Despite Toronto's aims of international recognition as a music city, recent years have seen performance venues of varying sizes and stature close their doors due to astronomical rent, redevelopment, noise complaints, municipal regulations, ownership changes and more — and that's before considering pandemic-related impacts. Now, a Toronto man is paying tribute to these celebrated spaces, past and present, by rebuilding them as miniature models.
Andrew Smith, a recently retired carpenter, found a pandemic preoccupation in building community lending libraries for his Leslieville neighbourhood, but as he told CTV News Toronto, his attention soon turned to a project more musical and Toronto-centric.
"I have a great love of live music," Smith shared, "and as far as I'm concerned, the only place to see live music is in a local bar ... [I realized] I could even make the Silver Dollar as a little library — and that's what I started doing — and then I realized that I didn't really care about the library part — and so it went on from there."
Smith has titled his series of miniature models Toronto, Lost Music City, celebrating venues past and present — and the memories made through them — with tiny, hyper-detailed recreations. He told CTV News Toronto that each model takes about 10 days to build, referencing both memories and photographs in designing them.
A selection of Smith's models can be viewed below via his Instagram page. Scroll down, and you'll surely recognize the Orbit Room, Kool Haus, Hugh's Room, the Big Bop, Bamboo, Rancho Relaxo, the Real Jerk (a.k.a. the set of Rihanna's "Work" video) and more.
"My idea is that somewhere down the road this becomes a historical, educational exhibit," he told CTV News, adding, "This resonates with a lot of people. These days, there's an awful lot of nostalgia going on."
Andrew Smith, a recently retired carpenter, found a pandemic preoccupation in building community lending libraries for his Leslieville neighbourhood, but as he told CTV News Toronto, his attention soon turned to a project more musical and Toronto-centric.
"I have a great love of live music," Smith shared, "and as far as I'm concerned, the only place to see live music is in a local bar ... [I realized] I could even make the Silver Dollar as a little library — and that's what I started doing — and then I realized that I didn't really care about the library part — and so it went on from there."
Smith has titled his series of miniature models Toronto, Lost Music City, celebrating venues past and present — and the memories made through them — with tiny, hyper-detailed recreations. He told CTV News Toronto that each model takes about 10 days to build, referencing both memories and photographs in designing them.
A selection of Smith's models can be viewed below via his Instagram page. Scroll down, and you'll surely recognize the Orbit Room, Kool Haus, Hugh's Room, the Big Bop, Bamboo, Rancho Relaxo, the Real Jerk (a.k.a. the set of Rihanna's "Work" video) and more.
"My idea is that somewhere down the road this becomes a historical, educational exhibit," he told CTV News, adding, "This resonates with a lot of people. These days, there's an awful lot of nostalgia going on."
