Back In The Fast Lane

I mentioned back in October that I had taken a part-time job, but I hadn’t mentioned what exactly I was going to be doing.

I’m working as a data privacy consultant … as in, that person who writes those internet privacy policies you never read.  In most organizations it usually falls under the purview of legal, but not always … and I’m a case in point.

Although I can work from home, I decided at the beginning of the year to start a new habit of going downtown into the office once a week. The idea was that I would be more likely to hear about new projects and issues that might have a privacy impact and so far, it’s been working great.

I know you’re sitting on the edge of your seat just dying to know more {sarcasm intended}, but as you can guess, I had an ulterior motive in deciding to work downtown.

In the dead of winter, it would give me a reason to get out of the house and take advantage of being in the downtown core to visit some of its heritage buildings.

At a high-level glance, Toronto is a city of high-rise towers, but snuggled in between those towers, are wonderful relics of the past that could be completely overlooked amid the mountains of glass and steel.

Former Toronto Stock Exchange built in 1937.  It now houses the Design Museum.

In spite of the punishingly cold winds over the past month, I’ve strolled the streets at lunchtime to snag a photo or two. Ok – maybe “strolled” isn’t exactly the best word since I have been practically half-running to prevent frost-bite.

I’m really enjoying the energy of being in the heart of the financial district again.  I haven’t worked downtown since my 20s when I started my career fresh out of university. It’s changed a lot.

The Dominion Public Building was built in the early 1930s and is primarily occupied by the Canada Revenue Agency.  It is not an optical illusion – the building really is curved. The Canadian government recently put the building up for sale.  Interested?

All the above-ground parking lots have long disappeared as more towers have sprouted in their place.  I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but the traffic is heavier and even certain subway stations lack familiarity after undergoing renovations.

I no longer understand the labyrinth of underground paths, and after getting lost on several occasions, I have resorted to staying above ground in spite of the cold.

In my 20s, I rarely explored outside the immediate area I needed to know and now, over 30 years later, I’m discovering unexplored treasures …. like the Hockey Hall of Fame.

True, it wasn’t housed at this location way back then, but this old Bank of Montreal building from 1886 has been there all along.

A few months ago when I featured Brookfield Place on a Thursday Doors post, I mentioned that there were 12 heritage buildings incorporated into the Brookfield office complex.

This former bank building is another one of those old structures that was swallowed into the massive complex.

An interesting piece of trivia is that this building is one of several in the city reported to have ghost sightings.  The resident haunter is the late Dorothy Mae Elliot.  It is believed that she was despondent over a lost love and that she was killed herself on the second floor of the bank in 1953.

If you like ghost stories, you can read more about it here.

I think I might need to add a Toronto ghost tour to my ever growing list of things to do.  I continue to be amazed at the things I discover in my own city.