From Panorama to Parking Garage: An Architectural and Archival History of the Toronto Cyclorama

Isabelle Gapp; Jessica Mace

doi:10.17742/IMAGE29687

Authors

Isabelle Gapp University of Aberdeen
Jessica Mace University of Toronto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17742/IMAGE29687

Abstract

This text presents an architectural and archival history of the Toronto Cyclorama, built 1887 and demolished in 1976. Through an examination of its genesis and changing uses over time—as a cyclorama, machine hall, then parking garage—the text unveils its history, situating it within the scope of Toronto’s architectural heritage and North American cyclorama buildings. With this text, the authors also champion the study of all kinds of local art and architecture rather than just those deemed to have superlative qualities, and provide a case study for the value of adaptive reuse and its inclusion in architectural histories.

Author Biographies

Isabelle Gapp, University of Aberdeen

Isabelle is an Arts & Science Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Art History at the University of Toronto and an incoming Interdisciplinary Research Fellow (Oct ’23) at the University of Aberdeen. She was awarded her PhD in History of Art from the University of York in December 2019, with her thesis titled: A Circumpolar Landscape: Art and Environment in Scandinavia and North America, 1896-1933. Her first book is in-press with Lund Humphries as part of their Northern Lights series.

Jessica Mace, University of Toronto

Jessica Mace, Ph.D., is the current Postdoctoral Fellow in Canadian Architecture and Landscapes in the Department of Art History at the University of Toronto. She is working on the Canada Constructed initiative led by Professor Christy Anderson and Professor Joseph Clarke. Her research explores concepts of modernity and heritage in the architecture of the nineteenth through to the mid-twentieth centuries, particularly in housing and in industrial contexts in Canada. Her research has been supported by le Centre interuniversitaire d’études sur les lettres, les arts et les traditions; a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship; The St George's Society of Toronto; and a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC).