Doors Open 2016

Wow! Has it really been a year since the last Doors Open Toronto? Guess that means I've been doing this blog for longer than that! Whaddaya know?

Well, let's get right to it. I visited four places this year, and got some good pics.
As it happened, these are all historic buildings: Two of them are essentially museums, one has been repurposed as a place to showcase modern design, and one is, well, still a place of worship. They are all places I've seen many, many times in passing, but have never been into - or if so, only briefly.

I walked a kind of "backwards-J" route on this unseasonably hot May day, from Bond St. to Bloor and Huron, to take them all in, and yes, I was a little weary by the end!

As mentioned, my first stop was on Bond St., south of Dundas St. E., between Church and Victoria:


Mackenzie House

This is the well-known exterior of the house that was given to Toronto's first mayor, probably pretty similar to how it looked in his day. Obviously, windows and shutters have been updated, but they remain their original size. When we get inside, you'll see how much light they let in...

This is the front room of the house, kind of a parlour, where guests might be received and entertained. There is one piece of furniture here that was actually made by a member of the family (not shown), but the rest of the pieces, though not original to the house, are from the period - the house went though many incarnations before becoming a historical museum.

At the rear of the first floor is this formal dining room. On the table are facsimiles of Mackenzie's newspapers (political rebel, publisher. mayor - a man of many talents!), the most visible being the Toronto Weekly Message.

And, heading to the second floor...

...at the top of the stairs is this small room, possibly a guest room. If you look closely, they've turned the corner of the quilt up on the "bed" to show that it's actually a trunk or chest. More functional than comfortable, one assumes...

The main bedroom is an imagining of Mackenzie's own. He was known to have a "sleigh" bed, and so there's one here. Lots of details, including a small stove for heat. with copper kettle and bed-warming bottle on the floor beside it, dresser and vanity, and of course, a chamber-pot - all mod cons!

The rear bedroom looks like it may be for children, or a lady and child - note nightclothes laid out on the near bed. An actual fireplace adorns this room!
There is a third level, but it's for the guides, and not open to the public.

Then, down to the lower levels...

...where there is a kitchen, with simple table and chairs, and large stove. The guide there told us that this is where the family would have spent most of their time, as the ground floor was mainly for guests.
(Didn't I tell you how much light gets in through these large windows?)

In the rear is the dining area, where the family would have eaten, complete with a fireplace that probably shared a chimney with the dining room on the first floor, and the bedroom on the second.

Back in the front room, the guide lit this working gas lamp. The device he used had a slot to turn the gas on, with the keys you see on the bottom of the lamp, and a long cloth wick to light the gas jets with.

Moving along a corridor to the lower rear of the house, the back yard features a couple of reliefs that were originally located in Niagara Falls. They were part of an arch that was partially a tribute to Mackenzie, and when it was dismantled, some of the carvings were relocated here.
There was no access to the yard, but I was able to get a nice clear picture through the window.

At the lower rear of the house is a reproduction of Mackenzie's printing press. The guide, in period costume, is explaining how the press worked, and what types of things Mackenzie printed on it.
In lower right, you can see examples of things they would have printed, like recipes or public notices - all of them are printed using this press!

Another view of the printing press. The guide said that you could use it to print broadsheets, small newspapers or pamphlets, but the larger printing presses of the day would have been steam-powered.
She said they used lead type for printing, and because of this and other working conditions, a full-time printer had a life expectancy of about 40 years!

And here, at the request of a guest, she shows how they used the press. The bed slides under the press, and by using the large handle that she is pulling, you could put 2,000 pounds of pressure on your item!
Near lower left, the small sheet with the oval frame-type design is what they had the press set up to print that day.

Then, it was on to King and Bay:

The Design Exchange

This is located in what was Toronto's original Stock Exchange building, constructed in Art Deco style in the 1930s. I was dismayed to see scaffolding in front of the place - you can barely make out the famous stylized frieze that runs the width of the building just above the doors.
It's now part of the TD Centre complex, and you can see that there has been a whole new building constructed around it. They did keep the classic facade at least, including...

...these amazing stainless steel front doors, with mirroring medallions with reliefs depicting various kinds of industries, like construction or smelting.

Once inside, there is this display of furniture design, largely from the mid-20th century. (If you follow my blog, you'll recognize this from the background of one of the pics I took on my Jane's Walk earlier this month.)
The iPad in the foreground has a kind of catalogue of each of the pieces. A surprising number of them are Canadian, either in design, concept or construction.

The view from the other end of the same display. Most of these pieces are made from metal, plastic, or surprisingly, shaped plywood.

Beside the furniture display is this unusual piece, Arabesque Wall, made of sandstone, computer-designed, and created on a 3D printer. It is part of a concept known as "the Digital Grotesque printed room". Grotesque it is - I can't help thinking of H.R. Giger's designs for Alien!

Next is a display of plastics in design, examples of the way they used injection-molded plastics - or other types of plastics such as Bakelite - in the mid-20th century to design leisure products.
So we have a projector, a record player, six radios, a lamp, a table, and a stereo system with globe-shaped speakers (eerily similar to a unit a high school buddy of mine had in the 1970s).
Only the chair seems to be made from natural elements!

Then it was on to a room full of more leisure products. There was furniture also, but I was much more fascinated with several beautiful old-school stereo systems.
The next three pics show systems designed by Clairtone, based on Canada's east coast. The first one here has those globe-shaped speakers again, but a wooden cabinet, both push-button and dial controls, and storage space for your LPs!

Here's another one, also with globe speakers, but with a brushed stainless-steel front, dial controls, and analog display:

And finally, this one - no speakers (possibly built-in?), but another stainless steel face and wood cabinet. Couldn't tell if it's solid wood or not - cheaper products were made of plywood or particle board, with woodgrain veneer. Probably not these beauties, though.

Last but not least, there is this Gerrard product - all wood, push-button/dial controls, and a storage space for LPs just out of shot. More plasticky-looking globe speakers, though - makes you wonder who thought that was a good idea?

Next, we were allowed to go into the space where the trading floor used to be.
The first thing you notice is this amazing art-deco staircase going up to the second floor. Note how the walls have rounded corners!

I really liked this polished black banister that runs in one piece all the way up the stairs.
(You can see me reflected in it taking the picture at bottom).

Then, it was on to the former trading floor itself. As you see, it's really spectacular. Those are early fluorescent lights under the opal glass that goes all the way across the room. This is the west wall, with four murals by artist Charles Comfort.

Each corner of the room, like here at the entrance, has more of those rounded corners, with bands of stainless steel trim that run around the whole room.

The east wall features the same design as the west; more of the opal glass and murals:

And here is a closer look at the west wall, where you can see the giant clock (set to 12:10 at both ends of the room), and a better look at a couple of the Charles Comfort murals. They represent (in "heroic" style) different kinds of industry: at left, pulp and paper; at right, construction and engineering.

I was quite taken with these stainless-steel-and-glass doors, with more flowing, art-deco styling:

I also wanted to get a good shot of the light fixture and ceiling in the stairwell. The geometric pattern on the inner ceiling panel is quite striking, but notice how the parallel ceiling lines are curved at the rear, but become sharp 90-degree angles at the near end!

Finally, there is the amazing balustrade, that starts in this tight spiral at the bottom, then goes all the way up the stairs. I mentioned that I liked the black banister, but the stainless steel - though common to Art Deco architecture - adds a breathtaking touch.

Next stop was the northwest corner of Queen and University:

Campbell House

This is one of the oldest buildings in Toronto, in Georgian style, from 1822. This is not where it was located originally; in the 1970s, they moved it wholesale to this corner of the property owned by Confederation Life, whose building looms behind it.

Here is the front dining room, the east room on the first floor.
There is a matching fireplace on the second floor above, but there was a photography exhibit there, so I didn't take any pics of it.

The west room on the first floor seems to be a sitting room:

And then, you mount this grand spiral staircase to the second floor:

I couldn't resist a more vertiginous view straight down.
It looks like I captured my left knee and right foot in the pic, too!

The west room on the second floor is a large bedroom. You can see a fireplace here, too, sharing one of those large chimneys with the room on the first floor.
The sheers are drawn, so, unfortunately, the room looks a little gloomy.

I seem to have discovered banisters this year!
I really liked the simple, elegant curve of this one, similar to, but less complex than, the one at the Exchange.

Finally, a a sight you don`t see too often - the rear of Campbell House, looking southeast.
The two large chimneys on either end of the place are clearly visible here.

Next stop was the northwest corner of Bloor and Huron Sts.:

Bloor Street United Church

The church itself was started in 1889, in a kind of Neo-Gothic style.
There was a horrific here fire in 1954, and the whole roof collapsed, necessitating a rebuilding of much of the sanctuary.
I had been in this church a few years ago, to see a community choir, soloists, two pianos and percussionists perform Carl Orff's epic Carmina Burana, but had never really explored the place.

Inside, there are several features, not least of which is this lovely Casavant organ...

...and this remarkable Celtic cross, over the altar at the north end.

The most spectacular sight, though, is this amazing south window, dedicated in 1962.
I got a good shot of it, and you can see the details very well. The theme is about inclusion, with different religions, races and classes of people depicted under the outspread arms of Jesus Christ.
The inscription, at the top of the central panel, reads, "That all may be one," the long-time philosophy of the United Church. It has practised ecumenism for many decades, and was the first mainstream church to welcome gay members, pastors - even moderators!

Finally, a shot of the nave, looking north toward the altar. You can see the Celtic Cross once again, as well as the Boat Sculpture, based on native boat-building traditions:

And that was it for another year.
I sure appreciate that cities around the world let their citizens peek "behind the scenes" like this. It gives you a better appreciation of how things work in your city, and brings people together for a common experience - and that's never a bad thing.

Until next May, then...

Jane's Walk - May 7, 2016

This cloudy Saturday was the first time I had participated in any of the Jane's Walks that take place this time of year in cities all over the world. The event has grown to such an extent that this year, there were no less than three days' worth of walks, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

If you're unfamiliar with Jane Jacobs (and I claim very little knowledge myself), she was a writer and thinker whose book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, became a large influence on urban planning in the 1960s, mainly in the two cities she spent most of her life in, New York and Toronto. I haven't read the book myself, but from what I understand, it was a plea to conserve the history of cities, rather than simply demolishing whole neighbourhoods or buildings to make way for new things. Please feel free to correct me, if you should read this, and disagree.

In the 1950s and 60s, Toronto was going through a phase like this, with, for example, our original Chinatown being torn down to make way for the new City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square. Thankfully, there is still a thriving "old school" Chinatown in the Spadina and Dundas area, and vestiges of the first one can still be seen in a few businesses along Dundas, between Bay and University.
Many other buildings and areas were also slated for destruction, like the original City Hall, or the Annex neighbourhood. But with the advent of Jacobs' book, there was a re-thinking of this philosophy, and concerned politicians and citizens began taking action, the most well-known (or notorious, depending on your point of view) result being the halting of the Spadina Expressway, which would have spelled the end of the Annex area.

Being a person who simply enjoys walking around the city and exploring neighbourhoods, I'd always wanted to take part in events like these, and this year, I had the opportunity.


This will be a kind of photo essay on the two walks I went on, each with a different theme.


2:00 p.m.

The first was about "wayfinding," how you get from place to place in a city, how you find out where you are, and where to go next. The walk was carried out by employees of Entro Communications, who work with the city on things like signage.

We started at the new Student Learning Centre at Ryerson University, where it was pointed out that using consistent colours or logos was a good way to tell where you are - separate from the rest of the city, yet still within it, as is the case with Ryerson U.

We moved to Dundas Square, where there was too much noise for our initial host, Laura, to speak, so we moved to the Eaton Centre, from the noisy side along Yonge St., to the other, quieter side at Trinity Square. It's interesting to note that the original Trinity Church, from the 1800s, still stands here, though it's surrounded on all sides by modern buildings.
In the photo below, Laura talks about this area:

Then, we were joined by Udo, the nominal host for the walk, who had been delayed, but was able to catch up with us.

After that, it was on to Nathan Phillips Square, where Udo talked briefly about the building of our City Hall in the early 1960s, and then about the now-iconic TORONTO sign, which can be seen in the background:

At the southeast corner of NPS, Udo pointed out one of the new information pillars that have recently gone up, with maps and information about the immediate area. This sign has a feature about the history of the new City Hall.

Next was the Bay-Adelaide Centre, where there is this installation by American artist, James Turrell, called Straight Flush. These are actually openings in the wall, with the colours on the inner panels constantly shifting, as you'll see in my pics for the next walk.
See more about this and other installations at http://www.blogto.com/arts/2014/09/the_top_10_public_art_installations_in_toronto/

Then, it was over to the Design Exchange, which was the site of the original Toronto Stock Exchange, and now is an art and design gallery. You can see that there is a display of various pieces of 20th-century furniture in the background (making me curious to come back here and take a look):

And, away we went, underground, to explore and talk about wayfinding under the downtown. There was discussion about the PATH system (still notoriously difficult to use, in my opinion), and how many of the office buildings have their own signage up, alongside/despite the PATH signs.
Udo remarked how small the printing was on these signs, and it's a fair point. In the Royal Bank Plaza, for instance, there are very clear directional signs, with large print, that make them much easier to use than these more modest ones.

Then down to Union Station (southwest corner of Bay and Front), which is undergoing a makeover of its own. Udo pointed out that Union Station, designated as a Heritage Building, cannot be altered itself, but new additions can be made over and around it, which is what's happening.
He also mentioned the new signs, here and at York St., which are easy to read, large enough, and weather-resistant (one of the themes we discussed on the walk was the durability and relevance of maps, signage and information).

He also pointed out this information pillar, which is temporary during the renovations, and will eventually probably look like the one that we saw at Nathan Phillips Square:

Finally, going into Union Station, I decided to get a pic of one of the maps of the PATH system. Udo had pointed out that the maps themselves look lovely, very geometric and all, but the system itself is, as I said before, very hard to use, with many ways to become lost. Take a look at any of these maps (if you dare), and try to find an easy way from the Eaton Centre to Union Station.
I myself looked closely on this map for a "you are here" sticker (it should be near the bottom, to left of centre), but there was none to be found!

There are hand-held maps available, but they're not easy to find.
I have one, but only stumbled on it by accident in the north lobby of the Royal Bank Plaza!

4:00 p.m.

The second walk I took in was on the theme of hidden works of art in public places. Our guide was Ran, who works at City Hall in planning. This her introducing the walk:

She at least had a microphone, but the speaker kept dropping in & out! The best laid plans...

We met at the Cloud Garden on Temperance St, between Yonge and Bay. Ran pointed out many features of this small park, particularly the tribute to workers, shown here.
Each filled square represents a different material, design or pattern used in construction, as a tribute to the workers who make the buildings you or I use every day. I assume in nicer weather, the creepers on the lower wall look quite attractive.

Then it was across the street, to the Bay-Adelaide Centre, and the same darn installation I had seen on the earlier walk, James Turrell's Straight Flush.
This time, though, you'll note that the colours have changed dramatically; they are set to a timed cycle, so that you can literally stand there and watch as they evolve.

We headed one building east, to see this fascinating installation, in the south side of the lobby of an office tower still partly under construction:

It's a black circle, about 30 feet in diameter, set into the white wall...

...which are both constructed of thousands of individual, hand-made ceramic tiles!
They are not painted - it's two different colours of tile set together to form the contrasting pattern, as you can see in this closer picture.
The piece is made to match another one on the north side of the lobby...

...which is kind of a "negative" of the first one, a black outline of the same size, but all in white...

...and made the same way, with painstakingly constructed and set tiles, as this zoom shot shows.
Remarkable!

Next, we walked to a space between two buildings, south of Adelaide, in between Yonge and Victoria Sts. Here, Ran heads toward the installation, entitled Synthetic Eden, the first part of which consists of these clear panels with organic shapes etched in them:

The centrepiece of the installation is these three sculptures, representing the life cycle of plants; at right, roots; centre, a blossom; and left, the stump of a dead tree:

Here are the same sculptures, from a different angle:

And finally, this piece on the wall represents biodiversity; looking closely, you can see all kinds of animal life depicted.
There's kind of a "garden of Eden" theme, with the serpent winding through the centre of the whole thing:

Our next stop was Courthouse Square, the site of Toronto's original courthouse (and in the past, of many public executions). There are different features here, with a common theme of "law."
To the left in this shot (looking south) is a water sculpture; then a bench, with legs made of giant books, presumably "law books;" and finally, a monolith with a human-sized opening, one side of which is labeled, "The Laws of Nature," and the other (not visible), "The Laws of Man":

Then, looking east, you see a kind of arbour, and a stone plinth (near centre), with more of the stylized "law books" on top:

Heading south on Church St., to just south of Front, there is this sculpture, Shoreline Commemorative, with a tripod shape supporting a globe with colours and lighting representing water and sky.
The bottom part, under our feet, represents the actual topography of Lake Ontario, which, if you didn't know, used to end at this exact point, just south of Front St.!

Sandblasted into the brick wall is this inscription, which, if you can't make it out, reads, in part:
"For 10,000 years, this was the location of Lake Ontario's shoreline.
"This brick wall stands where water and land met..."

Then, we headed towards Yonge St.,where, at Brookfield Place, there is this installation, called Garden Court. It's a circular oasis of evergreen trees...

...where you're welcome to go in and sit on any of the ten large boulders surrounding a circular reflecting pool at the centre.
As you can see, it was raining at this point, but thankfully, it didn't last.

(Post office building, on the south side of Front St., is visible in the background.)

Next was the Air Canada Centre, where the Maple Leafs and Raptors ( and many musicians) play.
On the east side, there is this installation, called Wins, Losses, Ties.
Looking up, you see these metal tubes, each with a number inscribed in the bottom...

And looking down, you see these inlaid panels. Each one represents a decade in the life of the Toronto Maple Leafs, divided into seasons of play. When you match the circular incisions to the numbers on the poles directly above, you get the statistics for each season, i.e., wins, ties, and losses!

Here is a closer look at the first decade of the Maple Leafs' existence. You can more easily see how it works. And, they do make note of Stanley Cup wins - though I guess the last 40 years have been pretty blank!

Finally, going through the ACC to the west part of Maple Leaf Square, there are two more sculptures/installations to be seen.
In the foreground is John McEwen's Search Light, Star Light, Spot Light, metal cones with star shapes cut out. Apparently it's lit from inside at night, and looks pretty spectacular.
In the lower background is Soheil Mosun Ltd.'s Connection, a lighted footbridge between two buildings. It also changes colours. like Straight Flush.

Look for more information on these (and other public art installations) at: http://www.torontofunplaces.com/toronto-fun-blog/36-air-canada-centre-wins-losses-ties-sculpture

Conclusion

Well, this afternoon was certainly an eye-opener for me. So many discoveries! As I mentioned above, there were many more walks than these that took place over the weekend. One person could certainly not take them all in!

In the past, I guess TWMVC concerts, or weather, or something, prevented me from attending Jane's Walks, but now that I know how interesting, fun and inspiring they are, I will definitely seek them out and participate in the future.