The Legacy of the St. Lawrence

Jamii Retrospective Reminds us of Our Legacy


As part of local arts organization Jamii's commemorative 10th Anniversary retrospective, the group recently shared on Facebook pictures and details from a 2013 Jamii event that welcomed former Mayor of Toronto, David Crombie and other reknowned city builders, to the courtyard of the Berkeley Castle for an outdoor panel discussion on the development of this neighbourhood. The following excerpt offers some local history and reminds us of the significance and legacy of our neighbourhood:

"Back in 2013 Jamii was only two years old and like the gardens in our community, our roots were growing in our beloved David Crombie Park and throughout the Esplanade.

A Highlight for Jamii’s third year was “The Esplanadians,”a series of talks with an amazing panel composed of three of the founders of The Esplanade development, David Crombie (former Mayor of Toronto, 1972-1978, who oversaw its creation), Alan Littlewood (architect responsible for the site plan), and John Sewell, (former Mayor of Toronto, 1978-1980 and prominent role in the project) - talks were moderated by Prof. Beth Savan from University of Toronto
The panel reminisced over the big plans, fierce battles, and hilarious anecdotes that make up the development of The Esplanade.

“At 45 acres, St Lawrence was the largest urban project ever created in North America,” recalled Alan Littlewood. “We looked at all the land south of Front Street which was then auto wrecking, demolition, cold storage…a total mess, and decided that we should try to do a really big development and make it part of the city,” added Sewell. “We needed a living vibrant downtown. St Lawrence became the flagship of building new neighbourhoods,” had closed Crombie.

All three had agreed that the long, linear Crombie Park, stretching along The Esplanade is one of the significant successes of the neighbourhood. It was a visual linkage throughout the length of the neighbourhood. Littlewood stressed, “You need basic principles of planning. Extend the street, make it part of the city, build neighbourhoods not projects, and most importantly make sure it’s a mix: mixed income, mixed family types, mixed housing. And keep developments small.” -- Jamii
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CBC Feature - First Parliament Challenge

For a quick overview of the priorities of this community with respect to the historic First Parliament site at Front St. and Berkeley read this recent CBC feature.

Included in this feature is some insight into concerns of community partners, including the SLNA , and how together with other residents groups we are working to ensure that the province's recent expropriation of this land does not result in provincial agencies running roughshod over the community's 20-year effort and plan to install on this historic site a new library and needed park space.
 

 
Old Town Toronto - Hallowe'en Pumpkin Parade 

𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝗻 𝗮 $𝟭𝟬𝟬 𝗴𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗧𝗼𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲! 

The Old Town Toronto's annual Pumpkin Parade is BACK, Jack, with a new date for 2021!

​Friday Oct 29th bring your jack-o-lanterns to Berczy Park for the ultimate Hallowe'en pre-game! Let your creation glow with delight atop the park’s stage for all to see before taking it home for the big night of trick-or-treating. Feel like dressing up? GO FOR IT!

Be sure to enter the Old Town Toronto (OTT) draw for a $100 gift card to the OTT business of your choice by sharing your best images of the evening in the park on instagram using #OldTownToronto and tag @OldTownToronto.

 
Join/Share OTT Facebook Event

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