Four Seasons Hotel Toronto

Twenty-five fascinating images that offer a 360º panorama of the Toronto's downtown in 1856-57 mark the beginning of the use of photographs to document Toronto's growth, its achievements, its great civic works, and its citizenry. Since 1856, the City of Toronto has been commissioning photographs to document and to promote it.

This book, published to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the city's incorporation, brings together more than 100 of these images, selected by city archivists from their collection of hundreds of thousands.

For a quarter century, Glenn Cochrane, of CFTO's six o'clock news, left viewers with a smile by scouring the city for the genuine eccentrics and landmark fests that put Hogtown on the map.

Unbuilt Toronto explores never-realized building projects in and around Toronto, from the citys founding to the twenty-first century. Delving into unfulfilled and largely forgotten visions for grand public buildings, landmark skyscrapers, highways, subways, and arts and recreation venues, it outlines such ambitious schemes as St. Alban's Cathedral, the Queen subway line and early city plans that would have resulted in a Paris-by-the-Lake.

The Second World War had been under way for a year when Marie and John Williamson welcomed two English brothers to join them and their two children in their small house in north Toronto for the duration of the conflict. Marie wrote over 150 letters to the boys’ mother, Margaret Sharp, imagining that she could make Margaret feel she was still with her children. She shepherded the boys through education decisions and illnesses, eased them into a strange new life, and rejoiced when they embraced unfamiliar winter sports.

What is the ‘Toronto look’? Glass skyscrapers rise beside Victorian homes, and Brutalist apartment buildings often mark the edge of leafy ravines, creating a city of contrasts whose architectural look can only be defined by telling the story of how it came together and how it works, today, as an imperfect machine.

This is the story of a city and how it grew from an unknown and sparsely populated place to the sprawling, colorful metropolis that more than three million people call home.

With Toronto, Ontario as a featured example, Life in a Residential City provides insight for children into living in the housing zone of a big modern city. With a focus on where people live as opposed to where they work, this book explains the many different areas of a city that make living possible, including the people, the traffic, the roads and the buildings.

Rifke (Rosalie Wise Sharp) grew up in North Toronto in a household very different from those of her peers. Her family's traditional Yiddish customs and hard life style made her feel like she was born into the wrong family. Over the course of her life - and its many experiences that range from despair to incredible wealth - Rifke realized the spartan lifestyle of her parents did wonders to stretch her mind, her creativity, and the importance of remember one's roots. 

Faces on Places takes us up into the the sky to the fascinating world of creatures and icons that watch over Toronto and its inhabitants. Terry Murray invites readers to delve into the little-know and often overlooked grotesque world of gargoyles and cherubs and caricuatures that adorn some of Toronto's most prominent buildings.

This illustrated dictionary introduces readers to life in North America during the Victorian era, between 1837 and 1901. Beautiful illustrations show how the way of life of the settlers in North America was influenced by the customs and traditions of Victorian England. Themes include the ornate Victorian home, the fancy fashion for men, women and children, the introduction of Christmas celebrations and the way of life in wealthy families.

Since the election of Mayor David Miller in November 2003, Toronto has experienced a wave of civic pride and enthusiasm not felt in decades. At long last, Torontonians see their city as a place of possibility and potential. Visions of a truly workable, liveable and world-class city are once again dancing in citizens’ heads.

This illustrated dictionary introduces readers to early celebrations of Christmas in North America and around the world. Beautiful illustrations focus on Christmas customs and traditions in the Victorian era, especially those practiced by the early settlers in North America. Each spread features a particular Christmas theme and explains its origin.

If a city is its people, and its people are what they eat, then shouldn’t food play a larger role in our dialogue about how and where we live? The food of a metropolis is essential to its character. Native plants, proximity to farmland, the locations of supermarkets, immigration, the role chefs can and should play in society - how a city nourishes itself makes a statement about the kind of city it is.