1 Comment May 11, 2012 at 1:00 pm

cityscape

Building Storeys: Subways

Moving Torontonians in red or silver trains since 1954.

Every year, Heritage Toronto works with local photographers to create Building Storeys, a visual documentation and anecdotal exhibit of our city’s heritage sites. This year’s exhibit—which is on view at the Steam Whistle Roundhouse throughout the month of May—is dedicated to rail and marine transportation. Over the month, Torontoist and Heritage Toronto are exploring the context for Building Storeys; today we look at Toronto’s subway system and its riders, stations, and trains.

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160883 Ontario Premier Leslie M. Frost in subway car at official opening of Yonge Street subway, March 30, 1954. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 8959. "When the Yonge line was under development in the late 1940s, the following design principles were used: 1. The subway would go where the need was greatest despite the obviously high cost of building a line through the heart of the downtown area. 2. The line would be designed to handle a heavy volume of traffic—at least three times greater than the capacity of the heaviest surface streetcar line—with speed and safety. (In the early stages of design work it was the opinion of TTC officials and the consulting engineers that trains of approximately 500 ft. in length made up of cars 10 ft. wide and operating at the rate of 30 trains an hour would provide a capacity of 40,000 passengers an hour in one direction at acceptable standards of loading and safety.) 3. It would be built to facilitate fast and convenient interchange of passengers between the subway and the connecting surface transit routes. This factor determined the choice of a shallow subway despite the temporary disturbance and inconvenience of cut-and-cover construction along the city’s major artery. 4. The cars would be wider and faster than surface cars, with more comfortable seating and with plenty of doors for fast boarding and alighting. 5. Station platforms and mezzanines would be spacious to allow for future growth in transit riding. 6. Subway structures would be built to permit the future use of longer, more efficient cars." Transit in Toronto 1849–1967 (Toronto: Toronto Transit Commission, 1967). 20120511frost1954 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511frost1954-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511frost1954.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511frost1954.jpg 640 493 [] https://torontoist.com/2012/05/building-storeys-subways/slide/20120511frost1954/ 20120511frost1954 0 0

160882 Unloading Toronto’s first subway car at the Port of Montreal. Canada’s First Subway (Toronto: Toronto Transportation Commission, 1954). "The transit authority’s PCC streetcars perfectly matched the new, candy-apple red Gloucester subway cars that whisked passengers through tunnels underneath Yonge Street, heralding the age of unencumbered speed. The Yonge Subway system became a symbol of a future that was now and moving forward with post-war possibilities." John Martins-Manteiga, Mean City (Toronto: Dominion Modern, 2005). 20120511firstsubwaycar https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511firstsubwaycar-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511firstsubwaycar.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511firstsubwaycar.jpg 467 679 [] https://torontoist.com/2012/05/building-storeys-subways/slide/20120511firstsubwaycar/ 20120511firstsubwaycar 0 0

160884 Illustration by Jack McLaren, Let's All Hate Toronto (Toronto: Kingswood House, 1956). "The three strangest days in Toronto history started on the very first day the subway was opened. People descended to their new system in an excited, expectant, holiday mood. Happy laughter filled the air. Everybody was a smiling, chit-chatting, friendly, good neighbour who said—'please, thanks, excuse me and after you.' They were, perhaps, a little self-conscious but happy, nevertheless—three whole days of new-found congeniality such as never before had been seen in town—they all exuded courteous, benign, gracious, kindly, well-mannered friendliness. To be sure the men had grabbed all the seats and the women, as usual, had to stand, the seats were grabbed with a smile and not a snarl—indeed a promotion in courtesy." Jack McLaren, <a href="http://torontoist.com/2009/11/historicist_the_city_that_nobody_loves/">Let's All Hate Toronto</a>. 20120511subwayhappy https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511subwayhappy-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511subwayhappy.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511subwayhappy.jpg 640 471 [] https://torontoist.com/2012/05/building-storeys-subways/slide/20120511subwayhappy/ 20120511subwayhappy 0 0

160885 Illustration by Jack McLaren, Let's All Hate Toronto (Toronto: Kingswood House, 1956). "On the third day something happened—something seemed to go wrong, for just as suddenly as the 'New Look' had come so it disappeared—the three-day period of sunshine and light fled back to oblivion. Something which they did not understand had slipped away from them again. Torontonians went back to their usual morose glumness. People again glared at each other suspiciously and sudden venom filled their tongues with malice—'oh yeah, wise guy, O.M.D.B.* and drop dead!' The situation had returned to normal and once again people sat there hating each other." Jack McLaren, <a href="http://torontoist.com/2009/11/historicist_the_city_that_nobody_loves/">Let's All Hate Toronto</a>. *"Over My Dead Body." 20120511subwayglum https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511subwayglum-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511subwayglum.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511subwayglum.jpg 640 480 [] https://torontoist.com/2012/05/building-storeys-subways/slide/20120511subwayglum/ 20120511subwayglum 0 0

160886 Photo by Rick Harris. "The subway has helped to change the Hogtown image for it is an achievement which has inspired mixed feelings of pride, envy and astonishment in the rest of Canada. The sentiment was summed up in a wry editorial in the Montreal Daily Star on the day the first Toronto subway opened: 'Montreal congratulates Toronto honestly and with all its heart. Toronto will not wonder that into our congratulations creeps a little envy. Toronto, we are sure, did not have as many lovely plans for its subway as we have.'" Pierre Berton, The New City (Toronto: Macmillan, 1961). 20120511harrissubway https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511harrissubway-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511harrissubway.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511harrissubway.jpg 500 281 [] https://torontoist.com/2012/05/building-storeys-subways/slide/20120511harrissubway/ 20120511harrissubway 0 0

160887 Bloor station, 1962. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1567, Series 648, File 115, Item 5. "Those who have ridden on all the great city subways of the world agree that Toronto’s subway is the finest. It is the quietest, the cleanest, the most comfortable, and the most convenient." Andrew Hepburn, The Toronto Guide 1966–67 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1966). 20120511bloor https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511bloor-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511bloor.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511bloor.jpg 640 641 [] https://torontoist.com/2012/05/building-storeys-subways/slide/20120511bloor/ 20120511bloor 0 0

160888 Photo by Toni Wallachy. "This will be the day the world began to forget the Moscow subway." Prime Minister Lester Pearson, during opening of the Bloor-Danforth line, May 25, 1966, quoted in that day's edition of the Telegram. Upper and Lower Bay stations opened that day. 20120511toniwallachybay https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511toniwallachybay-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511toniwallachybay.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511toniwallachybay.jpg 640 422 [] https://torontoist.com/2012/05/building-storeys-subways/slide/20120511toniwallachybay/ 20120511toniwallachybay 0 0

160889 Opening of Bloor-Danforth line extension into Scarborough, May 10, 1968. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1567, Series 648, File 244, Item 24. "Seasoned subway riders know that the best chance of getting a seat is by boarding a front or rear car. Don’t be surprised, by the way, when a TTC man leans out the train’s window and blows a whistle; that’s the signal to close the sliding doors and move on to the next stop." Toronto Guidebook, edited by Alexander Ross (Toronto: Key Publishers, 1974). 20120511scarborough https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511scarborough-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511scarborough.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511scarborough.jpg 640 514 [] https://torontoist.com/2012/05/building-storeys-subways/slide/20120511scarborough/ 20120511scarborough 0 0

160890 Photo of Downsview station by Timothy Neesam. "The closest thing is the aerodrome next door. We wanted to respond to the area so we used wings and canopies to pick up on the aviation theme. We also wanted to ensure that it was a local landmark with clear and easy orientation. Out here, buildings are objects, not part of the fabric." Architect Timothy Driscoll discussing Downsview station, the Toronto Star, March 29, 1996. 20120511downsview1 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511downsview1-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511downsview1.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511downsview1.jpg 640 960 [] https://torontoist.com/2012/05/building-storeys-subways/slide/20120511downsview1/ 20120511downsview1 0 0

160891 Photo of Downsview station by Timothy Neesam. "No one can fail to have a proud confidence in the limitless future of our Nation and of this vibrant and pulsating city of Toronto. It is our pride to have brought into existence, a public work which we believe will be considered in harmony with the spirit of Canadian progress." TTC chairman W.C. McBrien, Canada's First Subway (Toronto: Toronto Transportation Commission, 1954). 20120511downsview2 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511downsview2-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511downsview2.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120511downsview2.jpg 640 960 [] https://torontoist.com/2012/05/building-storeys-subways/slide/20120511downsview2/ 20120511downsview2 0 0

Building Storeys
Steam Whistle Brewing (The Roundhouse, 255 Bremner Boulevard)
May 3–31
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Ever since Ontario Premier Leslie Frost and Toronto Mayor Allan Lamport threw the switch that officially launched the Yonge line on March 30, 1954, Torontonians have relied on our subway system to get around town. Debates concerning overcapacity and how the system should be extended began almost immediately. They rage on to this day. Love it or hate it, there’s little doubt the subway is one of Toronto’s landmarks.

Click through the gallery to read a few things people have said about our subways over the years.

cityscape

Building Storeys: Subways

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