The Riverdale Hub (1326 Gerrard St. E.) is a grassroots community-based social enterprise. Through renovation and retrofitting, this once-crumbling, century-old building became the vibrant, cutting-edge, 90 per cent energy efficient Riverdale Hub. Home to co-location office space and a number of social enterprises.Fernando Morales/The Globe and Mail
Being nosy is usually considered a bad thing. But for a couple of days each year, Torontonians are actually encouraged to acknowledge their inner snoop. The occasion is, of course, Doors Open Toronto, the 14th annual edition of which occurs Saturday and Sunday.
Last year, Doors Open saw close to 150 sites across the city – historic churches, office buildings, public spaces, grounds, studios, schools, houses, transportation hubs, factories and much else – open their doors and gates to almost 200,000 visitors. This weekend, 167 sites, including 62 that weren't on last year's itinerary, are open to the curious.
Doors Open was conceived by the city as a one-off event in 2000. But its 96 locations proved so popular that time, drawing more than 50,000 visitors, the decision was made to keep it going in each successive year. The theme for this year's Doors Open is Creators, Makers and Innovators. And as part of that, there's "a celebration of old buildings that have been repurposed, given a second life again," said Kerry MacDonald, the city's supervisor of special events programming for Economic Development and Culture.
Eleven criteria are used to determine whether a site is Doors Open-worthy, she said. Among the most important are that the building or area is not usually open to the public, that the site has significant architectural or design features, that it fits well with the theme that year or is having a significant anniversary and that it's part of "a destination cluster" of complementary structures or areas.
"People often suggest buildings they'd like to see," Ms. MacDonald says. Other times it's an owner who thinks his or her locale deserves the Doors Open treatment, and Ms. MacDonald and Heritage Toronto officials also extend invitations to participate.
"Every year, we usually have 30 to 40 per cent absolutely new buildings that have never been in the program before, and the rest are returning."
We take a closer look at five of these buildings new to the event this year – the Munk School of Global Affairs, Daniels Spectrum in Regent Park, the Toronto Carpet Factory in Liberty Village, the Riverdale Hub and Bridgepoint Hospital.
Munk School of Global Affairs
315 Bloor St. W.
Year built: 1909
Original architect: Burke & Horwood.
Original purposes: Home to the Dominion Meteorological Service (1909-1975) and University of Toronto student admissions; housing, admissions and awards (1975-2010) Repurpose architect: Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg (KPMB) Architects, 2012.
New purpose: An interdisciplinary academic research and educational centre, started in 2000, specializing in the causes and effects of globalization. Architectural highlight(s): The boardroom and the library "which we created from a warren of small spaces," said Munk director Janice Gross Stein, and "the round rooms on each floor that housed the original telescope."
Daniels Spectrum
585 Dundas St. E.
Architect: Diamond Schmitt Architects
Year built: 2012
Original purpose: A multipurpose cultural centre, the three-storey Daniels Spectrum is located on the site of subsidized housing units erected in the late 1940s as part of the Regent Park project designed by architect J.E. Hoare.
New purpose: Home to seven organizations including the ArtHeart Community Art Centre, Regent Park School of Music, COBA Collective of Black Artists and Native Earth Performing Arts.
Architectural highlight: Ada Slaight Hall, a flexible 400-seat performance and events space. "Everything Diamond Schmitt learned doing the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts building they applied in a smaller-scale for this space," said Karen Whaley, marketing/communications co-ordinator for Artscape, Spectrum's administrator.
Toronto Carpet Factory
67 Mowat Ave.
Original architect: William Steele and Sons
Year built:1899
Original purpose: Headquarters of the Toronto Carpet Manufacturing Co. Ltd., it employed more than 1,000 workers in the spinning and carding of rugs. During the First World War it also produced blankets and uniforms. It ceased operations in 1976.
Repurpose architects: Various (renovations started in 1995).
New purpose: Home to companies in the creative sector: software developers, graphic designers, film and video producers, marketing and communications agencies.
Architectural highlight: The building features big windows, high ceilings, load-bearing red brick walls, large wooden beams and internal courtyards. Owners Bob Eisenberg and Michael Cruickshank aimed to maintain "architectural integrity of the original design," notes York Heritage Properties spokesperson Jane Siklos.
Riverdale Hub
1326 Gerrard St. E.
Original architect: Unknown
Year built: Circa 1912
Repurpose architects: Natale & Scott Architects, 2009
Original purpose: Retail and housing; Innstead Co-operative (non-profit housing).
Repurpose architect: Natale and Scott Architects, 2009.
New purpose: Run by Riverdale Immigrant Women's Enterprise, the energy-efficient facility consists of or will include a community kitchen, child-care centre, a fair-trade organic café, offices, a dance/yoga studio, a bird sanctuary, a computer lab, rooms for for-profit and non-profit social programs and a rooftop greenhouse.
Architectural highlight(s): Tracking photo-voltaic solar panels on the roof and solar thermal water-heating awnings on the façade.
Bridgepoint Hospital and Administration Building
14 St. Matthews Rd.
Original architect (administration): William Thomas
Year built: 864
Original purpose: The Don Valley Jail (1864-1977)
Repurpose architect: ERA Architects, VG Architects, 2013
New purpose: Administration offices for Bridgepoint Hospital's new 462-bed continuing and rehabilitation care centre as well as adjacent campus. (The hospital proper, to the west of the administration building, is a just-opened, all-new, purpose-built facility jointly conceived and realized by Stantec Architecture, KPMB Architects, Diamond Schmitt Architects and HDR Architecture.)
Architectural highlights: In the administration building, the restored Great Rotunda with its skylight, uncovered glass floor and walkways supported by snake and dragon-shaped corbels. In the hospital, lounges with views of the Don Valley and downtown Toronto.
OTHER DOORS OPEN PICKS
Fifteen walking tours are being offered this weekend, including Creating Toronto: The Story of the City in 10 Stops. Co-organized by Heritage Toronto, the 90-minute stroll starts at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, from Jarvis and Front streets. Among the stops are Union Station, St. Lawrence Market, Massey Hall and the Royal York Hotel.
Hart House has been one of the architectural gems on the University of Toronto campus since Vincent Massey declared it open in 1919. Amazingly, it's never been part of Doors Open until this year. It's open Sunday only, noon to 4 p.m. with a half-hour guided tour at noon, 12:30 p.m., 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.
How can Toronto reflect its past and create bold new architecture? That's the question for Innovating to a Better Toronto, Saturday at 11 a.m. at St. James Cathedral Centre, 65 Church St. Panelists include Ryerson University president Sheldon Levy, architects Sheldon Levitt and Siamak Hariri and others.
The Dineen Building, constructed in 1897 at the corner of Yonge and Temperance streets downtown, is a rare surviving example of Renaissance Revival architecture in Toronto. It was restored last year by the Commercial Realty Group, and makes its Doors Open debut Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
One of the city's greatest neo-classical structures, the First Church of Christ, Scientist, at 196 St. George St., also has its Doors Open premiere this year, Saturday only, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It's believed to be one of the last designs by the prominent U.S. architect Solon Spencer Berman.
The Canadian Music Centre will open up its offices in a Victorian mansion at 20 St. Joseph St. on Saturday, and host performances by pianist Patrick O'Reilly (10:30 a.m.), guitarist/composer Christopher Dickson (11:30 a.m.) and more.