Template:Did you know nominations/David Mirvish Gallery

David Mirvish Gallery

 * ... that the son of Canadian retail legend Ed Mirvish ran the David Mirvish Gallery, featuring Color Field and post-painterly abstraction art?
 * Reviewed: Kenneth and Phyllis Laurent House

Created by Zanimum (talk). Self nominated at 21:41, 23 September 2013 (UTC).


 * Symbol confirmed.svg Looks good. Well-referenced and well-written. The hook is dull though. May I suggest:


 * ALT1: ... that David Mirvish opened the modern art David Mirvish Gallery behind his father's tacky discount store?  Oreo Priest  talk 12:47, 22 October 2013 (UTC)
 * These sentences are confusing and need to be cleaned up: "Jane Corkin apprenticed under Mirvish. She purchased six $3000 photographs at one point, feeling that they were "the most beautiful things I had ever seen." Fearing Mirvish's reaction, given the fact there was no precedent at the time, he accepted the reasoning." Who is "Mirvish" (Ed or David) and who is "he"?  Oreo Priest  talk 12:50, 22 October 2013 (UTC)


 * Symbol question.svg I've struck the suggested alternate hook: "tacky discount store" isn't neutral, nor is it supported in any way in the article. (Also, it would be best to avoid using "David Mirvish" twice in one hook.) If the original hook is dull, then we do need an interesting ALT hook that is supported by the article and its sources. (Fixing the confusing sentences should also be done.) BlueMoonset (talk) 20:16, 22 October 2013 (UTC)
 * It would be hard to come up with anything more objectively tacky than Honest Ed's. Here are four Toronto newspapers describing it as such: . Other words used to describe it include 'kitschy', 'garish', 'junky' and 'honky-tonk'. The great irony of the Mirvish family, probably Toronto's greatest patrons of high culture, is that they made their money with a that bargain discount store. I can reference the 'tacky' fact in Honest Ed's as necessary if need be. This is exactly the sort of unlikely juxtaposition that DYK calls for.
 * That and I don't see how my first hook is uncited. Is the problem that it doesn't explicitly say that the land he bought for a parking lot for his store adjacent to his store on the same block as his store was "behind" his store? At any rate, how would these do for a hook?
 * ALT2: ... that the modern art David Mirvish Gallery was opened behind his father's discount store?
 * ALT3: ... that the modern art David Mirvish Gallery was housed on land his father had intended as a parking lot for his discount store?  Oreo Priest  talk 22:05, 22 October 2013 (UTC)


 * The problem I have with both of these hooks (which I've added ALT numbers to) is that the article itself isn't quite clear on this. First, it mentions buying up Victorian houses on Markham Street for a parking lot. Then it mentions "the parcel of buildings near Bloor Street and Bathurst Street" as being ones that the city blocked from being demolished: these are two different streets, and if there's any connection to Markham it isn't obvious to this reader (it needs to be clear to non-locals as well as locals). It goes on to say that Ed and Anne began to "convert the area into art galleries and studios"; again, not making it clear that this (or at least the building housing David's gallery) was directly behind the store or in one of the buildings that they had hoped to demolish for the parking lot. A bit of revision is needed for these hooks to be fully supported by the article. BlueMoonset (talk) 03:31, 27 October 2013 (UTC)

I've cleaned up the section about Jane Corkin's purchase. (Corkin is the owner of perhaps Canada's top commercial photography gallery.)

I'm fairly sure that the house the gallery was in is the one of the first houses purchased for the parking lot, but I don't know. After the parking lot was struck down, Mirvish bought a second set of buildings for the Village. -- Zanimum (talk) 00:45, 23 October 2013 (UTC)
 * So both "David Mirvish" and "he" are David Mirvish? He feared his own reaction and accepted the reasoning? It's still really confusing as is.  Oreo Priest  talk 00:54, 23 October 2013 (UTC)
 * How is it now? --  Zanimum (talk) 00:59, 23 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Much better! Oreo Priest  talk 04:14, 23 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Comment - I have removed "mirvish collection" from the infobox as the parameter displays this as "collection size = Mirvish Collection" which doesn't make sense. I have also converted the prose list of 22 artists to an embedded list, as it appeared very unwieldy, re policy at Manual of Style/Embedded lists. Baldy Bill  ( sharpen the razor &#124; see my reflection ) 16:15, 27 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Symbol question.svg Review of ALT3: length fine at 165, format fine, hook is present in article, AGF on offline source. Article concerns raised over clarity have been partly addressed but the concern raised by Blue moonset has not been sorted. I can understand the confusion as one part of the hook fact (in the 2nd para under operations) says Markham St and the second part (in the 3rd para) sys Bloor St and Bathurst St. this link to Google maps clarifies that the three streets enclose the same block. Provided that the article is edited to clarify this I believe we will be able to take this nom forward. Baldy Bill  ( sharpen the razor &#124; see my reflection ) 17:20, 27 October 2013 (UTC)
 * I seem to have caused a fair amount of trouble. I hope I can do something to amend it. Here is the best map of the layout. I've also removed the confusing mention of Bathurst and Bloor. 596 Markham Street, the old David Mirvish Gallery, is the building just south of Spence Gallery. Honest Ed's main frontage is onto Bloor Street, a major artery of the city (and its back is the south side); to clarify this I've explicitly stated that the Victorian homes he bought were behind his store. Does this clear everything up?  Oreo Priest  talk 03:45, 28 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Symbol voting keep.svg Thanks, Oreo priest. You are not causing trouble, it is important that main page articles are as good as possible for a newly created article, and do not require the reader to consult a map in order to understand the prose. The concerns are now all addressed, and the remainder of dyk criteria per your and my review above. Good to go. Baldy Bill  ( sharpen the razor &#124; see my reflection ) 13:07, 28 October 2013 (UTC)