Fort York, also known as Garrison, is a

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural are ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada, located west of

Downtown Toronto Downtown Toronto is the main central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Stre ...

, north of

Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is a regional airport located on the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is often referred to as Toronto Island Airport and was previously known as ''Port George VI Island Airport'' and ''Toronto ...

, and east of

Exhibition Place Exhibition Place is a publicly owned mixed-use district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located by the shoreline of Lake Ontario, just west of downtown. The site includes exhibit, trade, and banquet centres, theatre and music buildings, monuments ...

along the shores of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

. While it is home to

Fort York Fort York (french: Fort-York) is an early 19th-century military fortification in the Fort York neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort was used to house members of the British and Canadian militaries, and to defend the entrance of t ...

, a National Historic Site, it also contains several mid and high-rise condominium buildings built during the 21st century.

History

The neighbourhood area consists of the former industrial lands immediately east and south of

, a fort since 1793, and designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1923. The current

Fort York Armoury Fort York Armoury is a Canadian Forces facility located near the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the intersection of Fleet Street and Fort York Boulevard, close to the historic Old Fort York ...

was built in 1933, and still houses several units of the

Canadian Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

. The neighbourhood is one of Toronto's most historically and cultural sensitive areas, and was the location of the lakeside Toronto

Molson The Molson Brewery is a Canadian based brewery company based in Montreal which was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors. Molson Coors maintains some of its Can ...

brewery before it was demolished in 2006. The Fort York Neighbourhood Public Realm Plan is the next step in the planning and design for the Fort York Neighbourhood. The area's redevelopment plan was finalized in 2005, and establishes guidelines for an overall vision of the emerging neighbourhood. It set out the location of public spaces, density, height and built form so that the area's streetscapes, open spaces, parks and pedestrian areas are interconnected with private development.- Public Realm
/ref>

Recent developments

A 38-storey residential tower and 7- to 12-storey podium building was constructed in 2005 at the west end of the neighbourhood, at the corner of Fleet Street Fort York Boulevard. This was the first element of the planned redevelopment of the site into a mixed-use community, including 12 residential towers, podium buildings and stacked townhouses, with grade-level retail and commercial uses. The neighbourhood will eventually house an estimated 6000 units within the area north of

Lake Shore Boulevard Lake Shore Boulevard (often incorrectly compounded as Lakeshore Boulevard) is a major arterial road running along more than half of the Lake Ontario waterfront in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Prior to 1998, two segments of Lake Shore ...

, south of Fort York Boulevard between Strachan Avenue and Dan Leckie Way (an extension of Portland Street). Fleet Street

It has been the site of a lot of

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

loft A loft is a building's upper storey or elevated area in a room directly under the roof (American usage), or just an attic: a storage space under the roof usually accessed by a ladder (primarily British usage). A loft apartment refers to large ...

and

row house In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house (British English, UK) or townhouse (American English, US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings party ...

development. The area is located close to the Fashion and Entertainment districts. Significant high-rise development has taken place within the Fort York Neighbourhood, south of the

Gardiner Expressway The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, commonly known as the Gardiner Expressway or simply the Gardiner, is a partially at grade and elevated municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario, it extends ...

between Fort York Blvd. and Fleet Street.Fort York Neighbourhood Master Plan
/ref> Some of the main roads in the neighbourhood are: * Bathurst Street *

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

*Fort York Boulevard *

The Bentway The Bentway, formerly Project: Under Gardiner, is a public trail and corridor space underneath the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is repurposed land that was in sections vacant , rail lines, parking lots and outdoor storage. ...

is a unique and innovative public space that transforms 1.75 km underneath Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway into a new gathering place for our city’s growing population. The initial phase – from Strachan Avenue to Bathurst Street – knits together seven local neighbourhoods with over 70,000 residents, becoming a gateway to the waterfront, while providing access to important attractions and destinations – from Fort York National Historic Site, Ontario Place and Exhibition Place to Harbourfront Centre and the

CN Tower The CN Tower (french: Tour CN) is a concrete communications and observation tower in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands, it was completed in 1976. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway c ...

. The Bentway offers year-round activities and events, including gardens, a skate trail, recreational amenities, public markets, public art, special exhibitions, festivals, theatre and musical performances, and more.

Public transportation

Lighthouse DSC00553 - Queen's Wharf Lighthouse (7603898804)

The

Harbourfront Harbourfront may refer to: * Harbourfront (Toronto), a neighbourhood in Toronto ** 509 Harbourfront, Toronto streetcar route **Harbourfront Centre, cultural organization on the waterfront of Toronto * HarbourFront (Singapore), waterfront site in Si ...

is served by the

509 Harbourfront 509 Harbourfront is a Toronto streetcar route in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission and connecting Union Station with Exhibition Loop. History 1990–2012 The 509 Harbourfront began service in 1990 as the "604 Harbourf ...

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

, which operates between

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

and

running along a private right-of-way (ROW) on Queens Quay west to Bathurst and then along Fleet Street. Between September 2007 and March 2008, the Fleet Street portion of Route 509 was converted to a

ROW Row or ROW may refer to: Exercise *Rowing, or a form of aquatic movement using oars *Row (weight-lifting), a form of weight-lifting exercise Math *Row vector, a 1 × ''n'' matrix in linear algebra. *Row (database), a single, implicitly structured ...

. Streetcar track and overhead power line were also installed at the Fleet loop, which is located at the Fleet Street Lighthouse.

Queen's Wharf

wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...

was located south of the fort that was reached via Bathurst Street in the 19th Century located near the mouth of Garrison Creek. It first appeared in the 1830s and rebuilt 8 times before it was filled in by 1917. The wharf was named for

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

and now site of condo towers near the corner of Bathurst Street and Fleet Street. The Fleet Street Lighthouse or

Queen's Wharf Lighthouse The Queen's Wharf Lighthouse (also known as the Fleet Street Lighthouse, after its current location) is a lighthouse in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at Fleet Street just east of the Princes' Gates at Exhibition Place. The octagonal building w ...

was once located at this wharf.

References

External links