waterfront | as I walk Toronto

Archive for the ‘waterfront’ Category

Sunlight shining – Biidaasige – and Lookout too.

Posted: September 6, 2025 in construction, locations, nature, waterfront
Tags: beach, Biidaasige, bike path, bridges, DOn River, hearn generating station, Leslie Lookout Park, park, playground, Port Lands, redevelpopment, river, Ship Channel, trees, Unwin Ave., Villiers, water, water lilies, waterfront

A new park in the Port Lands has opened. Biidaasige Park. Biidaasige translates to “sunlight shining towards us”.

It is centered around the new mouth of the Don River, with lots of walking and cycling paths that wind along the shores and through the newly planted shrubs, trees, and other native plants.

There is also a large playground where plenty of adventures await!

How many animals can you spot?

A black wasp has found a swamp milkweed flower.

below: The washroom facilities are still temporary (I hope!) but at least they exist….

… But there is more. Biidaasige is not the only new park in the area. Just to the east is the new Leslie Lookout Park that features this 10m tower that references the areas industrial history. It echos the silos of the past and provides an elevated viewing area.

below: The park is at the east end of the Ship Channel

Both parks are just part of the redevelopment of the Port Lands. The area has always been industrial, and many industries remain. Construction continues on other areas

below: Unwin Avenue

below: The old Hearn Generating Station still sits empty. It was built in the 1950s as a coal powered generating station but it was decommissioned in 1983. It has been used as a movie set location or as a backdrop for art installations but because of the huge costs involved (especially with cleaning up the interior to present day safety standards) this heritage site is vastly underused.

below: But now there is a development notice sign on the fence. Its present owner, Studios of America, has applied to redevelop the 30 acre site to include condos as well as other mixed uses.

a Guildwood December day walk

Posted: December 28, 2024 in locations, nature, waterfront
Tags: bas-relief, carvings, columns, Guild Inn, Guildwood Inn, Lake Ontario, park, snow, stone, trees, winter, wreath

Just after Christmas, we took a short walk around Guildwood Inn Park where we encountered this cold but jolly fellow.

below: Once it led to the Granite Club (built 1926), now it leads to a path through the park

The Guildwood Inn (Guild Inn) property is now home to many pieces of stone and concrete that once adorned old Toronto buildings that were demolished many years ago. For a more thorough discussion of the history of the pieces, see History in Pieces of Stone a post from 2020.

below: Staging photographs, playing in the snow.

below: A pyramid of old blocks of rescued stone.

below: Representing Quebec…..sculpted panel by Frances Loring.

below: The park runs along the top of the Scarborough Bluffs.

below: Bits of the park fall into Lake Ontario each year – and occasionally parts of the old fence go too.

another bridge is open – Port Lands again

Posted: June 17, 2024 in construction, locations, public art, transportation, waterfront
Tags: beach, bridges, Cherry Street, Commissioners Street, construction, Leslie Lookout Park, Munition Street, parks, photography, Port Lands, Port of Toronto, redevelopment, Ship Channel, Toronto Harbour, Toronto skyline, Vid Ingelevics, waterfront

Welcome back! Bienvenuti! A colourful sign to welcome you and visitors to Toronto. I’m not sure how many visitors get to see this banner!

The Port of Toronto has almost become an obscure corner of the city. It’s certainly not where most tourists arrive in the city! Nor is it a place where residents venture.

below: Once there was a ferry between Toronto and Rochester that docked here but it didn’t last long. Now there are a few cruise ships that stop here. The building would be almost deserted if Netflix hadn’t taken over some of the space.

below: The fragments of railway track are reminders of the industrial past.

below: There are bits of track scattered all over the Port Lands

below: The Port is much quieter but there is still activity. These long metal bars that are neatly stacked on shore were probably recently offloaded.

below: Boats in the Ship Channel. The redevelopment plan for the Port Lands has always included the retention of the Ship Channel. The sand and salt for Toronto’s roads is delivered here.

below: At the east end of the Ship Channel, a new park is being developed – Leslie Lookout Park. The concrete cylindrical structure is a lookout tower so there will be views over a man-made beach (that appears white in the photo). The beach is larger in real life than it looks like in the photo.

below: Can you see the little sliver of blue water? That is the Ship Channel.

below: Looking south on Munitions Street

below: Toronto Firehall, Station 30, built in 1928 still stands. It is a heritage building and if the plans are followed, it will be repurposed.

below: The redevelopment of the Port Lands has involved a lot of infrastructure changes. Roads have been changed, rivers have been diverted, bike lanes and better sidewalks have been created. At times it has been confusing to navigate through.

below: The new Commissioners Street bridge is in, and there is water running under it. There is now a river on land that was once industrial. On the north side of the bridge there is a bike lane and a wide sidewalk.

below: The bridge offers new vistas of the city. Many new trees have been planted.

below: Lakeshore Blvd crosses the Don River on a very low bridge (like before) while the ramps between the Gardiner and the DVP curve above it.

below: Just be careful because there is no sidewalk on the south side (why not?? for the sake of saving money on 4 extra feet??)

below: The same sleek curvy design seen in the previous bridges is repeated here.

below: Another series of photographs of the work being done here, by Vid Ingelevics and Ryan Walker

below: One photograph is mounted on the roll-up door of one of the ESSROC cement plant silos

below: Like the previous series of images, most of the photographs are displayed down the center of what remains of Villiers Street, on top of the remains of the old railway line.

below: One more photograph on what remains of Villiers Street – and in the background, what remains of the eastern end of the Gardiner Expressway.

below: Southeast corner of Villiers and Cherry

below: One original bridge remains, the one with the long name – Cherry Street Strauss Trunnion Bascule Bridge.

below: The first of the new bridges that was actually operational is the south Cherry Street bridge, the yellow one.

below: The second new bridge on Cherry Street is now in use. For months we’ve been able to take pictures of the side of it as we stood on the old Cherry Street bridge. (see The New Cherry Street Bridge from Nov 2020). Maybe one day in the future there will be a streetcar on the east part of the bridge. As you can see, the rain came and we bailed. Better pictures of the bridge will have to wait for a future post!

below: The old Cherry Street bridge is gone and the road has been rerouted. The old jog in Cherry at Lakeshore is gone.

below: Misdirection.

below: Trying to see the new bridge from the site of the old bridge but there seems to be a construction site in the way.

below: Continuing north on the now straight Cherry Street. Any ideas what that white structure is ahead? It runs parallel to the railway line at track level and crosses Cherry Street just south of the railway underpass.

We now exit the Port Lands and finish today’s explorations…. with the exception of one quick note…. I noticed that the old Canary Diner on Cherry is now painted a reddish orange colour. It looks like it is being renovated. A story for another day!

winter came back

Posted: March 27, 2024 in people, public art, waterfront
Tags: beach, boardwalk, Bobbin', dogs, fence, ice, jogging, Lake Ontario, Nimbus, Nova, pebbles, photography, reflections, sand, shadows, snow, snow fence, UFO, winter stations, Woodbine Beach

Woodbine Beach &
Winter Stations

below: “We Caught a UFO”. Design Team: Xavier Madden and Katja Banović (Croatia and Australia)

below: “Nova” designed by a team from Toronto Metropolitan University Department of Architectural Science.

below: “Bobbin'” Design Team: From University of Waterloo – Max Perry, Jason Cai, Kenneth Siu, Simon Peiris, Yoon Hur, Angeline Reyes, Oluwatobiloba Babalola, Yiqing Liu, Kenyo Musa, Ali Hasan

below: “Kaleidoscopic Odyssey” designed by Brander Architects Inc., Adam Brander, Nilesh P, Ingrid Garcia, and Maryam Emadzadeh

below: “Nimbus” designed by David Stein

below: Someone left their ammo behind.

southern Spadina, from Dundas to Ireland.

Posted: March 9, 2024 in alleys, intersections, locations, stores, transportation, waterfront, windows and walls
Tags: Canada Malting Co., Chinatown, construction, Curtia Wright, graffiti, Ireland Park, June Kim, mannequin, Omni Coastal, people, poles, Radium Yellowknife, Rowan Gillespie, silos, Spadina, stores, street scenes, traffic, TTC, tug, vegetables

Spadina has many faces – It starts at Eglinton as Spadina Road where it runs south through Forest Hill. It’s journey southward then continues through a number of different parts of the city including a spot where there is a block missing at Casa Loma. Pedestrians can use the Baldwin Stairs but traffic has to detour around the castle. At Bloor it changes to Spadina Avenue and widens to allow streetcar access down the middle of the road. Here, it is also the western edge of the University of Toronto.

Just north of College Street, Spadina becomes Spadina Crescent as it forms a circle around what is now the Daniels Faculty of Architecture building. South of College Street to Dundas the neighbourhood is somewhat eclectic with a mix of Kensington Market and Chinatown.

below: Celtuce and asparagus for sale. Celtuce was new to me – I’ve never seen it before. It is also called also called stem lettuce, celery lettuce, asparagus lettuce, or Chinese lettuce. Unlike other lettuces, it is the stem that is eaten (although the leaves are also edible).

below: Collaborative mural under the window, the work of June Kim and Curtia Wright. East meets West, painted back in October.

below: Holy Chinatown window Batman!

below: A Canada Post mailbox decorated originally with an image of the Year of the Rat (from Lunar New Year calendar) stamp issued in 2020.

below: Waiting for the streetcar

below: Looking eastward along Queen Street West with a web of streetcar wires overhead and many tracks underfoot. The new Ontario Line subway will cross here with a new Queen-Spadina station being planned. Between Sherbourne (Moss Park) and Spadina the Ontario Line will be under Queen Street. West of here the tracks will swing south to a station at King and Bathurst.

below: Another eastward looking view, this time from a bit farther south at Adelaide, a street that has become canyon-like as it makes it way through the older brick buildings in foreground and then the taller glass buildings as it gets closer to Yonge Street and the downtown core.

below: And a little bit more south again… the CN Tower rises into the fog as it peeks out between two glass condo buildings at King and Spadina. South of King is the new development “The Well” that opened recently. I have blogged about it previously (Well, Well, Well, 27 Nov 2023)

Spadina is also a major access point to Lakeshore Blvd and the Gardiner Expressway. This section of the road is rather barren if you are on foot (unless you are a concrete aficionado LOL)

below: Another eastward view – Both Lakeshore Blvd westbound (but not eastbound!) and the Gardiner Expressway are elevated and they run parallel as they cross over Spadina.

below: Standing on the northwest corner of Spadina and Queens Quay. This is where Spadina ends – at the waterfront with some of the docks and parks that have been redeveloped in recent years.

below: Looking north up Spadina from Queens Quay.

below: Look! Continue walking towards the waterfront but be careful crossing the bike lanes of the Martin Goodman Trail!

below: Spadina Wave Deck

below: The Omni Coastal, a tug boat, is docked at Spadina Quay.

below: Pulling back a little farther… the CN Tower is still hiding in the fog.

below: Ahoy matey!

below: It’s a much quieter scene in the winter when fewer boats are here. In the background, the Canada Malting Company silos still stand strong.

below: Looking for the signs of spring and finding the beginnings of tulips and daffodils in the Music Garden

below: Some useful information: “Bathrooms, Where can they be found?” Number one on the list is Billy Bishop Airport and I can attest to the fact that yes, they have bathrooms (check in the ferry terminal building).

below: Another red tugboat in the fog – this one is the Radium Yellowknife.

below: The silos have been under wraps as they have been renovated.

below: Built on reclaimed land in the early 1900s, the silos have been empty since 1987 and had fallen into disrepair. Although they are now missing a couple of letters, the silos are in much better shape. I am not sure if there is any use planned for the structures but the site is being turned into a park, Bathurst Quay Common.

below: If you walk past the silos, you come to Ireland Park with its memorial to those who fled the Irish famine in the 1840s. The park also has seven sculptures cast in bronze by Rowan Gillespie of Dublin Ireland. The installation is called ‘Arrival’. These figures match an earlier installation on the Customs House Quay in Dublin, ‘Famine’ (1997). A third installation in Tasmania Australia completes the trilogy.

below: Along the exterior walls of the silos, a few signs have been posted that tell the story of Irish immigration to Canada. This is one of those signs.

sign half in English and half in French that tells the story of the ship called The City of Toronto that brought irish immigrants to Canada in 1847.

Arrival of the City of Toronto – When the steamer City of Toronto dropped anchor at Rees’s Wharf on Sunday, 6 June 1847, City officials had no way of knowing the boat was a harbinger of the chaotic and overwhelming migration season to come. The City carried 700 people. More than half of the adults on board were “indigent” migrants from Ireland, all traveling at the expense of the government.
Given reports of ongoing distress and hunger in Ireland, the volume of immigrants was expected to be high that year, but Toronto was still unprepared for the tidal wave of Irish Famine immigrants now cresting its shores. Toronto, with its population of 20,000 would eventually receive 38,000 immigrants in 1847.
Steamships arrived filled to capacity with passengers exhausted and sick from their weeks-long journey. Many of those who had been deemed healthy by doctors at Grosse Ile were beginning to show signs of typhus.
The logistics of receiving, triaging, housing, treating and transporting (or burying) this wave of newcomers fell to a group of municipal and provincial officials, who had to make do with rudimentary medical and settlement infrastructure and resources.

a blustery winter day

Posted: January 23, 2024 in locations, public art, reflections, waterfront
Tags: Anique Jordan, boats, CIBC Square, Empire Sandy, Gardiner Expressway, ice, John McEwen, kraken, Kuumba, Lake Ontario, Legends Row, Maple Leaf Square, Maple Leafs, Mycelium, Nicolas Baier, photography, Queens Quay West, roller skating, Scotiabnk Arena, Stephen Tayo, streetcar, Union station, water, waterfront

Hum dum dum ditty dum
Hum dum dum

below: A Porter flight approaches the island airport

below: The Empire Sandy moored at the waterfront, with the Toronto fire boat in the distance.

“Oh the wind is lashing lustily
And the trees are thrashing thrustily

And the leaves are rustling gustily
So it’s rather safe to say

That it seems that it may turn out to be
Feels that it will undoubtedly
It looks like a rather blustery day, today”

as sung by Winnie the Pooh

below: A kraken is taking over the boat!

below: A large photograph, on the south wall of the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery is “These Times 2019” by Anique Jordan which has been on display since the CONTACT Photography Festival last spring.

below: “Kuumba”, Photography by Stephen Tayo is on display outside at Harbourfront

below: Also at Harbourfront, orange ties blowing in the wind. These are remains, and a reminder, of Orange Shirt Day on 30th September.

below: Looking east on Harbour Street, parallel to the Gardiner Expressway, toward York Street and the wedged shaped building that has been squeezed into the space.

below: Waterfront ReConnect: Pixel Story is a “temporary creative intervention” located under the Gardiner Expressway at Lower Simcoe. Crowd-sourced stories and memories of the waterfront each on a little blue square. Making constructive use of a space that has been neglected for so long; adding colour and interest to what was grey and slightly foreboding.

blue squares arranged in a grid as part of a public art installation. some squares have simple white pictures and some squares have words written in white

“Railways arrived on Toronto’s waterfront in the 1850s. To accommodate, a southward extension of the shoreline via infill was required. The ground where we stand now is close to the original shoreline of the lake.”

below: On the north side of the Gardiner – still a little darkness lurking there.

below: City of Toronto sign says Tree Protection Zone. I don’t think that I believe it.

below: At this point I had had enough of the cold; it was time to check out a warmer route! So underground I went, down into the PATH system. The lobby of ICE at 12 York has this large circular skylight over the escalator.

below: And then there is this long black, white, and chrome tunnel that connects the ICE condo and the PATH system. The walls on both sides are reflective and it’s a bit disorientating. Is this supposed to represent walking through a block of ice, or black ice?

below: PATH, the underground rabbit warren of tunnels that connect downtown buildings to each other. Usually I get lost down here.

below: I found myself in a grocery store

below: And I discovered that the PATH sometimes goes high, not low. I found myself on the upper level of the Scotiabank Arena.

below: There is a great view of Legends Row from up here – that’s the statues of all the Maple Leaf Captains from the past.

below: And inside, a collage of Leaf players hangs on the wall.

below: There’s even a portrait of Justin Bieber, behind glass, wearing a Maple Leaf jersey with a Captains C on the shoulder.

below: This is also good vantage point for all of Maple Leaf Square

below: Including a close up view of the rusty metal things… Actually it’s “Search Light, Star Light, Spot Light” (1998) by John McEwen.

At Scotiabank Arena, the PATH splits into two possibilities. One route is through Union Station and the other is up the escalator towards the new GO Bus Terminal.

below: Four (or five?) John Tavares’s to give directions to the new GO Bus Terminal. Happy to oblige!

below: There is now a pedestrian bridge over Bay Street that connects the Scotiabank Arena and Union Station Bus Terminal to the new CIBC SQUARE building. This is the view looking south on Bay

below: Along the north wall of the bridge is a work by Nicolas Baier called “Mycelium”. It is a network of LED lights and it is visible from outside as well.

below: At CIBC Square there is a new rooftop garden/park that has a tall skinny metallic tree, along with some real trees. There is no access to it yet but it will probably be a more welcoming in a few months.

At this point I retraced my steps back through Scotiabank and then walked through Union Station where I learned that a small space has been set aside for a temporary roller skating rink. Free rentals. Free entry.

below: He still stands outside Union Station with the flock of birds flying around while the sun reflects off the gold tinted Royal Bank Building.

below: Steamy Yonge Street on a cold day

below: Development notice outside 69 Yonge Street.

below: C’est tout. Fini. Time to go home.

Clarence and Draper

Posted: December 2, 2023 in history, locations, nature, public art, waterfront
Tags: Clarence Park, Clarence Square, Draper Park, Draper St., encampment, fountain, graffiti, The Well

Almost 200 hundred years ago plans were made for a new park in a very new city.

old painting of Clarence Park in Toronto in winter, trees around a small fountain, a line of houses at the top of the picture

Colorized print, Clarence Park with houses on north side and a fountain in the middle. Image found on a Heritage Assessment document for the park, no credit given there.

The park, named Clarence Park for the Duke of Clarence, was part of a planned community conceived of in the 1830s that included a church, a market, and building lots for houses. The land that it was on was part of a military reserve (i.e. it belonged to the British). In 1860 ownership of the land, already developed as a park, was transferred to the city by means of a Crown grant containing a restrictive covenant to maintain it as a public square.

below: A map of the area circa 1833. Lake Ontario to the south is at the top of the map. Fort York, on the right was actually on the waterfront at the time. On the left are some of the original streets – Peter St. and John St. being two of them that are still with us today. The red square on the map is the location of the present day Clarence Park.

below: Clarence Park fountain these days. I have mentioned before that I think that Toronto does a horrible job with fountains but this one probably wins an award for worst maintenance job ever. And you say it’s been this way for at least four years? Is the original fountain (see the painting at top) hiding under here?

below: So nice of the city to provide more canvas space for graffiti. Public art at its finest!

below: Not that long ago, this type of picture was not that common in the city. Now, this layered look is everywhere. The houses of Clarence Square, north side, built 1879 – 1885.

below: Part of the homeless encampment of Clarence Square. Since this picture was taken (mid-November) some of the other encampments in the city have been cleared, specifically Kensington and St. Stephens church on College Street. Yes, we have a housing problem. No, we haven’t got any solutions, or at least none that we can agree on or are prepared to pay for. Are tents in parks a good idea? Probably not. But they are there because it’s an “easy” solution that costs the city nothing.

below: Does anyone recognize this view? There are a view clues that suggest this is just another view of Clarence Park. But when did those towers appear? Turn around and someone alters the landscape while you’re not looking, playing tricks with your memory.

below: Now turn 180 degrees, and the view changes…. sort of. The new LCBO on Spadina that replaces the one at King & Spadina (that building is still standing and still vacant by the way). Also, across the street is The Well that I blogged about previously.

below: Looking south on Spadina at Front Street – I love the way that Spadina seems to disappear into the distance. Into the great beyond.

below: If you walk through The Well, at one point this is the view to the north with an interesting jumble of roof lines, window styles, and brick patterns.

below: Front St., putting the finishing touches on the sidewalk outside The Well development.

below: Front Street, walking west towards Bathurst.

below: “Dance all night till you can’t feel your legs”

below: So many possible captions! Tossing happiness aside … Empty promises of happiness…

below: In the midst of all the new development along Front Street and the railway corridor, Draper Street remains. It is one block of old houses, many of them heritage row houses.

below: Draper Street houses – a smaller version of the houses seen on Clarence Street (see above). They are of a similar vintage with almost identical rooflines and window shapes. The Empire Style.

City of Toronto historic plaque for Draper Street

“DRAPER STREET – Draper Street’s Empire-style cottages were built in 1881 and 1882, while its larger homes were constructed between 1886 and 1889. The street – a Designated Heritage Conservation District – is unusual because its residential character survived the overall industrialization of the King-Spadina neighbourhood in the twentieth century. Draper Street has been a haven for people of many backgrounds, such as Lincoln Alexander, who was born here in 1922 to West Indian parents, and who served as Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario from 1985-1991. The name of the street honours William Henry Draper (1801-1877), a pre-Confederation lawyer and Conservative politician, who was the virtual “Prime Minister” of the United Province of Canada from 1844 to 1847. He subsequently became a judge, eventually being appointed Chief Justice of post-Confederation Ontario in 1869. “

The new condos at The Well loom over a new park (2021), Draper Park. It’s small, the equivalent of two housing lots; numbers 19 and 21 once stood here. The original owner of 19 Draper Street (1881) was George Hickey, a railway manager. It was demolished in 1942 and was replaced by a small factory owned by Farrell Plastics. At that time, a factory would not be out of place as the area was more industrialized. The building was destroyed by fire in 1969.

below: Draper and Front, looking east

Since I mentioned the fact that this land was once owned by the British military, and the fact that Fort York was once “in the middle of nowhere”, I’d like to add a couple more photos that show much development has occurred in the area.

below: New development along Front Street. The bridge is at Bathurst. Draper Street is just outside the photo on the righthand side. All the railway corridor and the lands to the south were not there in 1833 when Sir. Richard Bonnycastle drew his map – but that’s a whole other story for another day!

below: View from Bathurst – the white buildings here are part of Fort York while the new condos are just beyond, closer to Strachan Ave.

revisiting Ontario Place

Posted: September 26, 2023 in construction, graffiti and street art, landmarks, locations, public art, transportation, waterfront
Tags: abandoned, Better Living Centre, CNE, construction, exhibition, fish, Food Building, GO Transit, Goh Ohn Bell, Horse Palace, Jose Andres Mora, Liberty Village, Metrolinx, Ontario Place, Queen Elizabeth Building, Raymond Moriyama, Ronald Satok, Toronto FC, Toronto Reds

A story in three parts

There has been a lot of talk about Ontario Place in the news lately so I thought that I would take some time to explore that part of the city.

below: My walk started in Liberty Village where I discovered that others are trying to promote walking around and exploring here. If you are interested, Walk Liberty is online. It is a fairly comprehensive guide to the history of the area.

below: Cut into the back of this bench are the words “Is it not the reason we are here”. This bench was designed by Jose Andres Mora was part of the Liberty Village BIA Artist Bench series from 2019. My reason? … Well, I was only passing by because it was a convenient place to have a cup of coffee before walking towards Ontario Place.

below: Comfortable shoes as we keep on walking

When I reached Atlantic Avenue I discovered that most of the south end of the street was now part of a construction site – both sides of the street have Metrolinx Ontario Line hoardings.

below: The Liberty Trail is closed. This sign was posted by Ontario Transit Group. They are the group who are building some of the infrastructure for the Ontario Line. There are a number of companies included in this group with the two leads being Ferrovial Construction Canada Inc., and VINCI Construction Grands Projects. They were awarded the six billion dollar contract in Nov 2022 and if you want to see a list of what that money should buy us, the information is on an Infrastructure Ontario website (while you’re there, spot the typo!).

below: Looking north on Atlantic Avenue

below: The Exhibition GO station is at the south end of Atlantic Ave. The new Ontario line will also have a station here. The ability to transfer between GO and TTC services here will impact a lot of people who commute from the western side of the GTA as they may be able to bypass Union Station.

below: From Exhibition station east towards the city centre, north side. A new street that parallels the railway tracks is being built here. If the plans are correct, the new street will connect Strachan Ave in the east with Dufferin St in the west.

below: Construction on the north side of the tracks at Exhibition station where a new concourse area is being built above the tracks

below: Looking eastward from the south side

After walking through the tunnel under the tracks at Exhibition GO station, you emerge under the Gardiner Expressway, right beside the Exhibition grounds. …. And so begins Part 2. A quick note – when Metrolinx describes Exhibition station on the Ontario Line, they usually add “Ontario Place” to it, i.e. it’s Exhibition/Ontario Place station.

The first building that you encounter on the south side is the Horse Palace

below: South entrance of the Horse Palace. Three levels of government contributed to the construction of this building which opened in 1931. It is two storeys high and covers 4 acres. Originally it accommodated 1200 horses. Today it is home to Toronto’s mounted police unit.

below: Horse in the art deco style, carved in the limestone facade of the Horse Palace.

In August it is busy here as it is the home of the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) but September is another story! I didn’t see many people as I wandered around. The buildings are locked up tight.

One of the dominant features of the area is BMO field which was built as a large soccer stadium. In 2016 it also became the home of the Toronto Argonauts, the other Toronto football team.

below: Mural above the entrance, gate 6 BMO Field. This mural can be difficult to see from outside because it is behind a window. It confused me at first because why is there a hockey themed picture at BMO field? – they don’t play hockey here. As I was trying to get a closer look at it from outside, a group of men walked past and one of them asked me if I needed help…. here’s the story: Once upon a time the Hockey Hall of Fame was here. When the building was demolished in 2006 to make way for the soccer field, portions of it were retained including the entrance and this mural, “Face Off” by Ronald Satok.

below: The Hockey Hall of Fame building (1961-1993) at the Exhibition. The mural is behind the glass in the entrance way.

below: Also at BMO Field is a Wall of Honour commemorating iconic moments and MLS Honours (e.g. coach of the year, MVP players, etc). Red and white are the colours of Toronto FC (Football Club) whose home is here at BMO stadium. Note: (MLS = Maple Leaf Sports, owners of the Toronto FC )

After WW2, the popularity of the CNE was booming and more modern spaces were needed. The Hockey Hall of Fame building was a great success so the Food Building (1954), followed by the Queen Elizabeth Building (1957), and the Better Living Centre (1962) resulted. These buildings still stand. All were very modern buildings for their time.

below: Food Building

below: Queen Elizabeth Building

below: Better Living Centre, symmetry of the side entrances. In the 1960s this building housed exhibits during the CNE that featured different rooms decorated with the latest trends and gadgets… like colour TVs! and other consumer goods.

below: Front entrance with its wide stairs leading to the doors as well as one of its curved walls

below: Artwork on the roof of the Better Living Centre is a three dimensional grid of steel with different coloured plexiglass panels in some of the squares.

We entered the Exhibition grounds by tunnel and we will leave by bridge over Lakeshore Blvd…. so to Part 3, Ontario Place

below: Looking west from the bridge over Lakeshore Blvd

Ontario Place consists of three different areas, East Island, West Island, and the pods in the middle. When Ontario Place first opened in 1971, the eastern portion was a children’s adventure playground. Today it is Trillium Park. I didn’t go there last week, but if you are interested, I blogged about it on two previous visits (a rainy day from June 2019, and Ontario Place 2.0 from July 2017)

The middle section of the park is where you find the “pods”, the elevated structures with water below, and the marina.

The contentious part at the moment is West Island.

As far as any plan can be trusted, this is from Infrastructure Ontario, dated April 2023. The majority of the West Island becomes covered with a 12 acre waterpark and spa to be built by an Austrian company, Therme. The majority of that is housed in glass buildings.

This is a conceptual drawing from Therme’s website. That’s a lot of glass. If you know West Island, you’ll realize that this drawing looks nothing like it. That’s because everything is to be removed, leveled, and a lot of landfill added.

Already gone is a bell, the Goh Ohn Bell. This is the Japanese Canadian Centennial Temple Bell. I took this picture on the 20th of Sept and by the 25th it was gone. Despite a protest on the weekend, it was removed to storage. The Temple Bell was installed in 1977 in a structure designed by Raymond Moriyama (1929 – Sept 2023); it was a gift to the province Japanese Canadians living in Ontario to mark the centennial of Japanese settlement in Canada. Now it is in the way of the Therme spa. Even though the project has not been approved, the provincial government is plowing ahead.

Some say that the West Island is under used now anyhow…..

Perhaps. But the biggest reason for that is the neglect (negligence actually) that it’s been subjected to over the years.

Once their were restaurants here but they closed years ago. Their ghosts remain.

below: Pizza anyone?

Once there were amusement rides here, those ghosts too still haunt the place.

below: Yellow lines to stand behind while you waited your turn for a ride.

Once upon a time there was some attempt to make something of the place. Then it was abandoned and ignored. In those quiet years the beach and paths were used by those who knew about them. It became a peaceful spot.

Unknowns – there are many because there has been nothing transparent about any of the dealings between Therme and the provincial government. Therme gets a 95 year lease but what are the terms? The provincial government is going to pay for an underground (under the water table!) parking lot for 2000+ cars apparently. They will also be responsible for all those little details that you can’t see – like where does the water go when you flush the toilet? – those little pesky things. Rather than go into more detail here, I highly recommend John Lorinc’s article in Spacing magazine, Below Grade Scandal

Not everyone is happy with the plans…..

Joy in Resistance

Posted: July 19, 2023 in public art, waterfront
Tags: affirmation, Frizzkid, Hana Shafi, Harbourfront Centre, Ontario Square, pictures, waterfront

For the nest few months, three big, bold, and colourful images are on display at Ontario Square on the waterfront. These are “Joy in Resistance” by Frizzkid aka Hana Shafi.

This is one exhibit where the “words on the wall” work well! This is how Frizzkid describes her work: “They are celebrations of diversity and of LGBTQ+ joy, where we envision a bright future; where people can flourish and dream wildly, and be wholly themselves without danger or hate. I have a love of 60’s and 70’s popular culture aesthetics, which spans from the golden age of Bollywood, to Studio 54 disco fever, appearing throughout my work to convey a warm nostalgia amidst the psychedelia. I believe in the beauty of reinvention and fluidity, and to make each piece feel transformative. My chaotic use of colour is meant to invoke powerful emotions that jolt people out of apathy and the exhaustion of doom-scrolling on their phones and to invite them to imagine their ideal future, one where they feel at home in their own skin and beloved by their communities.”