Marta O'Brien

@archhistory

Architectural historian. Passionate pedestrian & former cyclist, so road safety! City & provincial politics. Lifelong renter in Toronto.

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Marta O'Brien@archhistory· 1d

Bernini has been a favourite of mine since I did a project on him in architecture school. His Cornaro Chapel, with his Ecstacy of St Teresa, is stunning.

Incredibly detailed white marble statue of angel about to pierce heart of St Teresa. Gold rays from above. Statue flanked by blue marble pilasters.
Wikimedia Commons photo.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· 1d

Blue Church, east of Maitland, Ont, built 1845. Replaced 1809 blue chapel that burned. Thought that Anglicans painted blue to distinguish from white Quaker meeting houses. #BlueSkyMonday #Blue #building

Simple clapboard church building with gable roof and pointed arch windows. Painted blue. Short square tower with slender spire above entrance end. Surrounded by gravestones.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· 3d

Canada had kit houses too. Here's a 1919 example of one from Eaton's (was a major Cdn department store chain for >100 yrs).

Page from catalogue featuring four-square style house, 2 storeys with hip roof, dormer, and front porch. Below shows plans and measurements with note to write for price of "all materials and equipment."

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· 3d

Losing a beloved pet tears our hearts. It hurt so much when our dear cat passed. We kept thinking we heard or saw him around our home. Our present cat is 16 & is here with me as I type.

Brown tabby cat with white underside and socks curled up on oak arm chair with floral tapestry seat.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· 9d

Indeed. Part of the Temple Building (1895 George W. Gouinlock) preserved at Guild Park. Its replacement is Thomson Building (1972 WZMH).

Red stone fragment of demolished building. "Temple Building" across bottom. Very ornate letters IOF (International Order of Foresters) above. Centre has moose head looking down.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· 14d

#TurretTuesday 1893 double house in Toronto's Annex neighbourhood.

Red brick asymmetrical semi-detached house with some tough-faced stone on ground floor. Left side: cream coloured portico, arch window, oriel on 2nd floor, sleeping porch (now enclosed) above. Right side: inset entrance below stone arch, arched window, small walk-out above entrance with small dormer above, 2-storey turret on 2nd floor.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· 19d

Bloody "neighbourhood character" strikes again. Also, 80 letters in opposition? Isn't that a fringe group? Here's the site:

Empty corner lot flanked by 4-storey apartment building and street mall across road.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· 20d

In Toronto: The Shorecrest (the T has fallen off) & The Oak Royal.

Brown brick apartment building corner with turquoise glaved brick above windows. Building name in plain upper-case lettering (end T is missing).

Small square blue and white tiles surround apartment building entrance. Brown metal frames glass. Gold cursive script spells The Oak Royal.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· 25d

Love this Modern Classicism style building on Richmond Rd at Hilson, Ottawa. 1948; I don't have architect's name. Flemish bond brickwork, smooth stone in antis cols. Horizontal brick reveals between windows make me wonder if original windows had horizontal mullions.

Centre of gold colour brick building with wide steps leading to entrance. Double doors with square lights flanked by divided sidelights and transom. Smooth stone columns either side of doorway. Low horizontal wings with series of punched windows.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· Jul 15

Very bad. Opened window briefly & smell of smoke was very strong. Here's the gauge:

Air Quality scale for Toronto shows 10+ which is "Very High Risk."

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· Jul 10

Portia says "Hi cousin!"

Brown tabby cat with white lower face and paws, green eyes. Relaxing in padded grey plush circle atop cat tower.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· Jul 10

If you see this, post your comfort characters. Miffy sits on my desk to make me smile.

Sitting stuffed toy white bunny wearing blue garment. Bunny's paws all showing. Black oval eyes and X for mouth.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· Jul 9

Stained-glass rectangular transom with bird and butterfly within a circle. Either side are dark green and burgundy checks with fan patterns in lower corners. All set into white painted wood frame in red brick wall.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· Jul 2

Just finished fascinating book. "An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us" by Ed Yong reveals how non-human creatures sense & communicate. Thought-provoking & sobering to learn extent we've missed how different animals experience world we've affected so much.

Green book cover with photograph of monkey's face looking up at blueish-green butterfly. Notes New York Times bestseller plus author is Pulitzer Prize winner for previous book "I Contain Multitudes."

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· Jun 27

From Ward's Island 2009.

Looking across Toronto harbour toward CN Tower from concrete walkway flanked by grass, shrubs, and trees. An empty bench overlooks the water.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· Jun 15

I always recommend looking at strips like this from across the street to see the architectural details above the retail at grade. Here: 1891's C.R. Harris Building, north side of College just east of Ossington.

3-storey 3-bay commercial building in very dirty red brick with stone lintels and sills.

Top of same building showing brick details including field of roughface and smooth bricks in checkerboard pattern. On right can see badly rusted dentilled cornice. Top floor windows have brick lintels.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· Jun 13

Happy Caturday!

Brown tabby cay with white socks snoozing in round top of cat tree with one leg and her tail hanging down.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· May 26

Here's my slide from 1996. Love the lettering on the window!

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· May 26

Have always liked this c1879 shopfront at 241 King St E in Toronto (twin to left has been painted). Retains its slate mansard roof, dichromatic brick, & charming window details. Perfection.

2-bay shopfront with grey slate shingles on mansard roof. 2nd storey red brick with cream brick trim. Stone sills and keystones. Base cream-painted wood, inset entrance, and large glass pane window.

Charming wood details above window and entrance. Transom above large window has row of lozenges with diamond shape in centre.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· May 23

Hope you got the story of the boardroom table. Top is 1 piece almost 11 m/ 36' long, so they had to place it by crane before the room was enclosed -- table hasn't moved since. My pic:

Huge oak table surrounded by black leather upholstered Brno chairs. On cream-coloured carpeting. Oak panelling as divider on left and on far wall. All left as designed by Mies van der Rohe.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· May 17

Hilversham Town Hall, Netherlands vibe, but curved. 1931 by Willem Marinus Dudok.

Blond brick building with multiple rectangular forms. Small rectangular and square windows. Tall clock tower. Photo Wikipedia by Roundtheworld.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· May 14

Thanks for this! Great photos on your website. That's a lot of work. I love terra cotta too. It's amazing how sharp it looks even after >100 years (here's my photo of a detail on Toronto's former Army & Navy Store, 1887-88 Langley & Burke).

Orangey-red brick building details with (from left) brick pilasters with stone caps, field of finely-detailed terra cotta making lace-like pattern, brick window arch with stone moulding & details, window with dark painted metal mullions. Above all is brick dentil course.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· May 11

Phillip Carter also did the 2004 addition to the TPL branch in The Beach (1916 Eden Smith and Sons). Here's my photo of the facade facing Kew Gardens.

2-storey light stone, glass, and metal addition to red brick Tudor Revival library with light stone window surrounds and quoins. Fairly steep black asphalt shingle roof on each part of the L-shaped building.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· May 6

Believe that honour goes to John Cox House, 460 Broadview Ave built in 1790s. Cox a United Empire Loyalist granted 200 acres by John Graves Simcoe. Apparently orig log cabin contained in house. Couple of my photos:

1-storey Regency Cottage. White stucco with dark green wood trim and door. Small portico with slender columns over entrance. Very shallow roof pitch.

One side of house with multi-pane sash window and stone quoins defining corner.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· Apr 23

Love this Streamlined Moderne building. Charles Henson Canadian Laboratory, 833 King W, Toronto (1934 architect E.L. Sheppard). Perfume factory converted to residential lofts in 1998 (with 7-storey tower added behind). Gorgeous wraparound windows. Cushiony entrance surround. My photos.

3-storey symmetrical goldish colour brick building with stone details. Horizontal windows wrap around corners. Vertical elements extend slightly above roofline.

Layers of curved moulding around black metal double-door entrance. Exaggerated "keystone" has vertical fluting.

Black wrap-around windows with horizontal mullions and straight light-coloured stone lintels and sills.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· Apr 21

Named for Audrey & Theodor Geisel (Dr Seuss) for generous contributions to library & devotion to improving literacy. (Photo of whole not mine.)

Concrete & glass building with multiple angles seemingly sitting on nest of concrete arms spreading from ground. Continuous glass on each storey reflects blue sky.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· Apr 19

Another example in Toronto (on Victoria Park near Danforth).

Semi-detached house with pointed arch window on 2nd floor. Right half is original red brick with cream-coloured brick trim; left half has been clad in white horizontal vinyl or metal clapboards.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· Mar 27

Antidote to my anger about Ford: Port Hope's Union Cemetery Chapel. James Guest Williams built as memorial to wife Patience, 1891. "Union" in name represented Catholics & Anglicans who'd bought land for cemetery when church burials no longer sustainable & soon became illegal in Port Hope. 1/2

Small wood chapel. Very light yellow clapboards; blueish green trim. Gable roof with bellcote. Pointed arch windows, wavy openwork bargeboards along front & rear gables & above door.

Same building. Triple pointed-arch windows above rear entrance.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· Mar 22

Very nice painting! That's the c1912 Orange Hall by Stroud & Saunders. The figure in the pediment is "King Billy" the hero of Orangemen. Converted to 18 res units with retail at grade in 1998 (John Berman, Matthew Rosenblatt, & Jackson Goad Architects).

Broken pediment painted gray on a red brick building. Elaborately sculpted cream-coloured cartouche depicts a man on horseback. Stepped parapet behind the pediment.

Marta O'Brien@archhistory· Mar 21

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