Toronto Grange Park | ?m | ?s

[whatever]

I went for a walkthrough as well, and I like that it's not a heavily programmed space. If anything, I'd like for some more sculpture to go along with Two Forms. There are plenty of Canadian sculptors that could be celebrated here. I'd love to see something from Sorel Etrog or Bill Reid. Or bring in Cardiff/Miller to do something. With OCAD and the AGO framing it it seems like it has great potential in that regard

 

[Avenue]

I went for a walkthrough as well, and I like that it's not a heavily programmed space.

Anything that is not 'heavily programmed' is under danger of decay. Those can work in suburbs but in downtown core, you need to make the people assume ownership of the place. That's why community kitchen/market is a decent idea, as is a cafe/bar. I'd like allotment gardens in this park. Give the people a reason to come to the park once it stops being brand new and shiny - otherwise you'll need to 'revitalize it every 5-10 years.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I believe in this case there is an endowment fund set up.

AoD

 

[Longview]

As a former resident of the neighbourhood, I'm happy to see it's now possible to enter the park from the east side, under the OCAD tabletop. For one thing, this eliminates the amazingly ugly little parking lot with its chain-link fences



Kids love the place, for good reason:


We may not get inside the mind of Henry Moore, but we can delve into his work. View south, from inside One of the Two Large Forms:


View north, from The Other Large Form:


To my mind, a very harmonious joining of the past and present. A new curving pathway on the north side provides some new perspectives"

 

[jje1000]

It would be great to have a community kitchen and market in Grange Park as well.

Couldn't agree more. The makeover looks great, but I feel that more features should have been included to really make it great.

I think there's some opportunity in enhancing the surrounding buildings that directly border Grange Park, rather than filling in more of the park with program.

A new cafe & patio extension (Gehry-designed?) beside the new Grange Park AGO entryway would do wonders in animating that stretch of Beverley south of Dundas, which is rather quiet at the moment.

On top of that, a community kitchen/ restaurant that opens up onto Grange Park could be a good idea as part of the future OCAD redesign.

Hey- after all, cooking is an artform.

 

[Longview]

Agree with the above. There is now a terrace area adjacent to the Grange's portico that could be used for a nice little terrace café, and maybe the tearoom facility inside could be upgraded to operate it.

 

[interchange42]

They should also revoke the "members only" status of The Grange to make the building and its restaurant open to all. Put the members long upstairs there, maybe.

BTW @Longview, there's a thread about how to upload photos, etc. to UrbanToronto.

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[Longview]

@Longview, there's a thread about how to upload photos, etc. to UrbanToronto.42

Yes, @interchange42, I've read the thread and have sucessfully uploaded quite a few pictures. Recently I've been posting a lot of shots taken in the vertical formal and I haven't liked the results because the full-size pix needed to be scrolled to take them all in. So I resorted to thumbnails. Any further advice on this would be welcome.

 

[interchange42]

If you know how to create reduced resolution versions of your photos, that could work. I typically upload at 1280 pixels wide (and I don't personally mind if verticals take scrolling to see all of it, but if you do you can crank your shots down to 960 or 640 pixels wide, just to suggest two resolutions out of many possible ones).

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[Longview]

@interchange42, I have tried reducing resolutions without great success but I'm sure your specific suggestions will help me sort this out. Thank you.

 

[ponyboy]

Enjoyed the park this past weekend with the kids. Overall, they did many things right here. The playground is terrific by Toronto standards, and as good as the best we've seen in Europe. I'll post some other photos in a few minutes, but wanted to first note that the garbage bins should have been twice as deep. I don't know why we can't get garbage bins correct, because it should have been obvious that this would be a well used place needing larger receptacles. The park is great, but fail on that one component. One other note -- The splash pad was not working or turned off on Saturday afternoon, so that was a bummer.

 

[ponyboy]

more photos from Saturday.

 

[ADRM]

 

[ponyboy]

The person/s who designed and approved those should be fired
We already know that garbage collection from these small bins is a problem and is in need of reform. Maybe a park foundation and some third-party collection is needed if the city is unable (unwilling) to step up.

 

[ponyboy]

Pleased to see that they added garbage bins next to the fancy but insufficient receptacles. And they are simply wire mesh kind that work well. The park is very well used. Also of note about the benches, the metal arm in the middle makes it hard for three people to share a bench (is this an anti-sleeping thing?) Not all the benches are like this. They are nice benches except for that, and the plantings around them are beautiful. Also saw the Pokemon players come out of nowhere. Still no sign of the splash pad working, and the new fountain sculpture is also dry. The Henry Moore sculpture is way better here than its former location, so kudos on that decision.

Some photos from the weekend --