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With warmer weather comes open doors. Toronto's Doors Open event, which offers Torontonians opportunities to get a look through over 150 buildings and places vital to the city and its culture both in the present and past, operates in this spirit. This year, the 15th anniversary of the event offers its participants more than 40 new doors to open. These range from community arts hubs to private residences to smaller museums. Below are some of the more intriguing ones that will be open to visitors on the May 24th-25th weekend. Be sure to click on the links to find out visiting hours and tour details and don't forget to bring a camera since some of these places aren't easily accessible to the public at any other time of year!
This community hub is located on Shaw St. in the heart of West Queen West neighbourhood. The hub has a dual function as an idea laboratory and as a creativity workshop. The space opened in 2013 after $17 million renovation completed through community consultation. In its former life, the building operated as a public school until 2000 and sat empty and unused for six years until it was re-purposed under the advisory of the TDSB. Doors Open visitors are invited to explore all parts of the building including the studios of resident artists, the building's Koffler Gallery, Coffee Pub and Urban Living Lounge.
Just a bit west of Artscape Youngplace, also in the West Queen West neighborhood, is the Theatre Centre. This Georgian/Neo-Classical structure was erected in 1908 as a Carnegie library building. The renovated space will feature a 200-seat theatre, studio space and rooftop terrace. Visitors to the centre will be able to see the preparation for its new performance installation "Promises To A Divided City." Patrons will get the opportunity to see the finishing touches being made in preparation for this new live performance.
Pachter Hall and Moose Factory
Pachter Hall provides Doors Open patrons with a more modern space to visit. The hall, built in 2005 in the Post Modern style not only functioned as a private gallery, but also as the home of Toronto-born artist, Charles Pachter. The Hall was built in front of Moose Factory Gallery an older building with a varied history including housing at certain points an immigrant funeral home and a Chinese food warehouse. After Charles Pachter purchased the abandoned property in the mid 90s it became home to one of the most imaginative and progressive art spaces in the city. Visitors will be able to view artist studios, archives, galleries and Pachter's residential loft.
Another new residential door will open this week, but instead of being home to one, it is home to many. This 27-unit public housing building meets the highest sustainability standards while preserving the building's historic 19th Century style. The building reaches a 40% efficiency improvement and meets the City's Green Development Standard by adding features like photo-voltaic panels on the roof, amongst others. Visitors will get to meet and talk with the architects from Van Elslander Carter Architects responsible for the renovation which resulted in it winning a 2012 Toronto Heritage Award. They will also get to learn about the complex engineering challenges encountered during the project.
This Revival Style station has stayed true to its form and function for over a century, built in 1906 the pumping station continues to play a key role in delivering safe drinking water to Torontonians in higher elevations. The building is located in an exclusive residential enclave, south of Casa Loma, at the site of the buried Castle Frank Brook - the original source of raw water from the former Yorkville Waterworks. Visitors will get to explore Toronto's oldest pumping station and the home of an original 1909 steam engine through self-guided tours.
Another government building is opening its doors. The Russell Carhouse was built in 1913 by the Toronto Railway Company as a painthouse, but was quickly turned into a carhouse after the destruction of the King Carhouse in 1916. This carhouse was rebuilt eight years later because the original facility was sinking into Ashbridge's Bay. Doors Open visitors will be able to see where a vital part of their public transit system is repaired and board the new line of streetcars along with vintage models.
Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement
Visitors looking for a more engaging Doors Open experience should visit this ballet school. Along with a tour of the Bauhaus-esque structure, visitors are treated with the chance to watch the students perform and even join in themselves. Visitors will get to visit three studios and observe ongoing classes and are invited to join one of the classes which is open to adults and children. The other two studio provide opportunity for visitors to watch students rehearse for the school's annual Let's Dance Festival. Dance enthusiasts are also given the opportunity to watch a short performance by YMI Dancing, the school's pre-professional youth company, created especially for the Doors Open event.
Perhaps one of the most interesting additions to this year's event is the ZoomerPlex. The ZoomerPlex is home to many of ZoomerMedia's subsidiaries like VisisionTV and the Classical 96.3 FM and the birthplace of Canada's Idea City conference. It is also home to the newly reopened MZTV Museum which houses the world's largest collection of rare pre-war and vintage television sets. The museum, which will be open to visitors, houses historical gems like "The Phantom Teleciever", the lucite set which first popularized television in North America. Visitors who come to the ZoomerPlex on Sunday at 11 AM will be able to watch the Academy Award winning short, " The Lady in Room 6" which chronicles the story of the world's oldest Holocaust survivor and pianist.
We will return to talk more about upcoming Doors Open options in coming days!
