It's fitting that the new Dominion Modern exhibit -- "Mean City: From Architecture to Design: How Toronto Went Boom!" -- uses an image of the CNE's Dufferin Gates for the cover of its 112-page catalogue. Walking under Philip R. Brook's soaring masterpiece in 1959 -- toward the 80-foot stainless-steel pylon at Richard Fisher's Food Building, Peter Dickinson's zigzagging Queen Elizabeth Building and George Robb's sexy, sheer Shell Oil Tower -- it must have seemed like the future indeed belonged to Toronto.
Boom! went the excavation for Canada's first subway and new international style towers. Boom! went the babies, and boom! went suburbs such as Don Mills to house them, led by the fearless Macklin L. Hancock and his assistant Douglas Lee. Boom! went factories, retooling after the war to create the furniture to fill them. A sonic ka-boom! rattled the windows of anyone within earshot of Malton's new Terminal One and AV Roe Canada Ltd., maker of the doomed Avro Arrow.
The exhibit, opening tomorrow at 59 College St., covers an era so electric with future-building it's possible to feel the residual heat just by walking among the photographs and artifacts collected by curator-extraordinaire John Martins-Manteiga and his assistant, Elissa Pane.
Want to see an architect's model of the Canadian National Exhibition's Better Living Centre or the now-demolished grandstand? How about the iconic "K40" electric kettle, designed by Canadian General Electric's Fred Moffat by simply turning an automobile headlight on its end? Perhaps you'd like to touch the tip of the Food Building's pylon or a real, live Orenda jet engine. You can. They're all lovingly presented by Mr. Martins-Manteiga, who describes himself as an "archeologist."
It's a fitting moniker, since he's tireless in digging up evidence that suggests our city was world-class long before we decided to try to become that. Unfortunately, it's a period that's been underappreciated for too long, and we're fast losing our best examples of the genre.
"It's a miracle that we got any of it," he says, pointing to Stefan Siwinski's tandem seating that once graced the departure lounge at Terminal One. "That's probably the last [remaining]seat he did for the airport. I'm not an undertaker; these objects are alive and I want people to connect with them."
Approaching the gallery from the street, the sparkle in the window is that of sunlight striking the scale model of the Sun Life building, a 1959 John C. Parkin design that, just like the full-size version at 200 University Ave., is clad in bright, crisp aluminum. The model (or maquette) hasn't been shown publicly for 46 years, and was suffering from such neglect that Mr. Martins-Manteiga had to have it restored.
After learning the history of this "epitome of refinement and sophistication," it's on to photographs that document the early construction history of Don Mills, taken by architect Douglas Lee in 1953-54. There's such immediacy to the photos it's like Mr. Lee wasn't sure this Herculean undertaking was actually happening and wanted to snap off a few quick shots before he woke up.
Beside these are platforms showcasing the happiest collection of domestic goods imaginable: row upon row of the K40 kettle, as neat and tidy as a Don Mills streetscape, and a messy, candy-coloured jumble of Melmac dinnerware by Maple Leaf Plastics to remind us that life in suburban homes was often a little less structured than we often think.
Then comes the heavy stuff: the 1954 Yonge subway, Mies van der Rohe's Toronto-Dominion Centre, the CNE's wonderful grouping of "pavilion modern" buildings, the airport, AV Roe's Orenda engine, and what Mr. Martins-Manteiga considers to be the last great gasp of Toronto modernism, the futuristic pod city, Ontario Place, designed by Craig Zeidler Strong in 1971.
"This is a rich, colourful history and it's right in front of your eyes," Mr. Martins-Manteiga says, gesturing around the room. Yet assembling it clearly wasn't easy: With limited funding, the exhibit is only about a quarter of what it could've been, and it is opening more than a year late.
He'd love to make Dominion Modern his full-time occupation -- "the only thing that's stopping us from continuing is money," he says.
In his seminal 1964 book Toronto: No Mean City (from which the exhibit playfully borrows its name), University of Toronto professor Eric Arthur warned the city not to sacrifice one building boom's best examples to make way for the next one. It's something Mr. Martins-Manteiga thinks still rings true today, as Toronto finds itself erecting condominiums at breakneck speed.
The exhibit is a good place to hit the pause button, bask in the reflected glow of our forebears' vision of the future and take stock of what's gone, what's left and what should be saved. Or the only boom we'll hear is that of our past, disappearing one building at a time.
"Mean City: From Architecture to Design: How Toronto Went Boom!" opens today and runs until Sunday, May 29, at 59 College St. West. Hours are Wednesday to Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Admission is free. An exhibition catalogue is available for $20.
Dave LeBlanc hosts The Architourist on CFRB Sunday mornings. Inquiries can be sent to dave.leblanc@globeandmail.ca.
Dave LeBlanc