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.

Sick Kids VS Limits Campaign

Location: north side of Adelaide between Church and Jarvis
Date photo taken: 24 October 2017

In October 2017 SickKids Foundation launched the largest fundraising campaign in Canadian health care history. A very visible part of the campaign was the painting of murals in locations across the city. Reaction to the gritty, battle-themed murals was mixed. A lot people loved them for their stereotype-busting, empowering message. Others found them disturbing. In response, the hospital stated that "the fight metaphor at core is not meant to claim that every kid should be a fighter, but rather that at SickKids we’re fighting for every kid."

The goal of the campaign is to raise $1.3 billion dollars to build a new hospital building. The original Hospital For Sick Children was built on University Avenue in 1949 and at the time it was the largest children's hospital in the world. It is still one of the world's largest pediatric research hospitals.

This mural was painted by Omen 514 with assistance from Nick Sweetman, Earth Crusher, Poser and Five 8. Unfortunately its presence at this location was relatively short-lived.