I had to write this review when I read Susan Mason's review. This book doesn't pretend to be about the *buildings* as much as it is about the *faces* on the buildings. So she shouldn't have expected to get pictures of the buildings. The book's strength is the close-up pictures of gargoyles and other faces that you can't see well from the street. Still, there is a lot of history about the buildings, as well as fascinating information about the carvings on the buildings. Susan - if you want a book about Toronto architecture per se, you want to read another book. If you're a gargoyle/grotesque enthusiast, this is the book for you.

I have other books on Gargoyles, Grotesques etc., and was looking forward to this one as it was about my very own city! But, I have to say I was a little bit disappointed....I'm not exactly sure what it was, but I found myself wishing for more information and trying to picture the building or the story behind the building or "art work" more. Maybe this is because I have more knowledge and attachment to the city, whereas with other books this is not so. I also found the format a little disjointed even though "like" things were together. Perhaps building by building would have been better ? Nice little book to have as a starting point if you want to check things out, but I would probably want to add other brochures and material to build on this foundation to fully appreciate the information and buildings' history.