The weekend of May 25 and 26, 2013 marked another year of Doors Open Toronto. It’s an annual event where a number of buildings around the city open their doors to the public to look around. Typically it’s either buildings that are not accessible to the public or it features a portion that isn’t typically open either.
I normally try to volunteer at least two different buildings and allow myself half a day to look at a few more buildings. This year I volunteered at the Toronto Harbour Commission and the suites and residences of 1 King Street West.
The Toronto Harbour Commission (now the Toronto Port Authority) is a building that I allows walk by and have wondered what the inside looks like as well as wanting to know the history behind the building.
I spent Saturday afternoon volunteering as a Greeter in the building along with several other volunteers. The deputy harbour master and the archivist were on hand to provide great information on the history of the area and the building. I learned a lot about the area and how involved the Toronto Harbour Commission (THC) were in shaping Toronto’s waterfront.
One of the things I learned was that the THC infilled 2000 arces of land along the waterfront, spanning from at least the Exhibition grounds to the portlands. They built various points of interest in the city from Sunnyside Park and Ontario Place to Billy Bishop Island Airport and Pearson International Airport.
The building itself was built in 1918 and served as one of the first things one saw of the British Empire when arriving by ship into Toronto. It was surrounded by water on three sides when it was first completed. The landscape has now changed, where once you could see the Royal York Hotel on Front Street and the Bank of Commerce building on King Street West.
