On Wednesday, November 23, 2011, Mark Osbaldeston will be giving an illustrated lecture at the Royal Ontario Museum based on his new book, Unbuilt Toronto 2: More of the City That Might Have Been.
Unbuilt Toronto, Osbaldeston’s first book, explored never-realized building projects in and around Toronto, from the city’s founding to the 21st century. Delving into unfulfilled and largely forgotten visions for grand public buildings, landmark skyscrapers, highways, subways, and arts and recreation venues, it outlines such ambitious schemes as St. Alban’s Cathedral, the Queen subway line and early city plans that would have resulted in a Paris-by-the-Lake.
Now, Unbuilt Toronto 2 provides an all-new, fascinating return to the “Toronto that might have been.” Discover the scrap-yard statue planned for University Avenue, the flapper-era “CN Tower” that led to a decade of litigation, and an electric light-rail transit network proposed in 1915. What would Toronto look like today if it had hosted the Olympics in 1996 or 1976? And what was the downtown expressway that Frederick Gardiner really wanted?
Osbaldeston’s lecture will commence at 7:00pm in the ROM’s Signy & Cléophée Eaton Theatre (entrance via the President’s Choice Group Entrance at the south end of the museum). Admission is $12 for non-members, $10 for members, and $8 for friends of the ICC.
For more information, please visit www.unbuilttoronto.ca.