"Doors Open Toronto, now in its 14th year, is an annual event when approximately 150 buildings of architectural, historic, cultural and social significance to the city of Toronto open their doors to the public for this free city-wide celebration.
Doors Open Toronto was developed as a millennium project in 2000, by the City of Toronto (developed from a European model) and has since attracted over 1.7 million residents and tourists. Doors Open Toronto gives people of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to learn about Toronto's history, get involved and celebrate Toronto's built heritage.
Doors Open Toronto was the first city in North America to launch this type of program and has inspired similar programs across Canada and in the United States. Many participating buildings organize guided tours, exhibits, displays and activities to enrich the visitor experience."
I had heard of Doors Open but never had the opportunity to try it. I made sure to mark it on my calendar months in advance so that I didn't miss it this time around. The list of open buildings was so long that it took some planning and process of elimination to plan out which buildings to visit on Saturday and Sunday. The waterfront seemed to be a great place to start since they were hosting several interesting attractions.
The first stop was at George Brown University Health Sciences Campus. I spent six years attending and living at the University of New Brunswick and I can tell you that it looked NOTHING like this building. This was the most beautiful university building I've ever been in. Check out this photo:
The inside is just as amazing.
Patio
Library
The second stop was the Corus building adjacent to George Brown University. Corus Entertainment is a Canadian media and entertainment company that produces several radio and television brands such as YTV, Treehouse TV, W Network, CMT, Teletoon, and Nickelodeon. They offered a great little free tour that ended in a ride down their three storey slide. Yes, of course I did it.
Corus Entertainment
Corus Radio Stations
Three storey slide
Green Screen
The third stop was at the Redpath Sugar building, a sugar refinery and museum. They offered an informational video, free cookies, and access to a storage building.
That's a huge pile of unrefined sugar.
This tractor scoops up the sugar and moves it to holes in the floor attached to a conveyor belt.
The fourth and final stop at the waterfront was the Toronto Police Marine Unit. For some crazy unknown reason I thought that they were going to allow people access to one or more of their boats. That's why I waited for about 45min. in line for the free tour. However, the tour was nothing more than listening to the most excruciatingly boring officer babble on for over 30min. about everything he knew about each police boat. It was a colossal waste of time.
The last stop of the day was at Lower Bay Street Subway Station. Lower Bay Station is only used to train subway operators, move trains between lines, and film movies in the subway without disrupting service. Some of these movies include: Johnny Mnemonic, Bulletproof Monk, Mimic, and Total Recall.
Lower Bay Street Subway Station
Saturday's visits were good but very exhausting. The agenda for Sunday was much simpler with only three on the visit list.
I'm a big fan of Citytv. I love Breakfast Television and City News. So, I just had to begin my day with a free guided tour of the Citytv/OMNI building. It was quite neat and interesting to see where they film BT, the news, and weather. I saw some TV personalities such as Roger Petersen and Saphia Khambalia as well.
Citytv/OMNI
The set for Breakfast Television and Cityline
Patio
Newsroom
Saphia Khambalia
Roger Petersen
OMNI
Control Room
Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre
Elgin Theatre
Winter Garden Theatre
The building to end it all was the Ontario Legislative Building. They provided a free self-guided tour throughout many parts of the building. It was interesting to see where it all, and nothing, takes place.
Ontario Legislative Building
Office of the Premier
Legislative Assembly
The Premier sits at the chair with the red flag.
Overall, it was a great experience and I would totally recommend it. Next year I'd like to participate again but with a smaller and different list of sites to see. This was one of the few exceptions when free isn't worth free.
