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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
How you looked like a poster of a seventies movie standing outside the base of your magazine skyscraper
Ok, I’m already on the record (if you consider these slideshows as some type of record) as saying that I traveled to Toronto for no reason other than I just wanted to go there. While that is true, there is a reason that I picked that specific time to visit, and that reason is Doors Open Toronto, the Open House New York of the north.
I started my Doors Open Toronto Weekend at my highest priority site: The Toronto-Dominion Centre designed by Mies van der Rohe. I got there 10 minutes before it opened, and was surprised that there already was a pretty long line to enter. I had been to two Doors Open Toronto Weekends before, and it seemed like it grew far more popular with locals since the last time I was here.
The Toronto-Dominion line moved fairly well, and in less than an hour I was already on the 54th floor enjoying an efficiently run and overall quite interesting tours, along with great views in almost every direction. The area that was open was the Toronto-Dominion (or TD) Bank Conference Center, a series of incredibly well preserved mid century modern rooms and spaces that included the main boardroom and an impressive collection of art, although if I had to choose a seat at the boardroom that faced the impressive collection of art or faced the view, I’d pick that view every time.
From the Toronto-Dominion Bank, I boarded two trams (actually just one- there was something wrong with the trams on Spadina so I walked that part instead) up to the University of Toronto and Spadina Crescent, which is a circle and not a crescent, unless crescent means something different in Canada. Once there, I visited the first of three Doors Open Toronto sites at the University, the architecture school at the Daniels Building, a really interesting and well designed school with a lot of inspiring spaces for future Canadian architects.
At the University, I had planned to visit three sites. First was the architecture school. Second (not pictured) was the Physics Building, which had demonstrations, telescopes pointed directly at the eyes of the sun (because mama, that’s where the fun is) and a tower rooftop to explore. The third site (pictured here) is the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. I approached the building from the south on St George Street and was surprised to see a line. Not just a line but a massive line that wrapped all the way over to the Huron Street side, and a line that actually seemed to get even longer behind me. I decided to get in line and see if the line moved (it did) and waited close to two hours to get inside. People unaware of Doors Open Toronto would occasionally approach the line, asking us what we were in line for. And outside the university posted signs that the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library is free to visit EVERY Saturday, which really made me wonder why everyone needed to see it now and not any other weekend. I had a built in excuse- I was only in Canada for a few days- but what was everyone else’s deal?
Like everyone else, I waited it out and got inside, took a few pictures and headed off to my next destination, secure in the knowledge that I waited so long to see somewhere I could easily see the next time I was in Toronto, as long as it was a Saturday.
The lines at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library prepared me for my next Doors Open Toronto destination, the rooftop observation deck at Toronto City Hall. There was a line to get into the building, then an incredibly slow moving line to board the elevators, then an incredibly slow line after riding the elevators up to walk the last flight of stairs up. Luckily most of that waiting was inside the building’s lobby, a glimpse into what people in 1958 thought a futuristic future might be like.
All that waiting led to an all too short three minutes (or so) at the rooftop observation deck, although a benefit of the waiting was that the crowds were pretty light. The views weren’t as good at the ones from the Toronto-Dominion Centre, or as good as from the rooftop at the University of Toronto Physics Building rooftop, or as good as the next ones in the slideshow, but it was still great to be in that space and really great to be in Toronto for Doors Open Weekend.
There are a few Doors Open Toronto sites (and sights) not included in this slideshow that I was able to get to, most notable Saint Lawrence Hall which featured live performances of opera and ballet, but instead we’re going to do what everyone who comes to Toronto does and go up to the observation deck at the CN Tower. From here I was able to survey all of the places that I visited and all of the places I might visit the next time I’m in Toronto. It’s been too long since I went to Toronto, and it’s been too long since I really traveled anywhere. There’s a great big world out there with so much to see and so much to do. Hopefully Toronto is just the beginning this time.
