This weekend, it was time for a Toronto tradition: Doors Open Toronto, a unique opportunity to see buildings that are often not normally accessible to the public, and a good reason to learn something about them.
There are those times when rational decision making leads one to an impasse. My rationality told me that I have some urgent work to do. But, it also told me that Doors Open Toronto happens only once a year, and that this is too infrequent to be ignored and that I should take advantage of it. Given the choice between two rational decisions, I decided to follow Solomon and to chop the baby in half (1): I worked on Saturday and visited today.
The first place I went to was the Carlu. Although the Carlu is located in College Park, one of the landmarks of downtown Toronto, it is one of the hidden gems of this city.
College Park was built by Timothy Eaton, the patriarch of retailing in Canada and the man who gave his name to the world famous Eaton Centre of Toronto. It was planned as the world's greatest department store. The store was meant to take an entire city block, and a 38-storey office tower.
What we now know as College Park, the southwest corner of Yonge and College, consists largely of the first part of the project, the only part that was ever finished, because the Great Depression and World War II had stopped the project in its tracks.
Although College Park is now largely a sombre, sleepy building where most commercial endeavours seem to fail, it was -at the time- an example of modernity. No expense was spared, and the building was not only an example of modern design, but it also used the latest technology and highest quality materials.
The seventh floor of the building was the project of Mrs. Eaton. She hired the French architect Jacques Carlu to design it and it is considered a master piece of
art moderne.
College Park was sold when Eaton moved its flagship store to the world famous Eaton Centre. The new owners wanted to demolish the seventh floor at one point because they thought it was going to be too expensive to restore it, but since the building was protected under the Ontario Heritage Act, this couldn't be done. The floor was sealed off and slowly fell into disrepair, as the does not require to restore or use a building.
The sorry fate of the seventh floor eventually changed, however, and it reopened in 2003 as an event venue, called "The Carlu," a reference to Jacques Carlu. Much of it has been restored into its original state or something that closely resembles it.
One of the first things that one sees when one comes in through the elevators, is how enormous the Grand Foyer is. Pictures cannot do it justice.
Another thing that struck me immediately, is how dark it is. Much of the floor bathes in a very yellow light that makes it a sombre affair, to the point of almost being spooky. The smaller "Clipper" rooms are lighter, and they have one more distinguishing feature: metal doors.
The Sky Room is a new addition and the difference in lighting is striking. It is light and bright, and it currently sports a wall with metal hooks from which small oil lamps dangle.
As is to be expected, the window view of Yonge Street is much like a postcard. Other windows aren't see-through, and their frosted, subtly coloured glass do not only protect privacy, they give the rooms a rare elegance.
While spaces tend to seem smaller than they truly are when they are largely empty, the round room remains nevertheless an impressively large room. At its centre is a fountain by Lalique, placed where it is was originally designed to be, under a frosted glass light fixture.
The Concert Hall has been renovated. The floors have been changed and the original fixed seating was removed, making it possible to use it for diverse events. By far the darkest room of the venue, it has a great stage and an impressive mezzanine.
After leaving The Carlu, I was struck by how bright and sunny it was outside, and I decided to walk to the Nearby Canadian Blood Services. These are located at 67 College Street, in what was once the Victoria Hospital for Sick Children, opened in September 1890.
On the outside, the building is a red brick building that is uncannily clean from the perspective of the European that I am. One enters through a historic and very dark vestibule. Immediately after that, is a spectacular -and very modern- atrium.
The atrium is five stories high and slants to the south to allow for as much sunlight to come in as possible. One gets the feeling to be outside, in spite of being very much inside.
The front of the building has been preserved and that includes not only the vestibule, but also the historic staircase and board room. Coming out of the board room on the south side, one is in the atrium again, but now on the second floor balcony from where it is possible to get a bird's eye view of the atrium main floor.
The Carlu and the Canadian Blood Services. Two very different experiences, two small glimpses into parts of Toronto that are otherwise hidden from us.
An experience worth having.
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(1)The reference is to verses
3:16-28 of the
First Book of the Kings, commonly called the Third Book of the Kings of the King James version of the Bible.
