It’s one of our city’s best annual events: Doors Open Toronto, wherein we all get to explore the nooks, crannies, and usually hidden corners of buildings we generally can’t access. There are more than 135 buildings opening their doors this year, and among them are several dozen new ones that haven’t been on the list [...]

Seventy years ago, a provincial reform school for boys on the outskirts of Bowmanville was transformed into a POW camp for captured German officers during World War II. Today, the surviving structures of Camp 30 are fighting another war, against vandals and time. Victory appears to be a possibility. Recently, Torontoist joined a tour of [...]

Toronto: City as Urban Playground (as part of Jane’s Walk) Meet at the central fountain in Berczy Park (by the Flatiron Building) Saturday, May 5, 10 a.m. FREE Picasso once said that every child is an artist. It’s a famous quote, with a famous conundrum: “The problem is how to remain an artist once he [...]

The CONTACT Photography Festival runs from May 1 to May 31. We’ll be profiling selected artists and shows throughout the month. Full Frontal T.O. Urban Space Gallery (401 Richmond St. W., Suite 117) Book launch: May 9, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Photo exhibition: May 1–May 31; Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m.–7 p.m. Free Over [...]

Did you remember to celebrate Life Insurance Day earlier this year? Were the benefits you derived from the prudent savings of others at the top of your mind the last time you checked your safety deposit box or investment status update? Have you thanked your lucky stars and your broker that somebody else’s thriftiness has [...]

A fire that police believe was set deliberately inside the wooden castles of a beloved High Park playground has elicited anger and shock from the surrounding community. But the desire to rebuild is just as strong, according to Councillor Sarah Doucette (Ward 13, Parkdale-High Park). “If we were to set them a date, I’d have [...]

The row of boarded-up Victorian houses fronting High Park has long been an eyesore. Now though, a developer that’s looking to bring a 14-storey high-rise to the site is doing so in the face of fierce community opposition. Concerned about the design of the proposed condo at 1844 Bloor Street West, residents formed a committee [...]

If we’ve learned anything from our city’s ongoing transit debacle, it’s that Mayor Rob Ford doesn’t like to be disagreed with. It’s therefore unsurprising—though no less frightening—that, in addition to a recent push by five city councillors to fire the TTC’s Chief General Manager Gary Webster, rumours are now afoot that other senior transit managers [...]

The oblong home at 157 Coxwell Avenue seems to bring up more questions than answers, like “Is it a spaceship, or a Rubik’s cube?” or “Why is it on stilts?” But now there is one more thrown into the mix—”Who is going to buy it?” In December, Torontoist introduced you to the tenants of 157 [...]

Unseen City goes where the public can’t. When modifications to Roy Thomson Hall’s interior were announced in 2000, Arthur Erickson, the building’s original architect, was incensed with an intensity particular to misunderstood artists—and screaming infants. “I am deeply grieved that this could happen while I am still in practice and known to have the flexibility [...]

Last week the National Film Board held a screening of One Millionth Tower, an interactive documentary imagining the future for a highrise in northern Etobicoke. The six-minute film asks viewers to reject the idea of the highrise as failed experiment and instead contemplate the potential locked within vertical living. To help provoke conversation, a panel [...]

The announcement that two giant billboards may soon grace the north- and south-facing sides of the Toronto Dominion Centre’s Ernst and Young tower, officially known as Tower Five, has prompted a call to arms among local architecture aficionados. Cadillac Fairview, the owners of the Toronto Dominion Centre complex, put in an application to the City [...]