Toronto Bathurst Quay Revitalization | ?m | 2s | City of Toronto | Kearns Mancini

Next year is the 175th anniversary of the incorporation of Toronto as a city; it would be nice to, at the very least, have a firm, financed, plan in place for the museum by then.
 
A better location

I read with trepidation about the plan for building a Toronto history museum at the silos at the foot of Bathurst Street. Before going too far down this path, please have a look at two postings I've made on my blog:

- Future tourists will be attracted by Toronto's history
- An idea for "Upper Canada Historical Provincial Park"

I think it would be far better to put a Toronto History Museum at Front and Parliament, site of Upper Canada's first parliament. Reasons include:

- This is where Toronto really began; reinforces existing "Old Town Toronto" district
- Opportunities for neighbourhood development and preservation, not just a single building
- Provides Regent Park/St. Lawrence Neighbourhood youth with summer employment opportunities
- Leverages George Brown hospitality and culinary schools to provide hands-on student experience
- Archeological remains exist at parliament site
- Links well to Distillery, Soulpepper, Canadian Stage, St. Lawrence Centre and Sony Centre
- Construction would be much cheaper than at silos; more money would go to museum itself
 
There seem to be no end of potential sites for the museum. Old City Hall is an obvious choice, for instance, with it's "real" history and already-built stained glass window reflecting the life of the city. It's also ideally located to snap up some of the Eaton Centre trade. The Sony Centre is a lackluster location, but has the benefit of re-purposing the remains of a noble building. And the silos, though out of the way, do give a major cultural attraction to the waterfront and also re-purpose a grand old structure.

michaelpfox's suggestion has many benefits that he has outlined, the most significant of which is that the site. My hesitation is that the location itself is nothing spectacular, and the remains that are on site speak to the Canadian experience rather than to Toronto's specifically - in fact, it could be argued that since Toronto acted as Canada's capital for such a short period of time, that it's more of an anomaly. I strongly encourage the unearthing of that history and a cultural purpose, but it's not my main preference for a Toronto museum, which would have to be in Old City Hall.

But I also don't mind the silos. Depends on what they do with them.
 
mjl08 said:
Can someone explain the floating swimming pool?
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197968706_d44167794e.jpg
 
I think it's really important to remember that none of this is set in stone. A lot of it is just ideas and as we all know, things can change drastically with time. The important thing here is that at least something will be there.


I could argue though that this location is perfect for a City of Toronto Museum since it sits where many immigrants would have stepped off the boat into the city. Hence why we Ireland Park right there. Mind you, it's landfill and isn't the true unloading point of people from afar, but it's as close as we can get without being stupid about it. However, I don't think the location of the museum is important so long as its downtown. As long as people can and want to get to it, everything should fall into place quite well.
 
michaelpfox said:
I read with trepidation about the plan for building a Toronto history museum at the silos at the foot of Bathurst Street. Before going too far down this path, please have a look at two postings I've made on my blog:

- Future tourists will be attracted by Toronto's history
- An idea for "Upper Canada Historical Provincial Park"

I think it would be far better to put a Toronto History Museum at Front and Parliament, site of Upper Canada's first parliament. Reasons include:

- This is where Toronto really began; reinforces existing "Old Town Toronto" district
- Opportunities for neighbourhood development and preservation, not just a single building
- Provides Regent Park/St. Lawrence Neighbourhood youth with summer employment opportunities
- Leverages George Brown hospitality and culinary schools to provide hands-on student experience
- Archeological remains exist at parliament site
- Links well to Distillery, Soulpepper, Canadian Stage, St. Lawrence Centre and Sony Centre
- Construction would be much cheaper than at silos; more money would go to museum itself
Click to expand...

Considering the Blackburn Land/Inglenook School site is adjacent, that speaks well as one of the first "Toronto Experiences".

I like the idea of the site, but Old City Hall (with the refurbished courtyard) and the Silos (between Ireland Park and Fort York) are still the two contenders for now IMO.

I'd like to see something new for Old City Hall. For example I like the idea of moving the City Hall library over and taking over part of the building and having longer hours and a larger collection. (It's a shame that this is the only library branch serving the southern downtown area). And the rest be a cultural centre that would tie into the library.
 
The waterfront/silo location affords the most 'spectacular' setting, and therefore about the best chance of drawing significant numbers of people. The buildings are easily identifiable and dare I say 'iconic', and the waterfront setting is appropriate as it truly is the birthplace of the city even before the arrival of Europeans. An observation point at the top of one of the silos would allow the vistor to have a 360 degree view of Toronto's history, from the waterfront and islands to the south, to the historic areas of the Distillery District/St. Lawrence neighbourhood in the east, to the railway lands/CN Tower/CNE grounds to the West, to the towers of the financial district to the north...all of which are important and historic to the evolution of the city.
 
What concerns me about the site is something that the report remarked on - that it will not have street frontage. That said, I think the site also has a lot of potential - if there is a concerted effort to 1. mark it as the western "anchor" of the Central Waterfront/West 8 Scheme and 2. tie the project in with Fort York as a new "historical" precinct.

AoD
 
I love this city's history as much as the next person, but I don't think that a museum dedicated to Toronto would be a big draw. Beyond a few niche visitors and obligatory school field trips there would be little to bring in the hordes that usually go to art galleries and science centres. I think that dedicating a few rooms of Old City Hall would probably be adequate.

While we're on the topic of museums, I lament the fact that Toronto has too many "one hour museums" - small, special interest institutions that you can take in in less than an hour that don't usually warrant a second visit. I applaud the amount of work we've done to spiffying up the ROM and AGO in recent years but I think that our city could probably support a large museum dedicated to modern art.
 
Put the modern art into the Hearn generating station. That place's interior spaces could end up forming the most spectacular gallery in the world (better than Tate Modern) if the industrial aesthetic is maintained.

Turn the silos in a giant aquarium - what's going on with the Aquarium plans these days?

Put the Toronto Museum into Old City Hall - this building definitely deserves to be seen by more people.

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