The Story of 30 Marjory Avenue

 


My work painting historical scenes involves a lot of time researching archival sources on the internet.  Literally tens of thousands of black and white images have flashed before my eyes in the last 15 years.  Often I'll simply search something as simple as "street 1900" and that will lead to a wealth of interesting archival pics.  Sometimes when I go down that rabbit hole, clicking on whatever shot strikes my fancy, I can stray very far from my original search, and lose complete track of where I am in cyberspace.  During one such search, the following image came up:


There were a few things I liked about it right out of the gate.  The straight-up presentation of the two main buildings and the shiny rain-soaked reflection on the street were two of them.  But also, the scene seemed typically Toronto, in fact East-end Toronto.  Believe it or not, the street lamp attached to the telephone pole was also a clue, as I had seen that type of fixture before in Toronto pics (and indeed painted them before too). 


Luckily for me, there was both a date and address written on the photo:  September 28, 1916, 28 - 30 Marjory Av.  "Marjory" seemed to have a Toronto ring to it, and a quick search on Google Maps proved it to be the case.


Not only was it a Toronto street in the 1916 photo, but it appeared from Google Streetview that the former corner store was still standing.  

Regardless of the current state of 30 Marjory, I liked the archival shot enough to commit it to canvas.  I kept the shopkeeper from the photo and added a woman with an umbrella on the corner.  

At one point when the painting was almost finished, I happened to be in the East End with canvas in hand, so I simply had to take a run by Marjory Street and see the location for myself.  

The store was now a private residence, and the trees had grown to the point where they obscured much of the cross-street view.  But the bones of the two buildings were still unmistakable, 100 years after that archival pic was taken.  So I got my own snap with me and the painting in front of the two buildings.  

  
"30 Marjory" (the painting, not the house) ultimately sold, and now hangs as a home-within-a-home in, of course, the east end of Toronto.  



If you would like a print of "30 Marjory" please feel free to visit:

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/30-marjory-avenue-dave-rheaume.html

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