Come on in to this long sealed historic buillding and evade security with us...
The Loblaw Groceteria building sticks out like a sore thumb. A beautiful old art deco thumb amongst modern condo tower fingers made of steel, concrete and glass. It remains frozen in time as traffic and pedestrians pass it by twenty four hours a day, year after year. The hustle and bustle of everyday life continues outside these walls, but inside, nothing has happened in quite some time.
The opposite was true when T.P. Loblaw opened the Loblaw Groceteria building here in 1928. In those early years, all of the hustle and bustle of this neighbourhood happened within these walls. Unlike today's corporate world where blue and white collar employees rarely intermingle, and in some cases aren't even on the same continent, employees of all strata at Loblaw Groceteria worked together, under one roof. The building contained administrative offices, as wells as facilities for the processing, manufacturing and storage of groceries, and was equipped with a garage, carpentry and paint shops, and rail access for freight delivery. Loblaw provided many luxuries to keep their employees happy and productive, including on site euchre lounges, billiard rooms and bowling alleys, as well as hosting concerts and staff-produced plays in the cafeteria.
Towers of concrete and steel are replacing well constructed remarkable and historic architecture, and two paid fifteens and an unpaid thirty minute break in tiny lunch rooms have replaced the luxuries once afforded this work force. It is hard to believe we call this progress...
As usual, for those interested in delving much deeper, follow the link below for many more pics, historical information and exploration narration...
jermalism: Abandonment Issues: Loblaw Groceteria
The Loblaw Groceteria building sticks out like a sore thumb. A beautiful old art deco thumb amongst modern condo tower fingers made of steel, concrete and glass. It remains frozen in time as traffic and pedestrians pass it by twenty four hours a day, year after year. The hustle and bustle of everyday life continues outside these walls, but inside, nothing has happened in quite some time.
The opposite was true when T.P. Loblaw opened the Loblaw Groceteria building here in 1928. In those early years, all of the hustle and bustle of this neighbourhood happened within these walls. Unlike today's corporate world where blue and white collar employees rarely intermingle, and in some cases aren't even on the same continent, employees of all strata at Loblaw Groceteria worked together, under one roof. The building contained administrative offices, as wells as facilities for the processing, manufacturing and storage of groceries, and was equipped with a garage, carpentry and paint shops, and rail access for freight delivery. Loblaw provided many luxuries to keep their employees happy and productive, including on site euchre lounges, billiard rooms and bowling alleys, as well as hosting concerts and staff-produced plays in the cafeteria.
Towers of concrete and steel are replacing well constructed remarkable and historic architecture, and two paid fifteens and an unpaid thirty minute break in tiny lunch rooms have replaced the luxuries once afforded this work force. It is hard to believe we call this progress...
As usual, for those interested in delving much deeper, follow the link below for many more pics, historical information and exploration narration...
jermalism: Abandonment Issues: Loblaw Groceteria
