Planetarium

The Planetarium in Toronto, originally part of the Royal Ontario Museum, was built in 1968. It was a gift from industrialist and philanthropist Col. Sam Mclaughlin

A huge unadorned concrete dome that offered daily excursions to intergalactic space. The projector was taken out a few years ago. The building was sold to University of Toronto, and now a small group of people called PLANETARIUM TORONTO are trying to restore it to its natural place in the Universe. let's hope they are successful.

Colonnade Bloor Street Toronto

Concrete is also used to create one of the first really classy shopping area of the Modernist age, The Colonnade in Toronto. Surrounded by exclusive shops and boutiques, this area still attracts the discerning (read wealthy) shopper. Concrete was the favorite material of Le Corbusier, the French philosopher and architect who was responsible for so much Modernist material through the International movement.

Eatons Marquee

Downtown Toronto still has a few other Modernist gems like the Vitrolite and chrome marquee on Yonge Street.

Thunder Bay

This classic 'machine age' or mid-century modern building in Thunder bay has had a wide variety of owners. The corner cabinet with the curved glass seems to float within the wall. The chrome outline makes the inside just glitter. The walls are vitrolite and the floor is original terrazzo in a starburst pattern. This flooring has been used in commercial and civic buildings for years. It looks as good in 2012 as it did in 1950 and it should last another 200 years or more. No one knows why the idiots in renovation keep either tearing it out or covering it with last-weeks-cutting-edge slate or tile.

Daily News Building London England

Vitrolite is a material that was used sparingly during the Art Deco period between the wars, but then took off during the age of diners and pharmacies with ice cream counters in the 1950s. Vitrolite can also be found in many wall decorations and in cafés and bars in Europe. It leant itself well to the flighty, extravagant designs of the ‘Roaring Twenties'. One well known major icon is the Daily News building in London England. This four storey beacon to the cool is meticulously maintained and contains most of the original interior lighting and fixtures as well as the flawless Vitrolite on the outside. Found near the financial district of London, it gets a load of foot traffic and is a fixture on an otherwise eclectic street. Next door is a building dating from the 17th century. The British, indeed most Europeans, can identify a good building when they see it and they make few mistakes when it comes to preserving their heritage. The interior of this building is only available for viewing by appointment.

Stratford festival Theatre

The tent-like roof and design can also be found in the Stratford Festival Theatre and the park in Toronto Island. The design was inspired by the Festival of Britain, 1951.

Lord Landsdown School

Lord Lansdowne Public School in Toronto makes another interesting use of concrete, steel and brick with its extravagant flying buttresses.

Highland Secondary School

Lloyd Kyles

Parkside High School Dundas

Lloyd Kyles who won an award for the most innovative structural design in Canada in 1959 for his work on Parkside High School. The outside walls and spandrels were precast reinforced concrete sections with marble chips inserted in the precasting, Kyles' original idea. The reversed arch concrete roof was poured in place - in situ. The building is a small gem mixing mosaics by Ross Robinson, floor lighting, a sweeping opening terrace and windows overlooking Dundas driving park.

Parkside High School Dundas

Lloyd Kyles who won an award for the most innovative structural design in Canada in 1959 for his work on Parkside High School. The outside walls and spandrels were precast reinforced concrete sections with marble chips inserted in the precasting, Kyles' original idea. The reversed arch concrete roof was poured in place - in situ. The building is a small gem mixing mosaics by Ross Robinson, floor lighting, a sweeping opening terrace and windows overlooking Dundas driving park.

Parkside High School Dundas

Lloyd Kyles who won an award for the most innovative structural design in Canada in 1959 for his work on Parkside High School. The outside walls and spandrels were precast reinforced concrete sections with marble chips inserted in the precasting, Kyles' original idea. The reversed arch concrete roof was poured in place - in situ. The building is a small gem mixing mosaics by Ross Robinson, floor lighting, a sweeping opening terrace and windows overlooking Dundas driving park.

Wentworth House

Also by Kyles, Kyles and Garrett, Wentworth House at McMaster University

Parkside High School Dundas

Lloyd Kyles who won an award for the most innovative structural design in Canada in 1959 for his work on Parkside High School. The outside walls and spandrels were precast reinforced concrete sections with marble chips inserted in the precasting, Kyles' original idea. The reversed arch concrete roof was poured in place - in situ. The building is a small gem mixing mosaics by Ross Robinson, floor lighting, a sweeping opening terrace and windows overlooking Dundas driving park.

Hendrys Shoes Hamilton

Vitrolite is a material that was used sparingly during the Art Deco period between the wars, but then took off during the age of diners and pharmacies with ice cream counters in the 1950s. Upscale shoe stores like Hendrys were also perfect for the new sleek shoes and accessories that were worn by the Modern person.

Nipigon Cafe

The wonderful glass brick foyer and original sign make this the eating place of choice in Nipigon. A lot of the interior is original too.

Sadly Remembered The DeLuxe

Another icon of the Dundas building scape was The DeLuxe, a diner kept intact by its owner for over 50 years. It had the original chrome stools, the original counters, the original booths and flawless Vitrolite on the front.

In 2008 it was bought by a chain and destroyed. The restaurant is now successful, but it will be successful without my patronage.

Belleville

The gazebo in the park in Belleville

Belleville

With the postwar economic boom people were buying cars and thus had easy access to rapidly growing suburbs. The small windows and clean surfaces of the International style were replaced by façades with a variety of surface finishes and large picture windows. The roof generally sloped further on one side than another to incorporate a carport or roofed terrace. This house has an angel stone base, brick and cedar paneling all on the same facade.

Ancaster

The slightly sloping, off- center roof and alternating vertical bands of brick and windows mark this as a Mid-century Modern home. The placement of the garage also makes it a Side Split. Unlike some of the others, the windows in this are all rectangular, rather than following the slope of the roof. The doorway is simple, as are the windows. The roof cornice or, in this case, fascia, is large but not molded.

Vaughan

This Mid-century Modern house is nicely nestled in the countryside. The front façade is a long bank of windows that are custom fit to match the undulations of the roof. The windows are framed with plain, clean, white boards that create a "moderne" pattern. The exterior walls are made of orange brick, and the other trim and finish is yellow, creating a bright, cheery look.

Kitchener

This Mid-century Modern house is in a more upscale neighborhood and has a much more dynamic façade. The roof slope is still very low, and there are many different materials in the same façade. Vertical wood paneling is found with large plates of unadorned window glass and stone. No window surrounds are present.

Hamilton

On large apartment buildings, the fenestration is understated, and balconies are generally large, blocky and colourful. The ornate porticos of earlier styles are replaced by a "butterfly" or inverted wing portico that encompasses space for a car.

Mid-century Modern styles are self-consciously free of any historical detail. Window surrounds are nonexistent. Doors are single pane and often sliding. Doors and windows are placed according to interior functional requirements and the comfort of the inhabitants as opposed to exterior design.

Toronto

The beauty of many Modernist buildings is that they purely and simply elegant. This long low house designed by architect George Boake of Crang & Boake for his family, 1956, is a brilliant example of that kind of thinking. It is a lovely little house with an inviting doorway.

Toronto

Glass brick has been used by architects for many years to produce translucence without transparency. Mid-century modern buildings do this better than any others.

Note as well the texturing in the warm orange brick. The horizontal bands emphasise the length of the building. It is casual but refined. The thick wood door with a natural finish is also a popular mid century design element.

Toronto

Just around the corner is another Mid -century building that leans more to Art Deco than to Frank Lloyd Wright. The front door is recessed. The jambs are extremely large and curved in the Art Deco style. Interesting that window companies don't seem to be able to make windows like this any more. The muntins in the sidelights are chrome. A sleek enameled black door with sidelights invites you in.

Toronto

This beautiful gem of a house was designed by Peter Dickinson. Like Frank Lloyd Wright Houses, the emphasis is not on the doorway. It is almost like approaching a cave or a Greek dell with a home inside.

Field stone walls, clerestory lights and loads of cedar are the design elements.

Hamilton

Leaning a bit towards the Art Deco again, this charming little suburban building is crisp and compact.

Hamilton

The awnings have metal blinds that can be adjusted from inside thw building. The sills are simple. The window surround is curved in towards the window itself.

Dundas

Thisfireplace has most of the design elements found in Mid-century design.

The background is plywood, stained and urethaned. The finish has been fine for 50 years, no painting required. The brick in the chimney is stack bond - obviously not structural, it is a finish. The mantel is a simple curve that extends to the floor on one side past the elevated hearth. The hearth is cantilevered out from the fireplace.

Exposed ceiling beams and a tongue and groove wood ceiling complete the mid-century look.

Dundas

Another classic Mid-century look is the half-round chimney in stucco. Small ceramic tiles are used above the fireplace opening while brick is used to create the hearth, a spot for firewood - a modern firebox, and a small nook for sitting.

Linoleum is used on the floor.

Hamilton

Plywood was another mid-century material that took off like a shot. This material was new, strong, and capable of providing flat surfaces for roofing, flooring and wall preparation. The concept of laminated wood had been around since the Egyptian times, and was used sparingly in the 19th century for industrial uses. It was only in the 1930s when waterproof adhesives were invented that it began to take on its rightful place in the Modernist movement. Builders were quick to see the value of four foot by eight foot sheets that retained their structural integrity. Mass production was well in place by the 1950s and has not stopped since.

Hamilton

In Plywood production, the sheets can be made either with a rough surface or with a thin veneer of precious wood. This finished surface could then be stained and varnished, and the resulting finish is both beautiful and durable. Sadly the 1970s came up with a ‘fake' wood surface that became the cheaper version of wall paneling, very popular with Wayne's World, and the Plywood surface was discredited. Still, it is an amazing material. Notice how it can bend around a radiused surface to create a lovely built-in buffet. Cutting edge 21st century architects are rediscovering Plywood as the wall finish of choice.

Hamilton

Mid-century Modern is all about the built-in. Most Modernist houses have a bench or chair in a ‘cubby hole' that was intended for the telephone. A small shelf was usually provided to fit the Bell Telephone book.

Other ‘built-ins' included the chair beside the front door. This chair was used to remove boots and shoes as well as to don the plastic covers for high heeled shoes.

Sault Ste. Marie

Like the other Mid-century Modern examples, this façade is compiled from a variety of textures and finish materials. There are no sidelights or transom on the door. The large picture window in the front is equipped with a sliding component for air flow.

Like the Prairie school designs, the fireplace in this house is in the center of the building. While the Prairie style was the innovative style for the wealthy at the turn of the century, the Mid-century Modern was the style for individuals and families in the postwar era.

Thunder Bay

The dynamics of the family home had changed drastically. In 1900, the large home had servants to stoke the fire for coal or wood burning furnaces. By 1950, architects were looking into solar heating and power- saving alternatives. As a result, many Mid-century Modern style homes have floor to ceiling windows on the south side of the house. The large overhang was calculated to produce shade in the summer and a maximum of sunlight in the winter. Window designs were built on rectangular patterns as opposed to the floral or circular patterns of earlier styles.

Thunder Bay

Most homes were long and low with a lot of windows. The windows could be cut on angles or clustered as in this example from Thunder Bay.

Thunder Bay

A more dynamic façade allows for many different light sources. For privacy, the windows admitting light facing the driveway are clerestory; light enters the building but no one can see in. The central fireplace cuts the design in two. The entrance or public area would have a fireplace opening and the private area would have an opening on the other side. Like the original Prairie designs, this is all on one level, a long rambling floor plan that opens out onto an interlocking hallways. The exterior materials are all natural: cedar rather than painted wood and natural coloured brick.

Fort Erie

It is sometimes difficult to say where International or Art Deco stop and Mid-Century Modern begins. This is a good example of that. This building could be International, but the lovely curve and glass brick make it Mid-Century.

Lotte Lamp

For residential projects, a new line of lighting and lamps used new materials such as plastic, fibreglass and even Styrofoam. Cheeky designs with fibreglass shades came in all the ‘cool' colours. Distinguishable among these are the Lotte lamps which, like most other mid century furniture and decoration, was a design inspired by Danish modern.

The Broslund family moved to Canada from Denmark just after the Second World War and opened their factory in Oak Ridges Ontario. The fibreglass lamp shades developed by Morten, the son in the family, are so strong you can literally stand on them.

Fibreglass

Fibreglass was used for a great many things in Mid-century design. Corrugated fibreglass was used as siding and roofing for summer houses and sheds.

Most often, however, fibreglass was used for lighting because of the beautiful luminescence of the material. Cheeky designs were easily made. These lamps can now be found on ebay and kijiji as well as fabulous shops dedicated to midcentury design such as

ethel20thcenturyliving on Queen Street in Toronto

Stoves

Modern Conveniences were being produced in grwat profusion. Here is an example of a stove. Four cooking elements fold back up into the wall to allow greater space for counter work.

Dundas

Architects and designers were re-thinking everything. Here the railing on the stairs has not handrail. The spindles extend right up to the ceiling. Each spindle acts as a grip. I wonder if this would still pass the Building Code Requirements?