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St. Andrew's Playground is a small park in downtown
In 1834 the land was planned as a square under the 'New Town Extension' and in 1837, this city block was set aside for a public market, the third of its kind after the 
The southern section of the Market was used as a public park since the 1880s, becoming "St. Andrew's Playground" in 1909, "the first City of Toronto property dedicated to, and equipped for, supervised children's play."
In 2009, the St. Andrews Market was partly revived through a weekly outdoor
Heritage Toronto
{{coord, 43.64647, N, 79.39883, W, display=title Parks in Toronto Farmers' markets in Ontario 1850 establishments in Canada
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 ...
. It is located at the 450 Adelaide Street West, at the northwest corner of Brant St and Adelaide. It has a playground for children and an off-leash area for dogs that is surrounded by a short fence, with an accessible water fountain for pets, children, and adults. A Heritage Toronto Heritage Toronto is an agency of the Municipal Government of Toronto that works to builds a better city by bringing people together to explore Toronto’s shared past and peoples’ lived experiences. It is located in St. Lawrence Hall in the city.
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plaque in the northwest corner describing the history and significance of the park was installed in 2007.
History
In 1834 the land was planned as a square under the 'New Town Extension' and in 1837, this city block was set aside for a public market, the third of its kind after the St. Lawrence Market
St. Lawrence Market is a major public market in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located along Front Street East and Jarvis Street in the St. Lawrence neighbourhood of downtown Toronto. The public market is made up of two sites adjacent to one a ...
and the St. Patrick's Market. The market was built in 1850 and named "St. Andrew's Market" after its city ward. It served as an important commercial centre for what was then Toronto's west end.
A fire in 1860 destroyed the first market buildings. They were replaced in 1873 by the much larger St. Andrew's Hall and Market, designed in Renaissance Revival
Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...
style. The building housed a police station, a community hall, a public library branch, as well as the market sellers of fresh produce and butchers.
In the 1870s, St. Andrew's Market began to lose some of its relevance as a commercial hub. In 1889, an addition was added, however by 1900 the market stalls were mostly empty. The buildings were demolished in 1932, and replaced by a water works building (housing offices, warehouse and workshops) designed by City Architect James John Woolnough.
The southern section of the Market was used as a public park since the 1880s, becoming "St. Andrew's Playground" in 1909, "the first City of Toronto property dedicated to, and equipped for, supervised children's play."
In 2009, the St. Andrews Market was partly revived through a weekly outdoor farmers' market
A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or o ...
operated by Farmers’ Markets Ontario which occurred on Saturday mornings from early June to late October at Adelaide and Maud Streets, in a parking lot alongside the park. However, due to low attendance and resulting lack of vendor interest, the market did not return the following year.
The Waterworks building is currently in the process of being redeveloped into a mixed-use residential, commercial and public building. Most of the existing building will be repurposed into retail food hall and other uses (YMCA), and 13 floors of apartments are to be built above. The Waterworks building is a registered heritage building. It is an example of an Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
inspired building. As part of the redevelopment, the building site has been sold to a private developer.
See also
*St. Lawrence Market
St. Lawrence Market is a major public market in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located along Front Street East and Jarvis Street in the St. Lawrence neighbourhood of downtown Toronto. The public market is made up of two sites adjacent to one a ...
* St. Patrick's Market
References
External links
Heritage Toronto
{{coord, 43.64647, N, 79.39883, W, display=title Parks in Toronto Farmers' markets in Ontario 1850 establishments in Canada