Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating and sharing your own Thursday Doors post each week between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time) by using the blue link-up button below.
Berkeley St. – Wesleyan Methodist Church – Toronto
The weekend before Christmas I had to make a last minute business trip to Toronto. Since Honey was already on her holiday break and didn’t have any major plans we decided to combine business with pleasure and make the trip together.
Though a little rainy, the weather was very mild for late December so most of our free time together away from my meetings was spent exploring downtown and Old Town Toronto on foot; something I had never done despite at least a dozen previous trips there over the years.
Ahh, the things we take for granted…or perhaps I should say: the things we don’t even realize we’re missing until we get out of the darn car and explore a little on foot.
While walking around the south-eastern part of Old Town we stumbled across some old beauties like this place:
Located on Queen Street East in one of the oldest parts of the city, Berkeley Church was built in 1871 and has been a designated Ontario Heritage site since 1997 to protect it from future redevelopment or demolition.
Though no longer used as a church, today the building is probably seeing more activity than ever. Now an event venue that’s available for rent for a variety of functions, it hosts up to 150 corporate and private events per year, according to their website.
Though we did not go inside, I walked around and captured what I thought were several of its best old doors:
This side courtyard door leading to the basement was my favorite:
As always, thanks for looking 🙂
Don’t forget to click on this blue button to add the link to your own Thursday Doors post to this week’s list:
If you share your posts on Twitter and Instagram remember to use the #ThursdayDoors hashtag and please do take a few minutes to visit the Thursday Door posts shared by others.
As always – beautiful doors!
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Beautiful! Thanks for sharing, and I couldn’t agree more …. changing our perspective opens up lovely things we otherwise miss. 😊 Doors have long been a favorite for me…. I’d like to jump in on your Thursday posts. Thank you for stopping by RobinLK …. As always, I appreciate the visit. 👍
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Lovely doors… Here’s my entry… https://lumar1298.wordpress.com/2016/01/17/thursday-doors-january-14-2016/
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What a great find Norm! Particularly love the blue door to the basement, a real stunner, looks almost oriental in design, wonder if that’s possible?
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Thanks Jane. I’m not sure on the design but I may do some more investigating to find out 🙂
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I really like the first door, Norm. I like the way (to me) the stained glass looks like a 4 leaf clover! 🙂 I liked the arches and the brickwork laid in such a precise way. I am like the “ladies” above, Judy and Joanne. The swirls in the cement balls make me think of Christmas balls. Hope you didn’t get lost with my crazy blogging schedule going “wonky!” 🙂
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Thanks for the kind words. Yes I’m even more curious about those rosettes now. No worries on the scheduling issue, after all: it’s only blogging 😉
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Thanks, Norm. What a good, grounding statement, “It’s only blogging.” 🙂
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I have just found your challenge Norm. You have set a very high standard with these beautifully photographed doors. I would like to join in with these doors from Korea. https://memoriesaremadeofthisblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/16/doors/
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Thanks for the kind words and welcome. Your was a very impressive first door post. I look forward to seeing what else you have to share with us in weeks to come 🙂
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What a great find. Serendipity!!! And you’re right — getting out on foot (or on a bicycle) makes a world of difference. Some really nice shots. Hard to beat the mellow warmth of old brick!
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Thank you!
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Love that last one!
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Thanks 🙂
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I love the faded blue door best. It has a lot of character.
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Indeed. A lot of history in that one I’m sure 🙂
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These are great…as always! Thanks to Dan for the explanation of the stained glass design…I also like the mossy green in this one. My favorite is probably the same as yours…the side doors. The faded blue, weathered paint speaks to the many stories this church must hold behind those doors…and just look how kind some graffiti artist was to try to match the color!
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Thanks. That mossy green really stood out in the wet conditions.
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Such beautiful doors. And so interesting. I’m glad I found your post through Cee.
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Thanks for the kind words and welcome! Do feel free to join us any Thursday 🙂
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The rosette window in the top of the first door belongs to my favorite ones. But, the second door is so cute. Thanks for sharing and hosting!
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Thanks. Those rosettes still have me befuddled. I’m trying to figure out what they are supposed to be – each one is different. I’ll go back to the original file to zoom in and see if I can figure out what they are.
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Beautiful doors! I love Toronto – I went to university there 🙂
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We do a lot of Toronto bashing here in Montréal, but the fact remains that it really is a beautiful city. I’m sure you have fond memories of those years 🙂
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I really do. I lived not far from the city, so spent a lot of my teenage years there as well 🙂
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Hi Norm, I was going to play with your challenge this week. I didn’t think of the porta-potty doors until you mentioned it though. Here is my entry for this week.
http://ceenphotography.com/2016/01/14/thursday-doors-january-14-2016/
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Thanks Cee, I loved your porta-potties 🙂
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Hello, I would like to share my enrty for this week . Doors from Old Damascus, it was a lovely place to be https://thenameofrose.wordpress.com/2016/01/16/doors-from-old-damascus/ . Greetings from tel Aviv, Laura
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Hello and welcome Laura. I can leave your link here if you like but I’m afraid it will get lost among the comments on my doors post from last week.
I suggest you drop in on Thursday (tomorrow) and add it to the list in the new post for this week.
And feel free to join us any Thursday 🙂
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Pingback: Thursday Doors – January 14, 2016 | Cee's Photography
The Methodist Church I went to didn’t have any where near such ornate doors!
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I seen some at both extremes: very plain and incredibly detailed and ornate. It seems like there’s no middle ground 🙂
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Love the courtyard door, the worn paint only enhances their beauty!
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Thanks, the weathered look made it my favorite too 🙂
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Love the basement door! The textures and patterns are fantastic – and the aging of the paint only adds to it~ lovely!
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Thanks, that one is my favorite too, for the same reasons you mentioned 🙂
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I especially like the last two photos, the second last one’s arch above the door, along with its decorative hinges is a work of beauty, and the old weather-worn door is one of character.
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Thanks, I do agree; they are both beautiful but each for different reasons 🙂
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Gorgeous! Your favorite is my favorite too!
It’s true what you wrote about getting out of the car and walking around. Truly, ‘walking for doors’ has become quite the hobby, Norm 😀
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Thanks Joey. “Walking for Doors” sounds like the name of a charity, no? Or maybe we should just start one 🙂
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I really like the glass windows on top of the doors. A great find while on your walk!
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Thanks so much. The glass is lovely isn’t it?
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Lovely. We lived in Toronto for 25 years and I walked by that church many times and always liked it. I am assuming you also made into the Distillery District which has lots of interesting architecture.
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Thank you. The Distillery District is right nearby but the rain was picking up so we didn’t get to explore that area as much as we wanted. Next time though, for sure.
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Very lovely indeed.
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Thank you 🙂
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They’re all so beautiful, it would be hard to choose a favorite. But that worn blue door with the red stoop does edge out the others ever so slightly. 🙂
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Thanks Marian, I agree 🙂
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I haven’t been to Toronto for years, unfortunately, but you brought a bit of the beauty of it alive for me. Thanks.
janet
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You’re welcome Janet 🙂
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Something about doors of old churches is so welcoming. I love the huge hinges.
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Thanks me too. There are so many details in these old churches, I could stand and admire them all day 🙂
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Gorgeous – the doors, stained glass and the surrounds. I’m not sure why, but I really like the round things at the end of the arches – look like balls of ribbon. It is wonderful that they have figured out how to repurpose and use the building because that way they probably keep it maintained and it will be around for another generation of folks to enjoy. 🙂
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Those big balls at the end of the arches were my favourite too 🙂
I’m happy to see these old buildings being preserved. Toronto has had a bad reputation in the past for simply steamrolling over old buildings in favour of the newest high rise.
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Not to criticize but yes, we noticed that. Our expectation for Old Town was that it would be a bit like Old Montreal; it’s an entire section of town where almost everything is old, but we found that the well-preserved old buildings were too few and far between.
But there were some very nice ones like this, and I’ve got a few more posts coming that show off some of the others as well. It was a fruitfull couple of days.
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Perhaps next time, you could give me a shout and we could meet for coffee … or a glass of wine … or two 🙂
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Absolutely. I wanted to but it was a last minute trip, literally the weekend before Christmas. Next time with a little advance notice we’ll get together for sure.
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Excellent! … and the same if I ever find myself in Montreal.
… which I will be at the end of July when Bike Rally arrives 🙂
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Thanks Judy. The amazing thing with places like this is the longer you look the more fine details you notice. Everything is there for a reason isn’t it?
It reminds me that I still have so much to learn about this stuff. I know what I like, but can’t always explain why, if that makes any sense 🙂
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Beautiful doors Norm and very familiar windows. The Methodist church I grew up in had a window like the one at the top. I think it represents Jesus (center) and the the four evangelists. I’m glad to see the building survive and for its architectural details be preserved. I think the side door might be my favorite too.
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Thanks for the explanation Dan. I’m going to start doing a little more digging to find out more about the symbolic/religious significance of the features on all these churches I’ve been photographing.
There’s something new to learn every day 🙂
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What a gorgeous church! Every door is beautiful and your photography captures them so well. That last door is unique for a church. It’s fantastic! Nice that you had the chance to explore while away on business.
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I’m lucky; my work generally allows me to sleep in my own bed most of the time, but when I do have to travel for business, I try to make use of my downtime to explore a little.
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The side courtyard door is just lovely. It reminds me of old, well-worn denim.
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“Old worn denim”, thanks I like that a lot 🙂
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