Walking tour of downtown Guelph

[vaneramos]

One of the features that makes Guelph so distinctive is its beautiful downtown, characterized by at least six large 19th-century churches, numerous white limestone buildings, wide streets and well-preserved storefronts. The city was founded in 1827.

The following descriptions correspond to the images working from left to right, then top to bottom.

1. Store fronts at Wyndham St. and Woolwich St.

2. St. George's Anglican Church.

3. Store fronts at Wyndham St. and MacDonnell St.

4. City Hall.

5. The family statue, which was controversial upon its construction, at the heart of downtown in St. George's Square.

6. MacDonnell St. looking toward the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Guelph's most prominent landmark, designed by Joseph Connolly and built on a central hill in 1876. Bylaws prohibt tall buildings in the downtown core, so the church can be see from all the main traffic arteries approaching Guelph.

7. My favourite hangout, The Bookshelf, a Guelph institution since the 1970s. The bookstore is on the main floor on the left, with the cinema above it. The older brick building to the right contains a restaurant and coffee shop downstairs, and upstairs the -bar, my usual haunt. Although Guelph does not have any exclusively gay venues, it has many such as the Bookshelf which are gay friendly, and the arts community is strong and active.

8. The Bookshelf coffee shop.

9. Weeds at the foot of Our Lady.

10. The Church of Our Lady is a remarkably beautiful church in the 13th Century French Gothic style. It was recently renovated, inside and out, and warrants a photo tour of its own someday.

11. Knox Presbyterian Church.

12. A strange but typical summer sky over Our Lady and the railroad. Guelph lies on Ontario's tornado alley and gets hit by a minor one every couple of years. A huge one destroyed large tracts of forest here in the early 1800s.

Comments

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Wonderful pictures, Van.

The family statue, which was controversial upon its construction

Why? Because it has (OMG!) naked people in it?

[ruralrob.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tour (which incidentally, made me realize I dont know Guelph at all). I like the choice of b/w images too, which gives the series an added "photo-journalism air of authority.".

(Now I wonder how Baxter and Bailey would look in black and white - or just black.)

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Yes, because it's obscene!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

The light yesterday afternoon was more conducive to black-and-white. I wanted to show a couple of these images in colour, but felt that consistency would serve this series best.

If you could capture the lustre of Baxter and Bailey's fur, black and white would be stunning.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Guelph, my home since 1982, is 90 minutes west of downtown Toronto, population 96,000. It is a clean city, light on industry, but well-endowed with Federal and provincial government offices, which benefit the economy. University of Guelph has important colleges of agriculture, biology and art as well as other disciplines, and Canada's leading veterinary school, not to mention a lovely campus which I'll photograph one of these days. The city has a large but quiet gay population, a high concentration of visual artists, and a strong history in vocal music. The new River Run Centre for the performing arts is state-of-the-art. There are many beautiful buildings and parks in this city yet to be photographed for my LJ. Guelph has also been a leader in environmental innovations, piloting the first blue box (recycling) programs in North America almost 20 years ago, and more recently instituting a composting program (Now Guelphites must separate all compostable materials from their recyclables and waste destined for landfills). Do I sound enthusiastic? Putting all this together, I'm proud to live in such a great city.

Canada is a relatively young country, too. Federation was in 1867. On the other hand, Quebec City was founded in 1608.