WEEK 23: Back to the Future: London Edition
Last week’s project combined my background in history and my hobby of photography with my love for London.
The project is pretty self explanatory, so just enjoy.
NOTE: Yes the photographs aren’t that stunning, the perspectives are off and some of the historical photos might no be in the ‘exact’ location, but I think you get the point.
Really cool project this week. Love seeing the old parts of images overlay the new.
This project made me sad, mad and happy all at the same time:
Sad: This shows some of London’s great heritage buildings that have been lost forever in the name of “progress.” I wonder what the London landscape would have looked like if we had supported heritage preservation earlier on in our history? We need to do a better job to preserve what we have left or in 60 years what will be our greatest heritage building?
Mad: These pictures show how in some cases we have moved backwards and not forwards over the years. Picture #2 shows that we once had a light rail system replaced to make room for more automobiles. Picture #12 shows one of the real trees that was removed and now shows a metal tree.
Happy: Although a lot of heritage has been lost, there have been some great buildings saved and in some cases brought back to their original glory like the Capital Theatre. I also think this is just a great example of creativity and history coming together in a very cool way!
I really enjoyed this project Kevin! I think it would be a nice touch to post up some of these pictures around the areas that they were taken. I would love to lend a hand if needed. Great job as always.
Kevin, This project has been my favourite from the 52 Weeks project.
It’s interesting that I am old enough to remember some of the old locations featured in your pics. I actually laughed when I saw the pic of Ace Arcade (Used to be the Mall Theatre, where I saw “The Black Hole” when I was a kid and it scared the crap out of me)
I also chuckled at the pic of what used to be A&A records and tapes.
One thing that took me by surprise. I never knew that London had a streetcar system.
keep up the awesome work!
London, Ontario will always be Home. There is no doubt whatsoever that the quality of life for family is #1 here.
My only wish is that London have a much stronger & diverse technological base that spurs growth & jobs beyond traditional ways. It would bring me back here permanently as well.
It kind of makes me wish I lived in London 50 years ago. For the record, Multi-mag was awesome!
Just as an FYI (and a follow up from Jason’s comment).
When London had street cars they were housed down London East at this location (modern day u-need-a-cab station)
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=55 Carfrae St, London, Middlesex County, Ontario N6C 3W6, Canada&ll=42.989338,-81.227825&spn=0.00164,0.002953&t=h&z=19
Sadly these buildings no longer remain.
Some cool things could have been done with them like what happened in Toronto not too long ago with the Wychwood Car Repair Barns
http://www.torontoartscape.on.ca/places-spaces/artscape-wychwood-barns
Oh and for the record, I miss the CAPITOL sign and the lights associated with it. Although I understand that it was just siding/cladding that was covering up the heritage, I still like the broadway lights and glamour feel of it.
Nice! This turned out pretty cool.
These pitures are terrific. As a life long Londoner it is great to see some of the things I remember about London. As a kid my mum bought all of my shoes at Rowland Hills.
These turned out really great! This is something that I would really like to do in Vancouver too. It always bothers me when I see a hole dug in the ground and I can’t remember what the previous building looked like.