After three arduous years of construction, and much anticipation, the Hart House elevator will finally be ready for use this week.
The $2 million project was paid for by donations to Hart House. Major contributors to the project were the Students’ Administrative Council Wheelchair Accessibility Committee (SAC WAC) and the Canadian Heritage Foundation. A levy of $3.00 per student also paid a large portion of the bill.
“The Board of Stewards wanted Hart House to be accessible to all students, regardless of what mobility or disability issues they might face,” said Dray Perenic, a Hart House spokeswoman. The Board of Stewards is the highest decision-making body at Hart House.
This is an important step for the University of Toronto, Perenic said, because the university has many old buildings and ensuring adequate accessibility is often a problem.
As one of the oldest buildings in Toronto, Hart House has been a designated Canadian Heritage site since 1923, which is one reason the addition of an elevator was so long in coming. In order to preserve the prestige and ambiance of the building, Perenic said, the elevator has been “designed to flow with the original architecture” of Hart House. The theatre level entrance features gold-plated engraved doors, and fits in with the building’s gothic and art-deco decor.
The elevator, which can hold 8-10 passengers, runs from the lower theatre level up to the top floor. It will also connect Hart House Theatre with the rest of the building for the first time (it has only ever been accessible by a flight of steps and a set of outer doors to the East of Hart House’s main entrance).
The new addition will “help facilitate movement throughout the building,” said Perenic, finally making the theatre and common rooms fully accessible to people using wheelchairs.
Although the elevator was finished three months late, it is now ready for its first run. The grand opening and ribbon cutting will be held at Hart House, theatre level, on Thursday, September 23 at 11 a.m. Anyone interested is welcome to attend the event, and visitors will be able to ride in the new elevator.
