If hardcore urban infiltration is your thing, we suggest you pick up Access All Areas: a user’s guide to the art of urban exploration by the late Jeff Chapman. This book will tell you how to dodge subway trains while running through TTC tunnels, navigate Toronto’s hidden storm drains, successfully evade hotel security, and even fashion your own “credibility props.”
For those who enjoy a safer, softer approach to urban infiltration, there’s Doors Open Toronto, a two day festival which runs Saturday May 26 and Sunday May 27. The concept is simple enough: allow anybody and everybody the chance to access spaces which would normally be off-limits. Started back in 1999, the 2006 Doors Open Toronto featured a whopping 143 buildings for participants to explore-and the best part is, the whole deal is free. Everything from boardrooms to bedrooms, churches to breweries, opulent arenas of high society to eco-friendly buildings with green rooftops, Doors Open is a great chance to get out and explore Toronto.
This year, the festival features 150 spaces scattered all over the city. For the historically inclined, there’s Scadding Cabin at 25 British Columbia Rd., built in 1794 by the Queen’s Rangers, which holds the record for being Toronto’s oldest house. There’s also Queen’s Wharf Lighthouse, designed by Kivas Tully in 1861 and, standing 11 metres tall, used to guide ships to the safety of Toronto Harbour. Also open will be Mackenzie House Museum (the onetime residence of Toronto’s first mayor, William Lyon Mackenzie King), Fort York, Old City Hall, and the Distillery Historic District, which features the former home of Toronto’s malt kilns and sports some cool tunnels to boot.
Culture vultures will be excited to explore arty spaces like The Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People (formerly Young People’s Theatre), originally designed by architect H.G. Salisbury and built in 1887. The doors to Canada’s National Ballet School, known as “the jewel on Jarvis” and billed as “a dynamic blend of restored heritage buildings and transparent contemporary pavilions,” will be open, as will the CBC building, the Carlu, and that floating box otherwise known as OCAD Sharp Centre for Design.
There are also a number of U of T buildings participating: The MaRS Centre, The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, The Soldier’s Tower, University College and Davenport Garden, just to name a few. But seriously, you should have already been to these places!
For more information on Doors Open Toronto, visit their website at www.toronto.ca/doorsopen
