Showing 1-24 of 24 results
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401 Richmond
Inside an early 20th-century lithographer's warehouse, restored in 1994, the 200,000 sq foot 401 Richmond bursts forth with 130 diverse contemporary art and design galleries displaying the heartfelt works of painters, architects, photographers, printmakers, sculptors and publishers. The original floorboards creak between the glass elevator, ground-floor café, leafy courtyard and rooftop garden.
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Art At 80
Across the road from 401 Richmond, this small gallery complex houses six contemporary galleries - Albert White, Leo Kamen, Moore, Ryerson, Trias and Toronto Image Works - spread over four levels. Photography and painting are the focus here.
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Art Gallery Of Ontario
The AGO's art collections are excellent and extensive - unless you have a lot of stamina, you'll need more than one trip to take it all in. This dilemma may be solved by the gallery's ongoing renovations, overseen by famed architect Frank Gehry, which continue to require the temporary closure of various wings and exhibits.
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Bata Shoe Museum
It's important in life to be well shod, a stance this museum obsesses over. Designed by famed architect Raymond Moriyama to resemble a stylized shoebox, the museum displays over 10,000 'pedi-artifacts' from around the globe, collated by Sonja Bata of Canada's famous Bata shoe family. Peruse some 19th-century French chestnut-crushing clogs, Aboriginal Canadian polar boots or famous modern pairs worn by Elton John, Indira Gandhi and Pablo Picasso.
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Casa Loma
Literally the 'House on a Hill,' this mock medieval castle towers above The Annex on a cliff that was once the shoreline of the glacial Lake Iroquois, from which Lake Ontario derived. Climb the 27m Baldwin Steps up the slope from Spadina Ave, north of Davenport Rd, past flowering gardens and benches.
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City Hall
Much-maligned City Hall was Toronto's bold leap of faith into architectural modernity. Its twin clamshell towers, flying saucer-like central structure, sexy ramps and funky '60s mosaics were completed in 1965 to Finnish architect Viljo Revell's award-winning design. An irritable Frank Lloyd Wright had called it a 'headmarker for a grave,' and in a macabre twist of fate, Revell died before construction was finished.
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David Dunlap Observatory
Just north of the Toronto city limits, the David Dunlap Observatory,a major player in the cut-throat world of international stargazing, presents introductory talks on modern astronomy, followed by interplanetary voyeurism through Canada's biggest optical telescope (the reflector measures 1.9m). If the skies are clear, tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis (cash only). Kids under seven years old aren't permitted for safety reasons.
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Gardiner Museum Of Ceramic Art
Opposite the Royal Ontario Museum, this recently renovated museum was founded by philanthropists who were passionate collectors themselves. The external esthetic is late-20th century modern, but inside the collections cover several millennia.
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Goethe-Institut Gallery
This esteemed German cultural centre presents temporary exhibitions of contemporary fine arts emphasizing the avant-garde from Europe and across Canada. German language courses, German film screenings with English subtitles (around C$5 per person), concerts and dramatic readings are also on the agenda. Check the online schedule.
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Hockey Hall Of Fame
Inside an ornate, gray stone rococo Bank of Montréal building (c 1885), this shrine to the great game gives hockey fans everything they could possibly want. Check out the collection of Texas Chainsaw Massacre -esque goalkeeping masks, attempt to stop Wayne Gretzky's virtual shot or have your photo taken with hockey's biggest prize - the hefty Stanley Cup (no trifling shield or pint-sized urn for these boys, oh no, no, no…).
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Japan Foundation
Jostling for respect amongst the Bloor St embassies, this Japanese cultural centre offers temporary multimedia exhibitions, special events (like dramatic readings of medieval Japanese comedies and film retrospectives) and artistically inspired rest rooms that deserve design awards. Their library drifts between arts, literature, history, geography and Manga. Reservations required for some events.
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Museum Of Contemporary Canadian Art
The new MOCCA, recently relocated from far northern Yonge St, is the city's only museum mandated to collect and promote works by living Canadian visual artists. It says a lot about West Queen West's consolidation as an arts and design strip that the museum chose this district for their new facility.
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Native Canadian Centre Of Toronto
As well as managing the onsite Cedar Basket gift shop, this community centre hosts Thursday night drum socials, seasonal powwows and elders' cultural events that promote harmony and conversation between tribal members and non-First Nations peoples. You can also drop by the Toronto Native Community History Project, or ask about their 'Great Indian Bus Tours' of Toronto which give you a better understanding of the area's Aboriginal history.
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Ontario Science Centre
Climb a rock wall, catch a criminal with DNA fingerprinting and race an Olympic bobsled - this excellent, interactive museum (designed by innovative architects Moriyama & Teshima) lets you do it all. Over 800 high-tech exhibits and live demonstrations wow the kids (and the adults at the back, pretending not to be interested).
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Police Museum & Discovery Centre
Inside the monumental Toronto Police HQ, this nonprofit museum has a small but diverting collection of equipment, uniforms, vehicles and crime-related paraphernalia from 1834 to the present day. Aspiring CSIs can learn how to trace a murderer's DNA from a cigarette butt, while an antique (if a little morbid) billboard clocks traffic deaths in Toronto and A/V exhibits convey the evils of various narcotics.
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Power Plant
Under the protective umbrella of the Harbourfront Centre, the Power Plant is a big-reputation art gallery celebrating contemporary Canadian art. The focus is on sculpture and large-scale installations, with live performances, lectures and Power Kids art sessions thrown into the formula. The gallery occupies a renovated ice house and coal store next to the Harbourfront Theatre, which is inside an old power generator.
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Riverdale Farm
The 7.5-hectare Riverdale Farm was once the Toronto Zoo, where prairie wolves howled at night and spooked the Cabbagetown kids. It's now run as a working farm museum, with two barns, a summer wading pool and pens of sundry fowl and animals (geese, goats, pigs, rabbits, turkeys etc). Kids follow the farmer around as he does his daily chores, including milking the cows daily at .
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Royal Ontario Museum
The multidisciplinary Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is Canada's biggest natural history museum. The main building involves a magnificent explosion of architectural crystals on Bloor St, housing an array of new galleries, including the new 'Renaissance ROM' building.
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St James Cathedral
Erected after the Great Fire of 1849, this venerable Gothic Revival cathedral is graced by Tiffany stained glass, a grand organ, lovely gardens and bells pealing out from the tallest spire in Canada. A small historical museum is tucked away in the parish house. Check the website for details on free Music at Midday and Twilight Recitals concerts.
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Textile Museum of Canada
Obscurely located at the bottom of a condo tower in an otherwise cultureless corner of town, this small museum's exhibits draw upon a permanent collection of 10,000 items from Latin America, Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia and India, as well as contemporary Canada. Workshops teach batiking, weaving, knitting and all manner of needle-stuff.
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Toronto Dominion Gallery Of Inuit Art
A fourth Toronto-Dominion Centre tower stands on the other side of Wellington St from the original trio of skyscrapers. In a corner of the lobby is an exceptional gallery of post WWII Aboriginal carvings and sculptures in stone and bone, worthy of display in any museum, and free for public viewing. A succession of glass cases displays otters, bears, eagles and carved Inuit figures in day-to-day scenes.
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Toronto Reference Library
More cultural centre than somber reading room, this snappy modern space was designed by architect Raymond Moriyama. Amongst millions of books, The library runs writers' workshops, storytelling sessions, film studies, drawing classes, open-mic 'face-offs' and 'How to do graffiti' classes. Oh, and there are some somber reading rooms too.
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Toronto's First Post Office
Dating from the 1830s, the old post office is now a living museum. After you've written your letter with a quill and ink, seal it with wax and send it postmarked 'York-Toronto 1833' for a small fee. Famous folks like William Lyon Mackenzie and the Baldwins once rented postal boxes here.
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Yorkville Library
One of 99 library branches around town, this one is 100 years old - the oldest, and definitely the best looking. A sandstone Palladian façade leads into a lofty lemon and white interior housing many shelves, a theatre, gay and lesbian resource centre, 130 magazine titles and small gallery at the back exhibiting local artists' work.
Showing 1-24 of 24 results
