HTO Park (stylized as H_TO) is an

urban beach An urban beach (also city beach and sometimes beach club) is an artificially-created environment in an urban setting which simulates a public beachfront, through the use of sand, beach umbrellas, and seating elements. Urban beaches are designed t ...

Toronto, Ontario 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 ...

, Canada, that opened in 2007. It is located west of

Harbourfront Centre Harbourfront Centre is a key cultural organization on the waterfront of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at 235 Queens Quay West. Established as a crown corporation in 1972 by the Government of Canada to create a waterfront park, it became ...

, on

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 ...

History

The park is built on

quay 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 ...

s once used by ships berthing in

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 anch ...

's Inner Harbour. The park consists of two sections: * H_TO Park West is built on the eastern half of Maple Leaf Quay * H_TO Park East is built on the old Peter Street Slip The two quays are concrete man-made infill during the 1920s with the project completed by 1929. The eastern portion was home to

Maple Leaf Mills Silos Maple Leaf Mills Silos was one of two silo or grain elevator complexes that were built in the area between Spadina Quay and Maple Leaf Quay, on Toronto Harbour, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was one of three "monumental" silo complexes that domina ...

until 1983. The western half was home to a smaller industrial business with a small office structure. During the 1980s, a

condo 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 ...

project (now known as Harbour Terrace) was built on part of Maple Leaf Quay while the rest stood empty as a parking lot. The eastern portion lay empty in the 1980s and 1990s.

Name

H_TO is a play on , the chemical formula for water, since "TO" is commonly used to refer to Toronto and it is a waterfront park.

Design

H_TO Park was designed by landscape architecture firm Janet Rosenberg & Studio, Claude Cormier Architectes Paysagistes Inc. and

Hariri Pontarini Architects Hariri Pontarini Architects is a Toronto-based architectural practice founded by Siamak Hariri and David Pontarini. Established in 1994, HPA’s first critically acclaimed project was for McKinsey & Company's Toronto headquarters, which became ...

. The park incorporates elements of a park, beach, and golf course. The park's standout feature is a sandpit that holds Muskoka chairs and enormous fixed yellow metal umbrellas. The umbrellas were designed to evoke the

Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , , ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough su ...

painting ''

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte ''A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'' (french: Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte) was painted from 1884 to 1886 and is Georges Seurat's most famous work. A leading example of pointillist technique, executed o ...

''. At night, the park knolls are illuminated by LED lights.

Area

H_TO Park East is also home the

Toronto Fire Services Toronto Fire Services (TFS) provides fire protection, technical rescue services, hazardous materials response, and first responder emergency medical assistance in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Toronto Fire Services is currently the largest municipal f ...

Station (Marine Unit) 334 (built 2000), Toronto EMS Station 36. Hto Park Entrance

References

External links