Doors Open is a two day event that this past weekend celebrated its ninth year in inviting Toronto residents into various historical and culturally significant buildings throughout the city. It is a true feast for the eyes and the mind and every year holds something new to behold. The underlying theme of this year’s programme was “Sacred Spaces,” which means in addition to numerous architectural and cultural landmarks that are showcased almost every year during this event, an emphasis was placed on places of worship and reflection. While the event was far from being a “holy rolling good time” it gave average Torontonians to expand their consciousness while taking in some of the greater buildings the city has to offer without feeling like they are intruding or interrupting any rites or ceremonies.
While my short list of places I wanted to visit was admittedly light on the more religious aspects of the Doors Open experience this year, it was still an amazing weekend that I urge anyone who is in the city or planning on visiting it the last weekend of May next year to check out because it is truly an experience without parallel. Having said that, I must admit that it can be a bit taxing and tiring at times. You need to come up with a workable schedule and routing since there is no way you could possibly see all 150 locations in a single weekend and you almost undoubtedly won’t even get to see everything you even want to see. The travel can be gruelling and if you decide to make a full day of it, you can expect to be exhausted. A lot of the more popular destinations often have massive line-ups that could take large chunks out of your day. Some places are only accessible through fairly long guided tours. Some places are only open strange hours or are only open one of the two days. Also, as much as it pains me to say it, not all of the buildings featured can be winners.
When I set out to document the experience, I wanted to create a sort of guide for future Doors Open attendees based on what I had experienced both this year and last. It quickly grew much longer than I expected it to, and even after deciding to divide it into three parts I am nowhere near done with the first and will have to finish it on the fly tonight just so I can make a sort of self imposed deadline, and also because I have other things to work on this week. Today I will focus on what I visited on Saturday and include some notes within these reviews that connect back to buildings I visited last year. Tomorrow will focus on Sunday’s stops and Friday will be other buildings I have either seen previously or missed out on visiting.
The grading system I use here is fairly unscientific. It is based around the overall experience at an individual site. This overall experience can include the building itself architecturally, the staff or volunteers, the overall crowd at a given site, the quality of the tour given (if applicable), the history behind the building, and the general level of interest raised by being there.
Royal Alexandra Theatre (260 King St. W.)- The Royal Alex was the first stop for the group I was travelling with composed of myself, my ex-girlfriend and fellow city nerd Jenna, and our friend Peggy who joined us for Saturday only. This became our first stop for two reasons. The first being that they were only opened from 9 in the morning (an hour earlier than any other Doors Open sites) until noon because of performances later in the day. The second being that the first two hundred people got a free poster. The Royal Alexandra is the oldest theatre in the city; currently in its 100th year of operation. The tour was completely self-guided with ushers stationed at every entrance, room, and balcony. While the staff seemed relatively nonplussed with the exception of the man at the door explaining that the tour was self guided (mostly because I overheard some of them bemoaning the fact that they were at the theatre until one in the morning the previous night and were going to be doing the same for the next two nights while waking up early to facilitate the tours), it was refreshing and kind of a giddy feeling to be in such a large building and have pretty much a free run of the house. Once you look at it up close, the stage is a lot smaller than you think it would be. There wasn’t much background given, but there wasn’t too much needed if you like the theatre or stunning architecture.
Grade: B The building itself is quite a sight on its own even without any input or explanation.
Toronto Zen Centre (33 High Park Gardens)- The Toronto Zen Centre is nestled quietly into an almost suburban neighbourhood; the kind of place you wouldn’t notice unless you were looking for it because it looks just as nice as any other house on the street. The Buddhist meeting place is located in a beautiful and quiet house that smells sweetly of incense and I would love to live in if I had the means to purchase such a property. The décor is minimal and restrained, but that is to be expected. The man working the door was very nice and the staff was very quiet, polite, and respectful to their guests. There was free green tea in the coolest paper cups I had ever seen and cookies (donations optional, but appreciated). There wasn’t too much in the way of additional educational value except for a display of photos in the kitchen showing the genesis of the house itself. Pretty dry, but beautiful and produces the calming effect you would expect.
Grade: B Not a revelation, but sweet and pleasant.
Colborne Lodge (11 Colborne Lodge Drive)- We made our way to the former home of Toronto’s first city engineer on foot from the Zen Centre. The walk through High Park seemed like it was going to be endless because Google Maps lied about the exact location of the lodge, but the walk itself was beautiful and it was fun to people watch; there were tourists coming to get their pictures taken with the cherry blossoms in full bloom while their children chased the geese around the massive expanses of grass and numerous joggers and dog walkers enjoying a lovely Saturday morning. As we neared the lodge itself, however, the park seemed almost in a state of disrepair; located next to an ugly, dirty and overgrown picnic area that looked like it hadn’t been tended too since halfway through last summer with a garbage can overflowing already without the weekend even being half over. We arrived at the Colborne Lodge too early to get in, but that was our own fault. They opened at noon and we had arrived at five to eleven. We walked around the exterior of the house and I must say that with the exception of a pretty sweet looking wooden snake statue that looked really out of place, the Colborne Lodge is one ugly ass building on the outside complete with rusty grates over the windows and a paint job that went to seed years ago. It looks like no one in the city of Toronto (the de facto owners of the house since it is in the park) has even bothered to try and attempt any upkeep on the exterior or even the area surrounding it. The park itself is awesome, and I would go back in a heartbeat, but I am not quite sure I want to make a special trip just to see the lodge again.
Grade: N/A, but if you do go, be sure to take the Queen Streetcar to the Queensway entrance to High Park if you take the TTC or if you drive enter directly from the Queensway, because Google is very wrong about where the lodge is and parking and/or walking from any other entrance means you have quite the hike ahead of you.
Campbell House Museum (160 Queen St. W.)- This was the place where last year Jenna and I figured out that a location’s closing time and their last admittance time is not the same thing. We had just left the adjacent Canada Life Building (a yearly staple that is fun and well worth checking out) only to find the volunteers shutting the gates just as we had arrived half an hour before the schedule we had made said they closed. We resolved to make up for it this year, but it should be noted that for the rest of the year the museum is open but charges admission. The house, built for Judge William Campbell, is the last remaining brick structure from the Town of York. The house itself is inviting enough, but it suffers from a common problem most historical houses face during Doors Open. Large crowds mean large portions of the museum need to be roped off to prevent damages and thefts; roping portions off means there is little room to manoeuvre about. On the upper floors the knowledgeable staff seemed quite busy, but they were hard to follow and pay attention to over the massive throngs that crowded the rooms and halls. The presentation in the basement kitchen, however, was easier to pay attention to, less crowded and a lot of fun even if the man who was cooking in the fireplace burnt the bread (he also had Johnnycakes and gingerbread that weren’t burnt and were delicious). In a neat little gesture they sold glasses of lemonade and used books on the front lawn.
Grade: B- In truth, it might have been a better idea to have paid the $4.50 and gone when it was a lot less crowded.
Osgoode Hall (130 Queen St. W.)- I had walked by Osgoode Hall plenty of times before I had any clue what it was. In addition to being one of the oldest buildings in Toronto (technically completed in 1832, but not entirely structurally sound until the late 1840s) it is still houses the Ontario Court of Appeals, parts of the Superior Court, and the Law Society of Upper Canada who provided the volunteers for Doors Open. The interior of the building almost takes your breath away with its majesty. From floor to ceiling it was the most awe inspiring building we saw on Saturday. The tour was self-guided and well plotted out with signs clearly posted and literature handed out at the door that effectively explained what you would be looking at in any given room. In addition, each stop on the tour had friendly volunteers who smiled, talked, and acknowledged each guest’s presence even if they didn’t have a question and no matter how busy it was. Three of the courtrooms were open and you could even stand behind the bench, put on a robe, and get a picture taken while you play judge. The library is the largest privately owned law library in Canada with over 125,000 printed volumes on display alone; a must see for any bibliophile on par with the University of Toronto Rare Book Library (also open for Doors Open and worth checking out). The tour ends in the Convocation Hall with food on sale from the restaurant, which is open to the public. I was amused that they were serving Muffaletta, a massive New Orleans style sandwich that has intrigued me ever since I saw Bobby Flay fail spectacularly at making one on “Throwdown.”
Grade: A+ Definitely one of the crown jewels of Doors Open. See also the Ontario Legislative Building at Queen’s Park which is comparable architecturally and open for Doors Open with very frequent half hour long guided tours.
Masjid Toronto (168 Dundas St. W.)- I had never visited a mosque before, and with this year’s theme of Sacred Spaces it felt like as good a time as any to take advantage of some being open to a more general public. However, when it comes to experiencing a religion for a first time (my knowledge of Islam was and still is limited to only the basics) I want the least majestic place possible. I want to experience a place of necessity and not a place of overly ornate decoration (although I did want to visit the BAPS Shri Swaninarayam Mandir Hindu temple, but it was simply too far out of the way and seeing it meant cutting at least four or five other buildings from our already packed schedule); a place where people go to pray because they have to at a given moment. I couldn’t think of a better place than Masjid Toronto: a mosque located behind the bus station in a building that used to be a bank. We were greeted warmly at the door, were offered a bag for our shoes, offered some strong and delicious Turkish coffee and some dates, and were immediately granted a guided tour. Everyone was so happy and inviting. Our guide, a young man whose name I wish I could remember now, game me the best lessons on Islam I have ever received on everything from how to pray to how to take care of holy books to the major tenets of Islam. He was also remarkably candid and charming about the shortcomings of the building and how this mosque differs from others in the area. Architecturally, it is still very clear the building was once a bank. The space on the wall that used to house the ATMs greets you blankly upon entry and the tiles are still green marble. The high security vault on the main floor has been turned into a charming looking library and reading room. Other vaults have become storage rooms and the boardroom and offices hold the same functions they did when the building was a bank, but one of the offices has been turned into a daycare centre. Our tour ended in a room with more free reading material than any other stop in our travels, numerous people on hand to answer any further questions, audio-visual presentations, and a plethora or free and tasty food. We were even given carnations on our way out, I doubt any of us felt any more welcome that entire weekend.
Grade: A+ If they open again next year, and here’s hoping they will, this will definitely be a sleeper hit of your travels.
George Brown House (186 Beverly St.)- The George Brown House is one of the three Ontario Heritage Trust buildings we visited over the weekend. We actually viewed all three that were offered (the others being the Ontario Heritage Centre and the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre), and this was easily the least of the three. Even now I remember very little of it. I am looking at the pamphlet I was given and I still don’t remember anything more than the library and the exhibit inside the adjoining vault documenting Brown’s work as a father of confederation, the founder of “The Globe”, and his work as a politician. There was nothing to set it apart from any other historical building as far as I could tell. I don’t even remember any staff other than a dour looking man at the door. Only the first two floors of four were open and I guess I saw both of them. For a house owned by such an interesting person it was pretty dull and lifeless being in his house. I am writing this early Wednesday morning and it dawned on me only hours ago that no matter how good or bad everything else was that we visited, none of us once brought up the George Brown House a second time in any way. It was also one of the locations I looked forward to the most, I can’t even really mark this one fairly because it was honestly that unmemorable, but from what I can recall I give it...
Grade: C- The vault presentation was memorable enough for a conditional pass. It also wasn’t overly crowded when I was there, but still kind of hard to move around the roped in areas.
U of T Multi-Faith Centre, Koffler Institute (569 Spadina Ave.)- There was a much longer list of buildings at the University of Toronto to choose from to see during Doors Open, but some are open year round and others had such rigid tour requirements that just reading the blurbs about them online and in print didn’t seem every inviting and in some cases even off-putting. Others just had strange hours of operation. In keeping with this year’s theme, this easily accessible building seemed a good choice. Located in what used to be a pharmaceutical building, the relatively new Multi-Faith Centre is able to accommodate over 60 different faiths for different needs and events. Upon entry, the building appears to be another interchangeable campus complex, but once on the second floor the building is actually quite clever; devoid of carpeting, but offering pillows and mats to those who need them, and walls and floors made from recycled and locally sourced materials. The meditation room (the only one in the building that can not be booked for events) and its living plant wall is a beautiful and calming sight. The main meeting area for events has a wall with hideaway closets made entirely of floor to ceiling Iranian onyx that gives the room a natural white glow. Tours can be self guided, but opting for a guided one is the way to go as the staff was friendly and the tour won’t take much out of your day if you are on a tight schedule.
Grade: A- It is really amazing how well put together and well thought out the Multi-Faith Centre is.
Coach House Press (rear of 401 Huron St.)- We almost couldn’t find this literary press because none of us realised it was literally a garage (or a coach house as it were) located in the rear of 401 Huron Street. Such literary greats as Guy Maddin, Margaret Atwood, William Burroughs, and Michael Ondaatje have hung out at this charmingly old school publishing house. While some aspects of their operation have advanced into the digital age, the real appeal of the Coach House Press is the pair of Heidelberg presses that lie at the heart of their publishing operations. The books produced here are clearly hand crafted labours of love and the staff seems to enjoy their work immensely and make no bones about showing off the open beer cans they were clearly consuming while on the job at some point. In short, it’s my kind of place. It is definitely not a place for the claustrophobic, however. If the building is packed you might want to leave and come back again later since space is already cramped in there without a single tourist in sight. But come back, you definitely should.
Grade: A- Another bibliophile’s dream, and be sure to pick up one of the pamphlets to clue you in to some of the things you might have missed on the tour. Also, bow your head in remembrance at the squirrel graveyard located in the front of the building.
City Archives (255 Spadina Rd.)- Last year when we tried to visit the City of Toronto Archives, it flat out wasn’t open. Everything we had read told us it would be open on Sunday, but it wasn’t. This year the situation was clearly spelled out and it stated that the archives would only be open on Saturday. Admittedly, we kind of rushed through things here, but there really is a lot to offer. A display was set up with some of the favourite documents of the archivists, including their oldest document (the first ever topographical map of Toronto), some amusing public transit advertisements from the 50s and 60s, and countless photos. A theatre within the building was playing numerous National Film Board shorts, but when we saw we missed “The Cat Came Back” and “The Log Driver’s Waltz” we decided to pass. Once you see the Archives themselves you can look from two different perspectives that make the enormity of it all seem different. From the second floor, the floor to ceiling display of banker boxes looks grand and massive. From the first floor, looking upward, it seems damn near overwhelming. No, you can not run around in the actual archives. Darn. The staff was also friendly and attentive to the guests.
Grade: B-, It was pleasing and about what I had expected but nothing more. It probably would have been better had one of us not been dead tired and ready to start burning every staircase she saw and if we hadn’t hurried to make it to other attractions that would have been closing within the next few hours.
Friends House (Quaker Meeting House) (60 Lowther Ave.)- Between this and the Masjid Toronto, I don’t think I have had a richer educational experience sneak up on me in quite a long time. Both the building and the people at Friends House tell one heck of a story. The house itself was originally one of two estates owned by businessman Miller Lash in the early 1900s (the other, the Miller Lash House, is located at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus and really should be included in Doors Open in the near future) before finally being sold to various persons after his death and finally ending in the hands of the Quakers in 1949. The house hasn’t changed all that much and all but one of the walls are original. The staff was friendly and attentive; almost all of the people stationed throughout the house asked us where else we had visited during the day. One even took us to a part unopened to the public to illustrate why the one unoriginal wall was both a blessing and a curse. Friends House also houses the largest library of Quaker literature in Canada and is open to the public year round. I also never really noticed how socially conscious the people of Friends House were. All around a great time.
Grade: A, It is really a shame that Doors Open caps their list of venues at 150. This is definitely one place worth checking out on your own time if it isn’t included officially next year.
Heliconian Hall (35 Hazelton Ave.)- After having visited the Arts and Letters Club last year during Doors Open, I was excited to see its all female counterpart, Heliconian Hall, opened to the public this year. It was one of my top choices for this year; probably in the top three. I was even more excited by the fact that a couple of the people at the Friends House had said it was an interesting place. When we arrived, after walking through an almost obnoxiously rich neighbourhood, my hopes of another interesting arts haven were pretty much shattered within five seconds. I didn’t let on to anyone how I felt about it, but I was immensely disappointed and if it weren’t for our last stop on our Saturday trip it would have stood as the least exciting thing I had seen all day. It might have been because we got there late in the afternoon and their big performance was at about one or so, but there were too admittedly pleasant women manning a desk near the entrance... and a blank fucking hall. The building itself if a fairly nice structure inside and out; it is Gothic but not oppressively so with a stained glass window at the front holding it together nicely. The art work on the walls that could be purchased was consistently good, but no matter how good it was it was still just a blank empty grey space. Maybe I just didn’t get it or maybe they were trying to pack it in early since the staff seemed more concerned with putting away stands and chairs than tending to any guests. Nothing was clearly marked and I wandered into an area that was apparently off limits but the doors to it were wide open. The woman who told us the area was not open to the public was the only interaction with any staff there at all. Everything you could hope to gain from the building was available in pamphlet form at the front table and suggested activities far more exciting that what was on display. It was also a shame that the back room I was shooed out of wasn’t open because from what I saw it teased at something with infinitely more promise than the blank freaking hall. Maybe I was bitter after one of my other first choices, the George Brown House, wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be, but I had honestly been in empty VFW halls with more personality than this.
Grade: D, and I still feel that is being kind of generous since the more I think about how crappy the presentation was that more upset I become since it had the potential to be really great and it probably is really great... if you are a member. The only good things here were the artwork that I would never in a million years be able to afford, the women at the table seemed genuinely happy, and I saw a Ferrari parked on the side of the road a block away with a parking ticket.
Lower Bay Subway Station (Below Bay Station on the Bloor-Danforth subway line)- Admittedly, Jenna and I had been down here before last year, but since it was open and Peggy had not yet seen it, we decided to take another trip to what has become a ghost station unused by the Toronto Transit Commission except during times of renovation, but is often used by film crews to duplicate the New York subway when filming in and around Toronto. The visit this year was a lot shorter than last year where the line snaked throughout numerous buildings even though they were letting 200 people down at a time. This year, there was no wait late in the afternoon. I almost didn't even realise we were going down there until we were there. Lower Bay is what it is, a subway station, but for transit nerds and film geeks it is so much more than that. TTC conductors were actually on hand this year to answer people's questions unlike last year. Once again they had a plasma screen television at the far end of the platform showing clips of movies filmed there. The only distressing part of Lower Bay is that it must be cursed since every movie that has been filmed down there has been mediocre at best (the best thing that has been filmed down there was the Bruce Willis-Mos Def action thriller "16 Blocks." Other notables include "Loser", "Don't Say a Word", and *shudders* "Mimic").
Grade: B+, I am a film nerd at heart and this year was actually a large improvement over the clusterfuck that happened last year. It would seem that the TTC has learned from its mistakes.
LCBO North Toronto Station (10 Scrivener Square)- Our final stop for the day was a former train station that had been converted by the government of Ontario into a liquor store. On paper the idea seems interesting and it is a nice building. It is the nicest liquor store I have ever seen, but that is all it is now. It is a freaking liquor store. Maybe the guided tours that we heard were going to happen at some unspecified tome would have filled us in on some of the history. Guided tours my ass. When we got there they didn’t even have any signage up to explain anything other than the fact that they classified every different room of booze a different track. Neat idea, but this doesn’t belong on the Doors Open listing if you aren’t going to do anything serious about it. The staff didn’t give a shit because it was hopping with people just wanting to get their beer and wine and get the hell out of there, although there were a few tourists who seemed just as lost and confused as we did. There was a wine tasting where I stole a piece of sausage. I contemplated trying some Japanese whiskey but I didn’t have my I.D. and I can’t drink anyway. Listing the LCBO as a landmark for Doors Open is pointless. It used to be something great, but without even so much as a pamphlet to tell you its historical significance, it is just a really snazzy liquor store. It’s like dressing up a turd in sterling silver and calling it the world’s classiest cigar.
Grade: F, You can go there any day of the week and if you really want to go out of your way before getting loaded, I can’t think of a better place to stop before oblivion.
Tomorrow: The CAMH Walls, Design Exchange, Toronto-Dominion Centre, Ontario Heritage Centre, Metropolitan United Church, Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres, St. Michael’s Cathedral, and Mackenzie House.
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