The Archives hosts exhibits and events throughout the year. Find out what’s on.
Kwong Chow, Lichee Garden, Sai Woo, Nanking Tavern, Charlie’s Meat and Seafood, Pearl Court Restaurant, Rol San. What do they have in common? They stood across Old Chinatown, Chinatown East and Chinatown West. And now, all of them are gone.
This project presents miniature models of these seven important Chinatown sites, assembled from community memory and archival records, alongside some of the records used in their creation. In 2024 and 2025, the models were the focus of intergenerational storytelling sessions where memories of Toronto’s Chinatowns were shared by over 200 people across four generations at Cecil Community Centre and Scadding Court Community Centre. Together, these memories honour Chinatown’s past while reminding us that Chinatown’s story is still being written every day.
To learn more about Chinese history in Toronto see our updated research guide.
The backbone of the City of Toronto Archives’ photographic collection is a series of over 40,000 prints and negatives created by the City’s Department of Public Works. This series is broken into ninety-nine subseries alphabetically arranged by the commissioning department or subject area. Photographs created for the Roadway Section form Subseries 58
These images, taken by staff photographers Arthur Goss and Howard McDonald, during the first half of the 20th century record road widening, re-surfacing, streetcar track laying and sidewalk construction projects, but also capture the city’s roads, sidewalks, houses, and storefronts. Although the images are documentary in nature, they reveal the creativity of the photographers who made them, showing a range of compositional strategies and framing approaches.
This exhibit highlights the versatility and flexibility of these images, by removing their original documentary context and arranging them by visual themes, associations, repetitions and typologies. The installation invites comparison and allows subtle differences to emerge between features of the urban landscape. This survey will appeal to anyone interested in a close examination of historical photography, archives, and Toronto’s built environment.
Have you ever wondered who lived in your home before you, or when it was built? Learn how you can research an address using the wealth of archival resources available at the City of Toronto Archives. Our archivists will walk you through how to uncover the story of a building using maps, photographs and city directories.
Workshops are held at the City of Toronto Archives at 255 Spadina Road.
Contact archivesoutreach@toronto.ca to register.
For further information or to explore the history of Toronto communities, please visit our archival collection.