greatest cities in North America. 

NOW : Market Square today.  Gone are the criminals in chains, the old town festivities of roast oxen and fireworks, and the polluted well.  But one likes to think that the wandering shoppers from Saint Lawrence Market still pause to great neighbours and catch up on the local gossip.

An Illustrated Timeline of Saint Lawrence Market

Saint Lawrence Market has been a work in progress ever since Hunter's proclamation in 1803.  The market complex is actually made up of two buildings - the north market (on the north side of Front Street) and the south market (on the south side of Front Street).  The north market is the older one, dating back to today's anniversary in 1803.  The south market began as an expansion that was completed in 1845.  Originally, the north market was for local farmers, while the south market was on the harbour, and served as the "international market", with items arriving from all over the world.  The actual physical buildings of both markets have changed over the years.  What follows is an illustrated history of the various north and south market buildings that have come and gone over the years.

THEN : A sketch of the original 1803 market.  Note the harbour in the background and the well in the foreground.

THEN : The second North Market building, designed by James Cooper and opened in 1831.  This picture looks south from King Street, where the town council rented offices to be used as their place of meeting.  In 1834, when the Town of York became the City of Toronto, this did in effect become City Hall.  It is not usually credited as Toronto's first city hall, though, as it was not custom built for the purpose.  This 1831 North Market was destroyed by a great fire that ravaged the old town in 1849.

THEN : A contemporary model of the 1831 market.

THEN : Following the 1849 fire, the old town was rebuilt, including the North Market.  This photograph of the North Market dates back to 1888.  Live cattle are in the foreground, and the relatively recent addition of the spire at the Cathedral Church of Saint James is in the background.  The architect of this North Market was Henry Bowyer Lane, whose other notable works included Little Trinity Anglican Church (425 King Street West), St. George-the-Martyr Church (John Street north of Queen Street West), an addition to Osgoode Hall, and the 1845 South Market building.

THEN : The North Market was taken down and replaced between 1900 and 1904, when it was built to be a mirror copy of the South Market.  This pictures is looking up Jarvis Street from Front Street, about 1900.

NOW : The most recent change to the North Market came when a new building was opened as a "Centennial Project" - those projects that took place all across Canada to mark the one-hundredth annivesary of Canadian Confederation.  The 1967 North Market building remains a stunning example of 1960s architecture ...

THEN : The North Market in the 1970s.

THEN : The North Market in the 1970s.

THEN : Shoppers at the North Market, 1970s.

THEN : Shoppers at the North Market, 1970s.

THEN : Shoppers at the North Market, 1970s.

THEN : Shoppers at the North Market, 1970s.

THEN : Shoppers at the North Market, 1970s.

THEN : Shoppers at the North Market, 1970s.

THEN : Shoppers at the North Market, 1970s.

THEN : Shoppers at the North Market, 1970s.

THEN : Shoppers at the North Market, 1970s.

THEN : Shoppers at the North Market, 1970s.

THEN : Shoppers at the North Market, 1970s.

THEN : If this kid only knew where the cute bunnies were going to end up ....

THEN : "This little piggy went to market ..." Bacon, of course, is a very Toronto food.  In 1840, there were about 10,000 people living in Toronto, and about 40,000 pigs.  Slaughtering them all became a great Toronto industry and gave us the nickname "Hogtown".

NOW : Closing time on a Saturday at the North Market today.

Between 1844 and 1845, a "south market" had been constructed, on the south side of Front Street.  The upstairs area of this south market became the first real, purpose-built City Hall for Toronto.  It lasted there for over fifty years, before the City Hall building at Queen and Bay opened up in 1899.  With its soaring clock tower, this 1899 City Hall has been dubbed "Old City Hall", but of course, it isn't really Old City Hall at all.  When it opened in 1899, the "real" Old City Hall was abandoned for about seventy years before opening up as the Market Gallery, a display space for all manner of artefacts relating to the arts, culture and history of Toronto.

THEN : Looking south from the harbour to the south Saint Lawrence Market, back in a day when the harbour lapped up past the Esplanade, and what are now vendors and stalls in the South Market werre ships and piers extending down into the water.  The central domed window is the key to the whole thing - the windows that face south can still be seen on the facade of today's Market Gallery.

THEN : A cut-away plan of the South Market building.  Now, the "City Hall" is the second floor Market Gallery, and the "Station" and "Lock Up" are in the basement, where the modern day elevator stops.

THEN : The South Market, circa 1870.

THEN : City Council, in the upstairs City Hall, 1899.

THEN : The Mayor's Office, which would be on the Mezzanine level of today's market.

THEN : Looking up to the City Hall / Market Gallery, 1970s.

THEN : Looking up to the City Hall / Market Gallery, 1970s.

NOW : The Market Gallery, today.

NOW : A former Mayor's Chair, on permanent display in the Market Gallery.

THEN : Between 1900 and 1904, the great iron structure that encloses the South Market, between the old City Hall structure down to the Esplanade, was built.  This is where all the stalls and vendors in the South Market are located today.  It was a bit of an engineering marvel back in the day.  There are no pillars running down the centre of the market; that great iron roof is balanced off the brick walls, and the metal beams would have been pullied up by teams of horses.

THEN : Building the extension to the South Market, circa 1900.

NOW : The extension to the South Market today.

NOW : The South Market today.  This one tends to get more attention than it's northern neighbour, as it's open from Tuesday to Saturday.  The North Market holds the Saturday morning farmer's market, and an antique market on Sundays.