Archives /// Hidden Gems
Native oak and birch trees shade out the harsh noonday sun. Squirrels forage for acorns amongst the serviceberry bushes and wildflowers. The sound of singing birds fills the air. Yet this is not Algonquin Park or the Bruce Peninsula, but rather the courtyard of a building in downtown Toronto.
Walk through one of the three passageways piercing the unexceptional exterior of the University of Toronto's Earth Sciences Centre, and you will find yourself within a beautiful forest-like setting. When the building was constructed in 1989, it was decided to plant a small woodlot of native trees and plants within its two ...
At Bloor West just east of Symington, a new public walkway between a three-storey condominium and the Rankin apartment buildings provides an attractive and safe pedestrian connection between Bloor and the ethnically rich community to the north. Climbing an eight-foot incline, the short footpath meets up with Rankin St., which runs east from Symington before curving northwards.
About four years ago, this site wasn't much more than an abandoned field with a set of steep stairs leading up from busy Bloor Street. Locals (many of them senior citizens) didn't like using the steps because they were poorly lit and unsafe, ...
Sitting on top of an underground parking lot just off the corner of Yonge and Temperance Streets, the Cloud Garden Parkette is a refuge, oasis, and an architectural gem. It was built as part of the Bay-Adelaide Centre development in 1993. The centre never materialized, but the park, thankfully, remains.
Walking around the park on an early spring day, I spot office workers on break, the park undoubtedly a welcome respite from cubicles, recycled air, and the glare of computer monitors. A five-storey waterfall, which runs throughout the year, drowns out most of the traffic, with only the occasional car horn ...
In 1837, a block of land between Richmond and Adelaide, along Brant Street, was set aside to serve as a market square for the newly developing west end of the city. It became known as St. Andrew's Market, one of three in the city (the others being St. Patrick and St. Lawrence). A handsome market building was built, and the south end of the block became a heavily used playground for sporting activities.
In the 20th century, however, commercial properties and garment factories began replacing the area's residences, and the market declined. The market building was demolished in 1932, replaced by ...
In the eastern end of the city, along the shores of Lake Ontario, there is a geological wonder that stands tall and majestic. Created thousands of years ago, the Scarborough Bluffs are 350-foot-high deposits of silt, sand, stone, and clay. Running along the southern edge of Scarborough, these beautiful cliffs offer more than just wonderful views of Lake Ontario; they're also home to the Guild Inn — an architectural graveyard of sorts. Here, remnants of Toronto's structural past are haphazardly displayed: old entrance ways, arches, sculptures, and other forgotten historical artifacts.
Originally, the Guild Inn was a large estate that belonged ...
When Hurricane Hazel reached Toronto on October 15, 1954, residents of the Humber River Valley were hardest hit. Many of them lived in newly minted suburban homes built right on top of the river's floodplains.
When the record rainfall could not seep into the ground fast enough, the flood waters tore through their neighbourhoods. At times, water levels reached six metres high, sweeping away houses and washing out entire streets.
Eighty-one people were killed, and thousands were left without homes.
This tragic event had a profound influence on the way the city addresses its natural topography. As a direct result of the hurricane, ...
Just north of Davenport Road, between Bathurst and Christie Streets, sits Wychwood Park, one of Toronto's first gated communities. It is still a private community today, but don't let the "Wychwood Private Road and Park" signs at the entrances deter you. This exclusive neighbourhood, with its shaded streets and pricey estates, is the only place in Toronto where the buried Taddle Creek flows above ground.
Named after Wychwood Forest in England, Wychwood Park was founded by landscape painter Marmaduke Matthews and businessman Alexander Jardine. Matthews built his home on a wooded ravine lot in the mid–1870s. Soon after, Matthews and Jardine ...
The bike and pedestrian trails at the mouth of the Humber River tour through a varied landscape. One minute the riverside paths will take you under an expressway, the next minute you'll bike past marshland, and then under hydro towers surrounded by meadows. One of the highlights of this trail system is South Humber Park.
The park is easy to miss from the street; to the north and west it is couched behind the backyards of suburban homes, and to the south it is bounded by the Humber Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Upon entering South Humber Park, cyclists and pedestrians are treated to ...
On the edge of the sidewalk on Brunswick Avenue between Harbord and Bloor streets sits a loveseat-sized wooden bench with a small plaque on the back support, facing the street. Two blue tin cans hang off the arms, with "Butts" scrawled on them in white paint. It's clear the bench has weathered many winters outdoors, but what is even more evident is how well-used it is. The plaque on the back is recent and reads, "Shalom/We honour the memory of 'Honest' Edwin Mirvish/He will be remembered/All are welcome to rest on this bench."
Sibyl Fine and her husband, Morris, put this ...
Nestled behind the Edwardian factory buildings of Spadina and the Victorian storefronts of Queen, a little park sits in quiet contrast to the city around it. The parkette on Phoebe Street (really an extension of the Ogden Junior Public School yard) is not only a quiet space to pause, it's also a great place to uncover some of Toronto's architectural history.
Toronto has been known to disrespect its architectural inheritance. It's nothing new — we've been doing it for decades, choosing to do away with anything that's old rather than adapting it for modern use. With the advent of modernist architecture, ...
