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	Church & Wellesley: Photos
	The Village Green / Appx 520 words / 3 images / 96 K total

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View from Church and Alexander Streets
Left to right: The Alexander (at 40); The Tower (at 50)

Ville radieuse (reined in):
The Village Green

This is what all of the neighbourhood (and well beyond) was once meant to become: gleaming towers set amidst pristine parkettes. Early plans showed as many as eight structures here, standing on an otherwise empty block all the way from the southwest corner of Church & Wellesley down to Alexander Street. In the end the Greenwin development company got to put up only three, confined to the south side of Maitland and open by 1966.

Two are 18 storeys twins (19 counting the penthouses' two levels), at 55 Maitland and 40 Alexander. The third is a grandstanding 28- storey silo -- ubiquitous in views of the neighbourhood. Foreground in this view (with the red sign, mostly hidden by trees) is 500 Church Street: ground- floor retail; offices; a health club; and a multi- level garage -- on which more below.

(Barely) surviving streetscape
Pints, 518 Church Street, at Maitland
Behind: 50 & 40 Alexander; 55 Maitland

I don't know when this house lost its other half, though it and many of its small- scale neighbours are lucky to have survived at all. Grand plans for this block didn't include streetside amenity, apart from lawns and parking lots.

Development controls came just in time to save older buildings like this (many now housing gay businesses; see Some random shots), and to make new ones conducive to life on the street (see The Churwell Centre).

Pints' Maitland Street patio (sadly in the shade here, behind the red fence) is one of the most popular spots in the neighbourhood -- weather permitting. If it's wet but not too cold, there's a deck at the back covered by a marquee.

The green of the Village Green
Parkette, pools, & fountains, with 40 Alexander
(left) and The Cosmopolitan, 25 Maitland

The "Green" of the Village Green actually comes from "Greenwin" -- they liked tagging their projects. This green bit, between the Maitland and Alexander towers, has reputedly been cruisy from the time the complex opened.

At its eastern edge (this is a view to the west) there is a laneway leading off Maitland to the garage noted above, backing the smaller structures on Church Street. The lane's nooks and crannies, the garage's many open levels, and lots of bushes made it quite a busy spot after the bars closed -- and even before.

The bushes went some years ago, replaced along the lane by a chainlink fence. But none of that, not even the risk of cops in the garage, much discouraged nighttime traffic. It's quieter in the daytime: some people taking the sun; some taking in the (resulting) view.

Church & Wellesley Photos: List / Previous page / Next page: Churwell Centre

Time & Place: Toronto, 1971 / More on Church & Wellesley