Talk:List of oldest buildings and structures in Toronto/Archive 1

Archive 1

Comment from initial editor

I created this list of the oldest buildings and structures in Toronto because I simply could not find anything like it on the Internet. I decided to include only existing buildings so this could serve as a reference page for people wishing to see those buildings now. I decided to include structures as well as buildings since there is likely some interest in bridges, the lighthouse, and other such constructions that are not inhabited. I also tried to include the web pages I used for some of the information. I am not clear on the quality of these pages, but at least they are documented. I arbitraily chose the year of completion as the important date for sorting the list.

I recognize the list is incomplete and I am looking to others to add in some of the other important buildings and structures I missed. I would also hope others could double check the dates of completion as I suspect there is some variation between sources. Additionally, several decisions need to be made. For example, at what point (year) do we stop the list? Should it be based on some 'boundary' date (1899 or 1900)? Or perhaps it should be tied to the completion of some significant building such as the construction of Queen's Park?

Hilmar 22:15, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

The list should focus only on 'important' and 'landmark' structures... We should really not include ordinary houses and rowhouses because it will not be realistic to have a complete list... I think the list should probably end in 1899.

Wasn't there a large fire in TO around the turn of the 20th Century? If a lot of historical buildings were destroyed b/c of that fire, then it could be used as an endpoint for the dates listed in the article. --Madchester 23:12, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

The Great Toronto Fire was in 1904, and it did destroy a good portion of the downtown. The main problem with that cut off date is that several substantial residential areas date from before this. Most of the houses in Cabbagetown, the Annex, and Parkdale all date from the late nineteenth century. Listing that many buildings is not very useful. A better cut off might be 1875, or even with Confederation in 1867. - SimonP 11:49, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Looking at the 1880 to 1899 table on the page it appears most of those should be included in a page such as this. I can see the list having two purposes: 1) A list of all buildings and structures prior to some threshold date. The date would need to be sufficiently old to prevent an unwieldy list. 2) A list of old notable buildings would have a more recent threshold date but would not be exhaustive.

With the sub-tables in the main article this is easily accomplished. The first few tables could be completed and the last few could be for the more notable ones. Another way to view this is to declare all buildings and structures older than some threshold date as notable while only some after that date are. Hilmar 15:59, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

That sounds reasonable. A comprehensive list of everything surviving from prior to Confederation should be possible, and after 1867 the list could only be those buildings that are prominent enough to have their own Wikipedia articles. - SimonP 16:10, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. Hilmar 16:42, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

inclusion / purpose

This list is trying to do two things at once: A) list all the surviving buildings from the pionner era. B) list all "signifigant" pieces of Toronto architecture. The current title matches purpose "A". But with this title everything build after the buring of York in 1813 should be removed. Purpose "B" needs to merged to Architecture of Toronto or get its own list, but be careful because it could easily become original research. It should be limited to buildings that reliable sources (such as a heritage register) have called historic. --Kevlar (talk • contribs) 21:18, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Structures dating since 1950

I believe that this article should not include structures since 1950, since these buildings are quite new and the list of buildings is too long. Johnny Au (talk) 16:20, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

It shouldn't include any buildings after 1850! --Kevlar (talk • contribs) 20:30, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

I have to agree. Johnny Au (talk) 22:28, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

At least, it is a start. Johnny Au _{(talk/contributions)} 01:42, 15 June 2008 (UTC)