Royal York hallway

 

Location: Royal York Hotel

Date photo taken: 20 November 2025

As someone who lives in Toronto, the inside of our city's hotels is not something I'm all that familiar with. The lobbies, sure, especially those ones that connect to PATH, but not the floors that have the rooms. So when friends visited recently and stayed at the Royal York, I couldn't resist the urge to look around a bit. For those who are curious, here's the 10th floor hallway of what was once the largest hotel in the British Commonwealth.

Automated Treat Machine

 

Location: TD Terrace, 160 Front St. W.

Date photo taken: 19 December 2025

This is one of the cutest things I've stumbled across in quite some time. It's a scaled down version of a bank machine but the little green paw prints and the canine content on the screens should tip you off that this isn't meant for regular customers. That and the treats that drop into the bowl when the motion sensor is tripped. The Automated Treat Machine was previewed at TD's Tech & Innovation Day conference in May 2024 and later that summer, was installed in the branch on the ground floor of the new TD Terrace building. Next time you're in the neighbourhood with your dog, you might want to pop in to make a withdrawal.

Water Refill Station

 

Location: PATH, under Bay Adelaide Centre

Date photo taken: 7 September 2023

Noticed this in PATH today and it gave me hope. It's a small thing perhaps, installing a water station, but it's enabling every person who chooses to opt for a refillable water bottle and encouraging those who are still just thinking about making the switch. Plus I love how they're trumpeting its presence with this lovely water scene. This installation is part of Breaking the Plastic Habit, a program by Brookfield Properties, which aims to influence positive change across their Canadian properties.

Raccoons

 

Location: Quinn's Steak House & Irish Bar, 96 Richmond Street West

Date photo taken: 27 March 2021

While it might not be immediately obvious, this post carries on the St. Patrick's week tradition of highlighting Guinness advertising around the city. I chose to crop out the actual glass of Guinness to keep the focus on Emily May Rose's raccoons. I feel like she's nailed them. I mean, it's probably just a matter of time before they start using paint to mark their territories. I'm sure they've already figured out how to operate a spray can.

Hive

 

Location: Lobby of 401 Bay

Date photo taken: 23 February 2015

The former Simpson Tower is now almost unrecognizable thanks to a recent recladding project, but the interior lobby still looks very much the same. The grooved stone walls around the elevator banks remain, as does the large light installation by Leo Villareal. Hive features a series of hexagons formed from LED tubes, arranged up the wall in clusters and animated by a custom software program. A static image doesn't convey the full impact of this piece so if you find yourself near the corner of Queen and Bay, pop in and watch it for awhile. 

24 Mercer

Location: 24 Mercer Street

Date photo taken: 15 April 2015

When I'm out walking, I often stop and snap pictures of buildings and streetscapes that appeal. More often than not, there's a heritage element that I admire. Such was the case with this picture. The building at 24 Mercer was designed by architect John Tully and constructed in 1857 as a two-storey private home. While originally the street was largely residential - the 1884 Goad's Atlas of the City of Toronto shows it just doors away from a public school - after the Great Fire of 1904, much of this area was taken over by industry. This building was purchased by the Toronto Hat Block Company to provide manufacturing space and at some point after this, the third storey, with the plainer windows and different brick style, was added. Mercer Street is now returning to its residential roots. To the east of this building (right in this picture) now stands The Mercer, a 33 storey condo building. To the west is a boutique hotel. 24 Mercer itself is slated to become Bungalow on Mercer, offering 12 loft-style units in a tall thin building, anchored by the original portion of the historic facade. 

Pucks

 

Location: Tim Horton's in Brookfield Place, Front & Yonge

Date photo taken: 3 December 2019

Despite the ongoing closure of the Hockey Hall of Fame, hockey fans can still browse some pretty interesting exhibits of hockey memorabilia, thanks to Tim Horton's. Opened in 2017, the franchise in Brookfield Place, which shares the atrium with the Hall of Fame entrance, was designed to function as a mini-museum. There are displays of pucks, sticks and helmets on the walls and near the entrance, and standing in what is normally the seating area in the atrium are large custom cases displaying jerseys and artifacts, one for each of the Canadian teams. They have even served a special Hall of Fame donut for Family Day. 

The Boa

 

Location: 100 Wellington Street
Date photo taken: 15 February 2018

I just love these elegant yet fun bike racks, which can be found in various lengths around the buildings of the Toronto Dominion Centre. I even love their name, The Boa. This rack actually consists of 5 shorter segments arranged together. And guess what? They're made in Canada, the work of Dobra Design, based in Vancouver.

Creativity is contagious

 

Location: 95 Wellington West

Date photo taken: 20 July 2020

The building at 95 Wellington Street West between Bay and York Streets is getting a face-lift and to help distract from the fuss and bother, the street level columns along Wellington have been outfitted in colourful artworks and quotes about creativity. The work started in 2018 and is expected to be completed sometime next year.

City People

Location: Beside the RBC building, Front and Bay
Date photo taken: 3 November 2012

I think the selection of this image was definitely influenced by a slight case of cabin fever. I have been avoiding going out lately. Even my short morning walks were forsaken a few weeks ago because in my neighbourhood, there are just too many people to dodge around. And yet, I am still drawn to people. I especially like to stand on my balcony and watch people walk their dogs. There is a terrier in my building and his morning walk is easily the highlight of my day.

Enough about me. This piece is called City People and it's by the American artist Catherine Widgery. It's an early public work for her and it varies quite significantly from her more recent installations, which is perhaps why it has been excluded from the catalogue featured on her website. I love these figures however. They are basically to scale and just so normal. And despite having been installed in 1989, they are just vague enough to remain timeless. There is extra charm to viewing them in person, as a few are on poles and change their routines based on the wind.

Concourse Building Entrance

Location: Adelaide St. W. at Sheppard St.

Date photo taken: 11 February 2018

This gorgeous entryway graces 100 Adelaide Street West, also known as the Concourse Building, which opened in 1928. Canadian artist and Group of Seven member J.E.H. MacDonald and his son, artist Thoreau MacDonald, designed the decorative elements of the building including the colourful mosaics which adorn the entrance. Depicting the four elements and various Canadian industries, these mosaics, along with the rest of the south and east facades, were retained when the rest of the building was demolished to make way for the new 40+ storey EY Tower.

Great White Shark

Location: north side of Hooters, NW corner of John and Adelaide

Date photo taken: 20 June 2019

This is a small section of a mural that covers the north wall of 280 Adelaide St. W. The entire piece is dedicated to sharks. This is my favourite bit, in part because of the lovely light effects on the great white, but also because of the hook. I really appreciate it when artists take structural elements that are in the way and find ways to creatively incorporate them. In this case, the tangle of wire becomes fishing line. 

This mural was a project by Sea Walls: Artists for Oceans, which is a public art program by the PangeaSeed Foundation.

Businessman Walking

Location: Commerce Court South, Wellington, between Yonge and Bay
Date photo taken: 5 April 2018

This striding fellow is one of several bronze businessmen scattered around the city, mostly in the downtown core. Each one sports an overcoat, hat and briefcase and all are of the same portly dimensions. Captured in mid-stride, in thought or acknowledging a fellow, their placement and selective variety creates the sense, at least for me, that you are encountering not different figures, but rather the same one, just going about his business. They are the work of Canadian sculptor William McElcheran.

To find this guy, enter Commerce Court from the Wellington Street side, near the coil-mounted Jump sign, and go up to the upper level. As a bonus, it's sitting next to a scale model of Commerce Court.

Waterfall

Location: Inside atrium of Scotia Plaza, 40 King St. W.
Date photo taken: 19 March 2019

The next time you're passing near King and Bay, pop into Scotia Plaza, the unmistakable red granite building near the north east corner. The south wall of the atrium features a soaring 15-storey artwork made up of 69 individual oil on canvas panels. Together they depict a waterfall, specifically the falls in Johnston Canyon in Banff National Park, Alberta. It's by Canadian artist Derek Besant and it was specially commissioned for the space by Scotiabank for the opening of the Plaza in 1989. What's particularly cool about this piece is that it is to scale, being a faithful representation of the size and look of the falls at the time Besant created the work.

If you want to see more by Besant, he currently has a text and photography project on display in 54 sites throughout the TTC as part of Myseum Intersections, which is on until March 31.

The Hand

Location: southeast corner of King and University

Date photo taken: 17 December 2017

This monumental hand is the work of Romanian-born artist Sorel Etrog. After living and studying art in both Israel and New York, Etrog came to Canada in 1963 and made Toronto his home. Created in 1972, this is one of over a dozen of his works on display in public spaces around the city. The closest can be found right across the street, on the northeast corner of King and University. For many, his most coveted work was the statue best known as the Genie which was awarded each year by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television until it was replaced by the Canadian Screen Awards, and a new statue, in 2013.

Snapshot - Queen Street, west of Yonge

Location: Queen Street, looking west from Yonge
Date photo taken: 21 December 2018

This short stretch of Queen Street West is seeing its fair share of changes lately. In addition to the dramatic new skybridge which opened in 2017 replacing the original one installed back in 1979, this image includes glimpses of two very different renovation projects. In the centre background is the 33-storey building formerly known as the Simpson Tower. Designed by John B. Parkin, a firm often referred to as legendary for its modernist designs, it was completed in 1969. The update has removed the original bronze-tinted glazing and thick concrete bands that ringed the building, updating the look along with the energy efficiency of the building and removing a distinctive piece of history from the city's skyline. 

In the right foreground of the picture is the construction scaffolding surrounding 2 Queen Street West, which is a very different renovation story. This building, which has been covered whole or in part by cladding since the 1960s is now being restored back to its 1885 glory. For more detail and some great pictures, check out this article.

Traffic Signal Box - $10 Face

Location: Corner of York and Wellington
Date photo taken: 4 September 2018
Image #11 in the Traffic Signal Box Series

In 2018 the Financial District BIA partnered with StART’s Outside the Box program to decorate a selection of traffic signal boxes in the downtown core. They put out a call to artists and from the more than 50 submissions received, chose 5 finalists. Dean Martin was one of those finalists, and this is one of two boxes he designed. Viewed up close, the graphic appears to be simply a pattern of circles, but as you move away, the image resolves into a portrait. Each box features two individuals who have at some point graced the Canadian ten-dollar bill. In his artist’s statement he explains: “… The individuals we choose to feature on our currency are also reflective of nation building; of who we are and how we see ourselves. This perception however, has evolved greatly over the years and nowhere is it more apparent than in the diversity of those we seek to acknowledge and celebrate… This is meant to be more than a one-way journey that simply re-evaluates yesterday’s values versus today’s. It is about standing far enough back to see that character and contribution manifest in different ways and that it can come from anyone, a feature of Canada that make us the envy of the world.” More of his statement can be read here.

Glass Inferno

Location: West end of Brookfield Place, Bay and Wellington

Date photo taken: 15 July 2018

This wall of fire is the work of Canadian glass blower Jeff Burnette. It was commissioned by Ki, a high end Japanese restaurant, and it sits next to their entrance inside Brookfield Place. The piece is made up of over 400 individually blown and molded pieces of glass. In addition to larger pieces like this one, Burnette also makes stemware and what he calls Raygunz, colourful sci-fi inspired guns made from glass.

Commerce Court Model

Location: Public space, Commerce Court South building

Date photo taken: 5 April 2018

This is a close-up of the top portion of a scale model of the Commerce Court North building. It is part of a larger model depicting the entire Commerce Court complex, complete with cars, trees and people. There's even a streetcar sitting on a miniature King Street. It was built between 1969 and 1970 and has been adjusted over time to reflect changes on the ground. I think miniatures and models are really cool and this is a perfect example of how they can inform as well as entertain. Seen from the ground, the carved faces set around the 32nd floor observation deck are pretty impressive. Given the chance, through the model, to compare their size to the size of the people on the adjacent deck gives you a more proper sense of how massive they really are.

To find the model, enter Commerce Court from the Wellington Street side, near the coil-mounted Jump sign, and go up to the upper level. As a bonus, it's sitting next to one of William McElcheran's businessman statues.

Spring Has Sprung

Location: Scotia Plaza

Date photo taken: 2 May 2018

After an unusually long wait, spring weather has arrived and parks and planters across the city are finally starting to show some colour. Trees are starting to bud and the daffodils and tulips are blooming - much to the delight of the local squirrels. I thought these purple and yellow combinations were particularly lovely.