Torontoist: PhotoTO: Queen Street West Fire

February 20, 2008

PhotoTO: Queen Street West Fire

Queen Street Fire by Miles Storey

Exclusive images from the massive fire on Queen Street. More shots after the jump.

Queen Street Fire by Miles Storey

All images by Miles Storey

By Miles Storey in Photos | Link | Comments (27) | Recommend this! (22) |

Tags: fire, photoTO, queen west, queen west fire

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Comments (27)

[1] | 02/20/08 11:21AM

Props to the fire crews, who—as usual—are doing an amazing job under really shitty conditions.

[2] | 02/20/08 11:32AM

Some of those buildings were underused. Might be a burn in order to evict tenants and make room for condos. Hope the cops follow the money.

[3] | 02/20/08 11:39AM

Heys, I think it's a little soon (not to mention paranoid) to jump on the Evil Corporate Ar$onist train.

[4] | 02/20/08 11:49AM

These are amazing photos.

[5] | 02/20/08 11:51AM

a 6 alarm blaze starting at 5am is pretty suspicious. but either way, its a tragedy for toronto. although i've heard that suspect on queen was closing? anyone know anything about that?

[6] | 02/20/08 11:58AM

Home Depot did it!

[7] | 02/20/08 12:06PM

Last fall, the area was designated a heritage conservation district.

[8] | 02/20/08 12:30PM

My heart sank when I saw that first photo. Can anyone confirm what businesses were in it?

So sad to see that all those once-beautiful buildings will have to be razed.

[9] | 02/20/08 12:57PM

Jen,

Duke's Cycle was in the building that collapsed...it was their home and business. Suspect Video is in another building close to collapse. Jupiter and National Sound are also affected. And I can't remember what else...

[10] | 02/20/08 01:04PM

Queen street's burning, Queen street's burning
Fetch the engines, fetch the engines
Fire, fire! fire, fire!
Pour on water, pour on water.

[11] | 02/20/08 01:12PM

Myles, these are amazing and heartbreaking. Good work.

[12] | 02/20/08 01:32PM

The photos in this set are just brilliant - the best out of any I have seen.....fantastic!

[13] | 02/20/08 02:01PM

I blogged about this this morning: http://snurl.com/201b8

It's so sad to see Suspect gone from Queen. Not to mention Duke's, which was there for over 80 years!

I'm not paranoid, but it does make you wonder. With these two cool businesses gone, it just makes Queen West that much lamer.

A sad day.
Dave

[14] | 02/20/08 02:10PM

Some more pics:

http://hello-velo.blogspot.com/

[15] | 02/20/08 02:42PM

This is just so so sad..I've been feeling teary about it all day. I know the owners of some of these shops, friends living in the area..all homeless, jobless. Beautiful Dukes, the little antique store, Suspect video..it really is such a tragedy.
Watch the developers swarm in now...its up to us as the downtown community to not let those big box stores in...

[16] | 02/20/08 03:03PM

Wow... heartbreaking loss for the city... I was just about to buy a bike from Dukes, too. Now I don't even know where else to go!

[17] | 02/20/08 03:07PM

When downtown property is involved, it's never too early to suspect condo-backed arson.

[18] | 02/20/08 03:21PM

no plane hit that building.

[19] | 02/20/08 03:38PM

"no plane hit that building."

not sure what you're trying to say with that comment...a lot of people are homeless right now..may not be in the thousands but its horrible just the same.

A friend of mine just posted this on another online discussion:

Here's the money shot, from the Toronto Star website:

"Last fall, the area was designated a heritage conservation district."

It sounds like a repeat of the 1996 fire at the Dover Elevator Building on John St, which was another historical site that couldn't be developed. I seem to recall that its convenient destruction made the development of the Paramount (now Scotiabank) Theatre complex possible.

Hopefully, the fire investigators are paying attention."

[20] | 02/20/08 03:42PM

Responding to jpenslar:
There are still a lot of decent bike shops left to visit. There are so many in fact, they get listed alphabetically and located by number in the city's annually published bike maps. good luck finding that special set of wheels.
FYI.

[21] | 02/20/08 05:26PM

This is a sad day for our city. Living in the area I was fond of the stores along that strip. Can some one tell me what to do with the dvd's I have in my possession that I rented from Suspect?
I just heard about HOME DEPOT going into the area ...what the hell... someone tell me it's a joke .... please? Where is this beast going to be built?

[22] | 02/20/08 05:33PM

Gigantic, plans have been approved for a home depot and condo building on the lot at Portland and Queen.

There's a pic of the mixed use development here, http://spacing.ca/wire/?p=2712

[23] | 02/20/08 06:23PM

Great photographs Miles.

Home Depot on the corner? wow...that would be awful :(

[24] | 02/20/08 06:46PM

. Can some one tell me what to do with the dvd's I have in my possession that I rented from Suspect?

Although I'm sure overdue rentals are the least of Suspect Video's worries right now, I'd suggest visiting the location on Markham St. (bloor and bathurst)

[25] | 02/21/08 03:21AM

alisong:

I was 16 and squatting in the Dover Elevator building the night it burned down. I was one of many nearly trapped inside and was rescued by firefighters. I even ended up with a cameo on CityPulse that morning being taken away in the back of a cop car (we were questioned but released once the cause became clear). I'm not sure what happened this morning, and I'm certainly not above suspecting there might have been something fishy here (there can always be something fishy when something like this happens), but I can definitively tell you that the Dover Elevator building was destroyed because a girl squatting by herself in one of the dozens and dozens of rooms in there fell asleep leaving a candle lit on top of a milk crate. I know this because she ran into the room a few of us were in covered in third degree burns screaming about what had happened.

I do suspect however that the fire certainly facilitated the ease with which the paramount went in and we probably had some suits somewhere secretly thanking us for helping them along...

[26] | 02/21/08 02:38PM

in response to alisog:

"not sure what you're trying to say with that comment...a lot of people are homeless right now..may not be in the thousands but its horrible just the same."

Humor is... despair refusing to take itself seriously. ~Arland Ussher

[27] | 02/21/08 09:51PM

Apparenly Google ads thinks it will be therapeutic for us all to buy Arcade Fire tickets.

Oh word recognition advertising, how you annoy me.