ABSTRACT
The Village of Yorkville Park lies just north and one block west of the iconic intersection of Toronto’s two major streets – Yonge and Bloor. It occupies a 150-metre by 30-metre strip directly above the Bloor-Danforth subway line. It comprises a series of gardens representing different types of Canadian landscape. The individual gardens follow the footprints of the former nineteenth-century buildings on the site. The design was prepared by San Francisco-based landscape architects Schwartz / Smith / Meyer in collaboration with Toronto architects Oleson Worland, for an international competition launched in July 1991. 1 Construction commenced in spring 1992 and was completed in spring 1994 at a cost of around C$2.5 million. The park demonstrated the emerging commitment of Toronto, fourth largest city in North America, to investment in its public realm – but only after concerted pressure from local business owners. After a lengthy gestation, the City proceeded with the competition and with construction of the winning design. Then it withstood a barrage of scathing commentary in the local and national press, particularly over the cost of cutting and transporting to site the granite rock that is the focal point of the park. 2 Latterly repair and replacement work has been undertaken in line with the receipt in 2012 of a Landmark Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects (Hume 2012).
