The Faces of 77 Elm

Location: 77 Elm Street

Date photo taken: 27 March 2021

It's funny. I've always liked the building at 77 Elm Street. Built in the early 1980s, it's rather stark and monolithic, but there is a playfulness there too. Take the detail above. Panels like this are arrayed along the ground floor, facing the street. To me they remind me of the moai of Easter Island, patiently standing, watching the city as it passes. I was surprised then to learn that the building is sometimes referred to as the Nightmare on Elm Street. One critic I read gave it a grade of D- and used phrases such as "arbitrary and inappropriate" and "the architectural equivalent of a black hole". 

Known as the Alan Brown Building, it provides rental housing specifically     for physicans, nurses and other professionals working at SickKids.