Wonderful Wychwood Park

We took an excellently guided architectural ROM walk through Wychwood Park on the wettest day of the summer so far. There is something very beautiful about taking pictures in the rain. The monsoon-like deluge was a relief from the thick, blanket-like humidity that had been dogging us all day. Everything was lush, green, tropical and dripping. I had shelter with my pink umbrella, and a small caterpillar took shelter under a leaf (illustrated below). Wychwood, an enclave of Arts and Crafts architecture, is a beautifully maintained private neighbourhood. Oh, if only all neighbourhoods had this magnificent foliage! Sometimes it makes it challenging to see the houses through the trees, but that's a small price to pay, and I'm sure the inhabitants like it that way.

Thomas Foster's Taj Mahal

As you drive north of Uxbridge, Ontario, you'll come across a gob-smacking structure, the Thomas Foster Memorial Temple. Built in 1935, it was inspired by the Taj Mahal, holds the body of Foster, his wife and daughter, and plays host to weddings, concerts and other events. A stunner in every way, it caught me and my friend Dave off guard the first time we saw it. We included it in one of the three car rallies we organized, and have never forgotten it. On a day trip recently, I visited it again with my friend Barbara and, not able to get inside (and it's amazing in there) we took a load of pictures of the outside.

Oy! Where's my Degree?

I spend a fair bit of time loitering around the University of Toronto with one event or another. This weekend I saw a musical (!) version of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity at Hart House Theatre. Unlike my feelings for the the last two shows I saw there, I really didn't like this, and have no interesting in dissecting it here. But here's a shot of one of the very attractive hallways of this renovated space, a legend in Toronto.




We walked home through a lovely archway on campus.




I attended a lecture at Trinity College...




On a kindly mild, but grey day, in Toronto... colour!




Each time I visit I love getting shots of the quadrangle though these windows.

Then a tour of Massey College, designed by Ron Thom (whose career was heavily influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright), and which opened in 1963. The request (by the Massey family) was that the college contained an enclosed quadrangle and paid homage to the colleges of Oxford.

Hello! Guess who?




Christopher Ondaatje, extremely wealthy brother of Michael, the writer.

It mixes the modern and the gothic well.




Lots of fine detail, like this floor grate:




And lots of well-crafted light fixtures.

Stunning stained glass in the upper library by the brilliant Sarah Hall.

This detail attempts to show the constellation Auriga in the middle panel at the top.




I'm not a very good photographer of buildings and I haven't done this justice, but I'm blaming that on my lack of edjimication.




Then it was comforting dim sum on Baldwin Street and a long walk home to make up for that.

Quote of the Day

"A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines."

(Frank Lloyd Wright)