Since the Bank of Nova Scotia building has a cornerstone inscribed '1949' I guess its steel skeleton seen in the picture must have stood bare during the war years.

It's interesting that they used steel girders for the building frame. That still seems to be a method used by most of the rest of the world, but in Toronto we've switched to precast concrete for tall buildings (except the Bay Adelaide tower). Can anybody tell me why new construction in Toronto seems to be an exception to the rest of the world?

You're off base, pman. Office towers are built with steel frames, while residential towers are built with concrete in Toronto like around the world. Steel frame structures allow for larger floorplans which commercial tenants need. Residential towers are more suited to concrete construction because unit sizes can be smaller and better isolated.

I love this type of photo time travel.

but about the steel in construction:
we have very high fireproofing standards - maybe the highest in the world.

I would have loved to have exposed steel and bolted joints in my new place, but they made me spray all the steel with heavy fireproof flocking and then cover it all with drywall, sometimes 2 layers of the stuff.

Much of our building code is related to fire regulations: preventing fire, alarming people with very loud warnings in case of fire, and getting people out as quickly as possible.

all the same I really miss the raw industrial look of exposed steel.

I'm really enjoying these Before and After collages. Keep them coming, they're fascinating.