Posted June 5, 200619 yr Here are some various shots of downtown Toledo that I've taken over this past year (2005-06) along with some historic pictures: Standing on the east bank of the river from "The Docks" Commodore Perry former hotel which is now apartments and condos Riverview Towers which is now apartments Standing in the lot of the Sports Arena on the east bank of the river Standing on the Cherry Street Bridge HCR Manor World Headquarters (Summit Place) Ohio Building Caesar Show Bar--a premier drag queen/gay bar Government Center COSi Children's Science Museum in the former Portside Marketplace Lucas County Court House Lucas County Offices in the former First Federal Bank building Looking east on Jefferson Avenue County Justice Court Hall Key Bank LaSalle Building which now has retails, restaurants, and apartments Pinklington/Hylant Insurance in the former Libbey Owens Ford building (LOF) Looking west on Madison Avenue Looking east on Madison Avenue Former Owens Corning Fiberglass Tower Historic Pythian Castle Building Riverside View Seagate Convention Centre Wyndham Hotel Water Street Steam Plant which is undergoing to be redeveloped as market-rate condominiums Valentine Theatre Historic Trinity Church Toledo Tower--city's very first skyscraper Toledo Edison Tower The Blade Newspaper Office/Publishing Building Looking south on Saint Clair Street Looking north on Saint Clair Street Looking south on Summit Street One Seagate Tower--tallest in Toledo Downtown Library Fifth Third Center Paula Brown Shops (similar to Pottery Barn setup) in the former Antique/Furniture Store Skyline Shot from Eastbound I-75 ramp Toledo Safety Building Toledo Catholic Diocese Offices Looking north on Water Street Looking south on 10th Street
June 5, 200619 yr What is the status of this building? It is beautiful, but looks abandoned, are there any plans to rehab it into condos or something?
June 6, 200619 yr Don't you love the crowd scenes in the historic shots? Looks like the streetscapes could use a little work, particularly Jefferson. Anything happening with the Fiberglass Tower?
June 6, 200619 yr The building next to the Pythian Castle is the Greyhound station. Their lease is up end of next year and the plans is to work with the Port Authority and TARTA to relocate the Greyhound to the MLK, Jr. Union Station where the Amtrak is. By virtue of creating an intermodal facility, TARTA will also be constructing a $10 million paratransit facility next to the Union Station as well which makes sense to use the Union Station to its full capacity. Who knows what the plans to do with the old Greyhound station, I would assume it would be part of renovating and redeveloping Pythian Castle while demolishing the ugly bus station. Time will tell.
June 6, 200619 yr Eat your heart out Michigan :wink: That's why most Ohioans think Toledo is the second largest city in the state of Michigan.
June 6, 200619 yr Don't you love the crowd scenes in the historic shots? Looks like the streetscapes could use a little work, particularly Jefferson. Anything happening with the Fiberglass Tower? Originally, with the plans for downtown arena they wanted to tear the Fiberglass Tower but it was too costly. The current owner of the Fiberglass Tower is making profit on this empty building with all the satellite dishes, antennas, and radio/cell towers sitting on top of the building. The latest plans is to tear down the skywalk in between Key Bank and Toledo Edison Tower along with the TARTA Promenade Bus Station which would allow to expand Madison Street by connecting St. Clair and Summit Streets as it goes to the renovating Water Street Steam Plant. This will enable traffic to get off of Summit and venture into Madison Street in the heart of downtown. Then ideas were floating around to renovate Fiberglass Tower into market-rate condominiums as the new downtown arena gets constructed along Jefferson/Huron/Madison/St. Clair Streets. Latest rumor on the cost of the new downtown arena will go over $80 million; which will spin off other redevelopment projects such as Fiberglass Tower. We will be seeing more plans toward the end of this year.
June 6, 200619 yr Excellent thread! The historic images are great! I'm really taken by the County Justice Court Hall, while it is somewhat simple, but it is very unique. I've read somewhere like the Holy Rosary Cathedral in Old West End and the County Justice Court Hall, that the city leaders and planners in the early 1900s wanted to replicate the architecture of Toledo, Spain which is our first, and most important "sister city". They wanted to construct many landmarks with the Spaniard-type architectures.
June 6, 200619 yr What's sad to see is the contrast between the numbers of people on the streets and sidewalks in the old photos, compared to today. Maybe it's just the time of day the "new" photos were taken. BTW: My wife's great-grandfather, Guy W. Major, was Mayor of Toledo at the turn of the previous century (1900). I still think it's a great area with lots of potential.
June 6, 200619 yr Those #'s of people are quite impressive....I would give anything to have those days back:
July 17, 200618 yr Great view on a Sunday morning as I went to the ATM machine and I took a couple of snapshots: Please redevelop me!!!!
July 17, 200618 yr Excellent thread! The historic images are great! I'm really taken by the County Justice Court Hall, while it is somewhat simple, but it is very unique. I've read somewhere like the Holy Rosary Cathedral in Old West End and the County Justice Court Hall, that the city leaders and planners in the early 1900s wanted to replicate the architecture of Toledo, Spain which is our first, and most important "sister city". They wanted to construct many landmarks with the Spaniard-type architectures. At first that sounds like a good idea, but having been to both Toledos, ours would just pale in comparison if they tried that. But then again, who'd know? :wink: At least you'd have lots of people living over stores and while we're at it, lets have a bunch of them that specialize in making swords like they do in the Spanish one.
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