Sir Frederick Banting Mural

The corner of Dundas and Adelaide Street is at once historic and high traffic. Brick buildings, some over a hundred years old, surround an intersection teeming with vehicular and pedestrian movement at all hours of the day and night. As such, this perennial location forms a well traveled gateway into the Old East Village. It is no surprise therefore that one of the biggest and most longstanding murals in the OEV resides right here, welcoming passersby and visitors to and fro. In fact, it is almost expected that a mural, characteristic of such a space, should feature none other than Canadian hero and Londoner Sir Fredrick Banting. Situated just a few feet away from Sir Fredrick G. Banting Square (442 Adelaide Street) the mural depicts Banting and his assistant Charles Best in a laboratory setting, conducting procedures to isolate the insulin hormone for the first time.

The mural was commissioned by the Centertown BIA (predecessor to the OEV BIA) in 1991 to commemorate Banting’s 100th birthday. University students Matthew Carver and Ron McDougall painted the image in a curiously subdued manner with a limited colour pallet. Perhaps they were aiming to portray the moment as a picture from 1921 blended with a contemporary twist, which is an interesting idea. Banting and Best appear to be painted in sepia tones, an indication of historic photography while the background pulsates with blue tones, tints and shades, interrupted by a flickering of warm hues, a Bunsen burner (perhaps a homage to The Flame of Hope) in the bottom left corner. Or maybe this pallet was chosen because the artists used special industrial bonding paint which is said to last over 100 years. Either way, the mural does provide an enduring statement (one that will last for 100 years) and an eloquent introduction into the public art of the Old East Village.

Image sourced from the Tourism London website, https://www.londontourism.ca/murals