W. K. Lis
Superstar
Taddle Creek misses Queen's Park, but is just west of the roadway. Unfortunately, the creek is currently used as a sewer.
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Queen's Park: How to get there from Queen's Park Subway Station?
- Thread starter W. K. Lis
- Start date
Taddle Creek misses Queen's Park, but is just west of the roadway. Unfortunately, the creek is currently used as a sewer.
Johnny Au
Senior Member
It looks similar to the Spadina station walkway, except narrower, dimly lit, and not as busy.
Edward
Senior Member
Interesting. I had no idea that existed.
Soop
Active Member
Interesting. I worked in the Mowat block (I think) in the early 90's and walked the tunnel from the subway to work everyday. No restrictions to access. So it's still open, but restricted access?
Uncle Teddy
Senior Member
That's a new one for me.
blearghhh
New Member
I worked at MacDonald Block (which is the 900 Bay St. concrete square that this tunnel connects to) about 5 years ago and now do still go up there occasionally.
The tunnel connecting the basement of MacDonald Block to the subway is the only one I know of or had access to at the time. There is, from the second floor of MacDonald Block, an elevated covered walkway to Whitney Block, which is the older building on the east side of QPC. Originally built as civil service offices, notable for the cannons out front pointing towards the Leg.
Wikipedia says there's a tunnel between Whitney and the Legislative building itself. I can't comment on a tunnel that I've never seen or does not exist.
In terms of access, as far as I know, unless it's under lock-down because of protest or a budget or something like that, the public is allowed to access MacDonald block even though there isn't any real reason for people to go there any more. I do remember kids from the school across the street going to the cafeteria there as well. From there, you could go downstairs to the tunnel and get to QP station and say hi to the person at the desk at the other end. I would bet cash money that if you said to the person at the subway side that you had a meeting or other reasonable reason to go through the tunnel, they'd let you. Or even just didn't look like you didn't belong.
Whitney, like the Leg, is entirely controlled access. When we went through the walkway to go to the Whitney Tim Hortons, the poor special Constable had to check and log each person's ID as we went through. I'm sure they loved that.
The tunnel connecting the basement of MacDonald Block to the subway is the only one I know of or had access to at the time. There is, from the second floor of MacDonald Block, an elevated covered walkway to Whitney Block, which is the older building on the east side of QPC. Originally built as civil service offices, notable for the cannons out front pointing towards the Leg.
Wikipedia says there's a tunnel between Whitney and the Legislative building itself. I can't comment on a tunnel that I've never seen or does not exist.
In terms of access, as far as I know, unless it's under lock-down because of protest or a budget or something like that, the public is allowed to access MacDonald block even though there isn't any real reason for people to go there any more. I do remember kids from the school across the street going to the cafeteria there as well. From there, you could go downstairs to the tunnel and get to QP station and say hi to the person at the desk at the other end. I would bet cash money that if you said to the person at the subway side that you had a meeting or other reasonable reason to go through the tunnel, they'd let you. Or even just didn't look like you didn't belong.
Whitney, like the Leg, is entirely controlled access. When we went through the walkway to go to the Whitney Tim Hortons, the poor special Constable had to check and log each person's ID as we went through. I'm sure they loved that.
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W. K. Lis
Superstar
To access the park itself at Queens Park, one has to walk up to to the Wellesley Street traffic lights from the Queen's Park station. Not very accessible, unless you walk on the medium, if not covered by ice or snow windrows.
adma
Superstar
It exists. I remember it from the pre-Harris days when it was actually open to the public. (Though I'm not sure whether it's original to the Whitney construction--perhaps; makes sense. )
I don't really think they harass or intimidate *anyone* unless they look obviously suspicious--the bigger "intimidation" for some might be figuring out how to get to ground level at the MacDonald end. (Otherwise, the remaining "civilian traffic" best served by the passage might be subway couriers and their like delivering to MacDonald's central mailroom. Plus, at times of the year like this, people wanting to escape the bitter cold.)
ahm
New Member
i worked in frost north for a couple of months in 2012. the tunnel that leads from the subway to the queen's park complex, as the mowat, mcdonald, whitney blocks are known together, is monitored by an OPP officer. there are card readers at the various frost entrances, save for the entrances that go up to the main floor entrances at frost south. as that is guarded by OPP officers, it is not card access controlled during business hours. once the tunnel gets to frost north there is a card reader that will permit you into the building. i think the tunnel continues up to whitney, and from there you can branch off to the pink palace itself, if you have the appropriate access card. it's probably cctv monitored like frost north and south are by the OPP.
Johnny Au
Senior Member
I wish there were tunnels linking Queen's Park station with the nearby Surrey Place Centre.
adma
Superstar
Well, who knows if there may be an argument for a Women's College connection (unless the tunnel's provincial-propertiness conspires against that--though who knows; maybe some clever sleight-of-hand connection to MaRS is worth considering, thus extending the "hospital mini-PATH")
Something that dawned on me: you can blame the Frost Building addition, above all, for the tunnel connection--it's more or less contemporary with the University line, and the tunnel's floor'n'wall-tile aesthetic shares something of Frost's early 60s "neo-formalist" sensibility. (IOW MacDonald was a later "add-on"--and you can tell we've entered the late 60s because the Frost-era tile gives way to service-basement concrete utilitarianism.)
Something that dawned on me: you can blame the Frost Building addition, above all, for the tunnel connection--it's more or less contemporary with the University line, and the tunnel's floor'n'wall-tile aesthetic shares something of Frost's early 60s "neo-formalist" sensibility. (IOW MacDonald was a later "add-on"--and you can tell we've entered the late 60s because the Frost-era tile gives way to service-basement concrete utilitarianism.)
ahm
New Member
a PATH-North would be a great addition; MaRS to MacDonald Block to College Park. while we're at it might as well create shopping plazas under the hospitals.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Unless one takes to the sewers. Too bad Taddle Creek is too far west of the Queens Park Station.
dbailey62
Active Member
I'm not sure about that either. The tunnel is there of course and used quite heavily especially in the winter. In the summer it's very tempting to walk outside but you do have to dash across QP Crescent to get from one building to the other.
Back in or around 2001/2002 IIRC, the tunnel had to be virtually rebuilt when it was discovered that it was decrepit. For a short period of time, those of us using the tunnel were given hardhats to wear as we walked under the scaffolding put into place during the renovation. That didn't last long as it was realized that if it was dangerous enough for us to wear hard hats, it was probably dangerous enough to close ... as they quite sensibly did.
I'm not a big fan of the tunnel. It's quite ordinary and has a claustrophobic blue vinyl flooring. There are some very nice photographs mounted on both walls of the tunnel and at the eastern end are reproductions of the Freeman Niagara Panorama photographs that were rediscovered in 2003 as many of us will recall.
http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/freeland/index.aspx
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