I was recently asked to participate in a conference in which I explored the concept of place as that might relate to the origin of the word Toronto and the carrying place trails. While acknowledging that there continues to be discussion about the origin and meaning of our city's name, it is essential to recognize that a sense of place is about "memory" and that memory tends to narrow through time, especially across centuries and cultures. If the original term used to describe a trail was actually exceedingly expansive in its original intent, what does that mean for how we think about and interpret the trail today?

The place near the foot of Bathurst Street that we call Fort York was known for most of its history simply as the Toronto garrison or the Old Fort (as distinct from the New Fort, which was built in 1841 -- the only structure of which survives being Stanley Barracks). The walled fort we see today within Fort York National Historic Site contains one of the largest collections of War of 1812 buildings in North America. It is this brief period of investment in military infrastructure that Fort York's seven original buildings, dating to 1813-16, recalls today (other buildings from this time of war and its aftermath, built to house hundreds of soldiers, are gone). Many other buildings, built inside and outside today's walls throughout the nineteenth century, also did not survive.

If you've ever admired a stone bank building with classical columns or a dignified University of Toronto building, then you may have been looking at the work of Scarborough-born architect Frank Darling (1850-1923).

Darling worked with several partners. After a brief association with Henry Macdougall, Darling formed a more lasting and productive partnership with Samuel Curry in 1880. Darling & Curry designed one of our city's best-known buildings: the Bank of Montreal - now the Hockey Hall of Fame - at the corner of Front and Yonge streets. When completed in 1886 its 16.8 metre (55 feet) square banking hall was the largest in Canada. Many of its features have been preserved, including the colourful stained glass dome. This ornate structure operated as a bank from 1886 until 1982.

Did you know that Toronto had the first children's hospital in North America? Darling & Curry designed the Victoria Hospital for Sick Children (1889) on College Street. The innovative E-shaped building maximized light and ventilation while looking solid and reassuring in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. It's now the headquarters for Canadian Blood Services.

Long before luxurious condos and penthouses, Toronto architects and developers tried to make apartment living appealing through beautiful architecture. Some of the most opulent buildings were erected beginning in the late 1920s along Avenue Road, halfway between Davenport and St. Clair. This article will focus on four of my favourite examples.

A few years back, Archaeological Services Inc. was retained to undertake an archaeological assessment of the Toronto International Film Festival Tower redevelopment site on the northwest corner of King and John Streets in downtown Toronto. Detailed archival research undertaken by Brian Narhi and David Robertson revealed that a portion of Toronto's first general hospital was preserved under the parking lot at that location. While the majority of the Festival property encompassed the formal front grounds of the hospital, the south wall of the hospital appears to extend across the north boundary of the property. Its alignment oriented to magnetic north stood out in contrast to the present-day street grid which is not on true north.

Michael Redhill's novel Consolation, a tale of Toronto told in two centuries, was the starting point for a group of presentations by local archaeologists at the Society for Historical Archaeology annual meeting in Toronto earlier this month. David Robertson of Archaeological Services, Inc., was inspired by this book to herd these cats into a morning's exploration of Toronto's past through their presentations.

The pace and scope of archaeological investigation of this city has increased since the Archaeological Master Plan was introduced in 2005 and digs have been going on all over the city. The presenters gave us some insight into the following places:

The Toronto Railway Heritage Centre at Roundhouse Park is scheduled to open later in 2009. The museum is located in the old John Street Roundhouse, built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1929 to service the CPR passenger trains using the new Union Station. The CPR abandoned the Roundhouse in 1988 and turned it over to the City of Toronto. For over twenty years, there were various schemes to build a museum but only in the last year or so have these plans come to fruition in time for the 80th anniversary of the Roundhouse.

Probably the most unique feature of the museum is its location on Bremner Blvd. between Simcoe and Rees Streets. Most rail museums in North America were built in isolated locations where land values were relatively inexpensive. There are noticeable exceptions: the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, although the latter is located in a run-down and seedy part of town.

Have you ever wondered about the grand building on the northeast corner of Yonge & Wellington streets? Now home to the Irish Embassy Pub, it began life as the Bank of British North America's main Toronto branch.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

The first Bank of British North America building on this site - designed in 1845-46 by well-known Toronto architect John Howard - was ideally positioned between the import and wholesale activity of Front Street and the busy retail shops on King Street. It was part of the city's first financial district and its Wellington Street neighbours included insurance companies and other banks. Of this group, only the facade of the Commercial Bank of the Midland District (1845-46, William Thomas) remains - rebuilt within the galleria of Brookfield (formerly BCE) Place.

We like to think of the possibilities of breaking down barriers, making connections and bringing communities together. These are worth striving for. On the other hand, we sometimes like to set things apart, gain perspective on places and admire things from a distance. We like architectural and other landmarks that distinguish places and neighbourhoods.

You'd have to be living under a rock to not know about the precipitous fall that global stock markets have taken these past few days. Anybody trying to call a bottom to this slide must either be a prophet, or insane. Gone with them are the legends of modern finance which has driven much of the world these past decades. Within days, names such as Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns and Merrill Lynch were relegated to the annals of history through a combination of bankruptcies and forced takeovers.

I was in New York last weekend to catch a play and let my feet wander, as they love to do. I couldn't help but notice how quickly the stories of these companies had vanished off the face of the city. Lehman Brothers' headquarters now bore the name of its rescuer, Barclays Capital, and the skin of video screens that cover the building's base flashed Barclays' blue instead. I had to walk just a block further to see the contrast with legends past.