The University of Toronto’s campuses are home to hundreds of artifacts that tell us about Canada’s past. Tucked away in libraries, labs and faculty collections are objects that shaped research, sparked new ideas – and possibly raised some eyebrows. Test your knowledge of these hidden pieces of history with this short quiz.
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No Responses to “ What on Earth Is This? ”
I spent much of my undergrad at U of T scouring the libraries and campuses -- St. George and Erindale, in particular -- to the detriment of my formal studies.
The lead image is the massing model for the design by John Andrews and Associates Architects of Scarborough College at U of T. It showed the overall concept prior to refinement. It was made by Jim Sykes in his office in about 1966. At the time, Andrews was dean of the Faculty of Architecture at U of T. While in Toronto, Andrews also was involved in the initial design of the Metro Centre Tower, since renamed the CN Tower. Andrews returned to Australia where he became one of their most well-known architects. He was a caricature of the hard-swearing, tough, fun-loving but serious Australian, beloved and admired by those who worked for him. He died in 2022.
I worked in the office while the model was built. Sykes liked working shirtless. He was a large hairy fellow. He spent his later career as campus planner at Dalhousie University and also died not long ago.
I graduated from the Master of Architecture course in urban design at U of T in 1967. I'm retired now in Victoria, B.C.
Are you sure that the image in question 3 isn’t a cathode Ray tube? The shape screams CRT and the image is a dead ringer for images of CRTs at the following sites.
https://www.radiomuseum.org/tubes/tube_5bp1.html
https://www.ebay.com/itm/255992859732
@Chris Fales
Further investigation has revealed that you are correct! This item appears to have been mislabeled in the U of T Archives and is indeed a cathode ray tube -- a RCA Raditron tube, three inches in diameter, to be exact -- from the FERUT console.
Thank you for drawing this to our attention. We've updated the quiz with this new information.