Faces on Places: A Grotesque Tour of Toronto

Winner of the Heritage Toronto Award of Merit

Faces on Places takes us into the fascinating world of mythical and historical persons and icons that have been watching over Toronto and its inhabitants for centuries.

If you look up with author Terry Murray, you'll see beyond glass and steel and stone to spy Gargoyles, Griffins, Dragons, Angels, Portraits of Important Personages (and Caricatures of those same folk). Murray has photographed over sixty Toronto buildings, interviewed architects, stone carvers, and building occupants, and scoured archives for original architectural plans, to discover who these creatures are, and why they exist.

Faces on Places is organized by type of sculpture, and contains street addresses and maps for suggested walking tours. It is an elegant and reliable guide to the city's most silent and intriguing citizens.

Terry Murray has been a medical journalist for more than 35 years. She has held staff positions at Canadian Family Physician and the Medical Post, and been a consultant for the World Health Organization. Murray has done freelance writing for medical and general interest publications in Canada, the U.S., Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. She also writes about non-medical subjects, including architectural history. Her specialty is reclaiming forgotten lives, notably that of Toronto sculptor Merle Foster.