Turning on Toronto: Lighting Up the Night

We hope you will enjoy this selection of photographs from the Archives’ collection, which illustrate the beauty of our city when it is lit up at night.

 

Looking along Yonge Street at night, with all the lights making bright lines on either side.
Yonge Street, north from King Street, January 15, 1913, Fonds 1231, Item 2049
Front of Old City Hall with all the lights on the clock tower illuminated.
Decorations at City Hall for visit of the Prince of Wales, August 29, 1919, Series 372, Subseries 41, Item 97

 

 

Front of Old City Hall with sign saying "God Bless the Prince of Wales" and many Union Jack flags.
Decorations at City Hall for visit of the Prince of Wales, August 29, 1919, Series 372, Subseries 41, Item 98

 

Looking along a sidewalk, with an overhanging sign saying "The Superior Fried Fish Shop."
1887 Yonge Street – illuminated signs at night, March 9, 1923, Series 372, Subseries 58, Item 1044

 

Stone pillars and metal gates in the snow.
Night scene, Alexandra Gates at High Park, December 23, 1923, Fonds 1548, Series 393, Item 18586
Queen's Park buildings lit up by spotlights.
Ontario Parliament buildings1929Series 372, Subseries 41, Item 274

 

Three wings of a stone building lit up at night.
Whitney Block, 1929, Series 372, Subseries 41, Item 273
Lights on both sides of a road and on the boulevard in the middle.
Improved lighting on safety zone for streetcar loading on St. Clair Avenue near Christie Street, March 23, 1933, Series 71, Item 9675

 

 

The city see at night from above, with buildings lit up and the roads showing as streams of light.
Aerial view at night, taken from the Canada Life Building, looking southeast down University Avenue, 1934, Series 1317, Item 828

 

A two-storey stone building with wide windows, lit up by streetlights outside.
Gray Coach Lines terminal on Bay Street – high intensity mercury vapour 440 watt lamps, May 22, 1935, Series 71, Item 10884
Illuminated sign advertising Wrigley's gum.
Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum, [ca. 1936], Fonds 1488, Series 1230, Item 1090

 

 

Theatre sign and outside area bright with lights. Movies playing are "Puddin' Head" and "Cracked Nuts."
Marquee of the Midtown Cinema, [ca. 1936], Fonds 1230, Item 6072
A snow blower vehicle shoots snow into the pack of a pickup truck. Smiling workers with shovels stand beside it.
Snow blower at night, 1943, Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 1373
A road lined with trees and lights that meet in two bright lines in the distance.
University Avenue lighting, looking north from South African monument, July 2, 1945, Fonds 70, Series 327, Subseries 4, File 49

 

Cars parked in front of a wide building with "Club One Two" spelled out in lights on the front.
Club One Two, January 7, 1952, Fonds 1653, Series 975, File 804
In a backyard illuminated with strings of lights, a man at a barbeque puts food on a plate held by a woman.
Backyard barbeque, June 13, 1957, Fonds 1653, Series 975, File 2400

 

 

A TTC stop beside shops with glowing signs and windows.
Glenholme and St. Clair avenues, February 1958, Series 372, Subseries 100, Item 691

 

Large cars pull up under a broad illuminated awning.
O’Keefe Centre opening night, 1960, Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 812
Illuminated office buildings, neon signs, and lines of cars with their headlights on.
View from Eglinton terminal, looking east, November 1962, Fonds 1567, Series 648, File 118

 

 

New City Hall and downtown with the office buildings all bright with lights, and the roads showing as long lines of light.
City Hall, aerial view at night, February 22, 1967, Fonds 1268, Series 1317, Item 300

 

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