'Corner of King & Yonge Streets, TORONTO, Canada' ~ Valentine & Sons' Postcard w/ 1916 C.N.E Postmark

Postcards : Views - Canada, Canadian

 

This antique, early 1900s post card features a street scene in downtown Toronto near the turn of the 20th Century. This colour view of the intersection of Yonge & King Streets has people in period dress on the sidewalks with horse-drawn wagons and early automobiles. A couple of electrified streetcars (trams or trolleys) complete the ground level of the historic streetscape.

However, the focus of this view is a number of the earliest "skyscrapers" in the Toronto skyline. Pictured are the "Royal Bank, C.P.R. Building, Traders and Dominion Banks".

The 15-storey Traders Bank building was built in 1906 and was Toronto's tallest building until 1913 when it was surpassed by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) building. It still stands as the city's oldest surviving skyscraper. The CPR building is also still standing although it was completely re-faced in 1929-30.

The 13-storey Dominion Bank Building (built 1913) has been incorporated into the recently-constructed 51-storey, 1 King West hotel-condominium development. Across Yonge St. the still-extant, 20-storey Royal Bank Building (built 1914) was the financial institution's headquarters for over fifty years.

This divided back Valentines & Sons' postcard is numbered "111758". It was mailed in 1916 from Toronto to a Mrs George (Annie) West in Ashburn, Ont.. It was franked with a 1916 Canadian National Exhibition cancellation postmark.

This postally-used post card is in good condition with a few attendant signs of age and wear (e.g. 2 quarter-circular impressions lower left corner). This piece of First World War-era ephemera is eminently suitable for framing or for collection in an album.

It should be of interest to collectors of "Old Toronto" or "Old Ontario" memorabilia .Those with an interest in genealogy who have traced their family's history to this part of the Province of Ontario (Upper Canada prior to 1867) should also appreciate this little relic of the past. It would make a nice gift for the Local History buff or amateur genealogist who has an interest in York County.

Worldwide Postage & Packing is $2.50. Multiple items purchased from SHARP OBJECTS may be combined for shipping purposes.

Item ID: 6096-17