Baldwin Steps | |
---|---|
Public stairs | |
Opening date | 1913 |
Steps | 110 |
Dedicated to | Robert Baldwin and family |
Owner | City of Toronto |
Location | Intersection of Davenport and Spadina Road Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Location of Baldwin Steps in Toronto | |
Coordinates: 43°40′39.55″N79°24′29.78″W / 43.6776528°N 79.4082722°W Coordinates: 43°40′39.55″N79°24′29.78″W / 43.6776528°N 79.4082722°W |
The Baldwin Steps are a public outdoor staircase located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada dating from the 19th century. The Steps, which are constructed of stone and concrete, transcend a steep escarpment marking an ancient shoreline. The steps are named after the Baldwin family, which included Robert Baldwin, a former premier of Ontario, whose family were the first landowners. The Steps are also famous for appearing in the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels and its film adaptation, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World .
The Steps are located on the shore cliff of the ancient Lake Iroquois on a public right-of-way connecting two sections of Spadina Road. The sheerness of the cliff prevented the construction of Spadina Road directly down the escarpment. Instead a roadway crossing of the escarpment was cut a few hundred yards to the west. A set of wooden steps were installed to allow people to move through the area. The original wooden stairs were replaced with a permanent structure in 1913 along the Spadina Road Alignment. [1] Along the top of the cliff some of Toronto's most exclusive homes were constructed including Casa Loma and Spadina House.
In the 1960s the proposed Spadina Expressway would have replaced the stairs site with a six-lane highway exiting from a tunnel to the north. The Expressway project was cancelled in 1971 by the Ontario government. As part of the project, the land of the stairs became the property of the Government of Ontario. In 1984, the land was leased to the City of Toronto government for 99 years. In 1987, the City rebuilt the Steps site with new railings, concrete stairs and expanded landings, following the original zig-zag path up the cliff. At this time, the Steps were given the formal name of the "Baldwin Steps" to commemorate the Baldwin family which owned the land before it became a public pathway. There are 110 steps from street level to the top, not 134 as is cited on some architectural sites.
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 from the foot of the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) in the east, just past the mouth of the Don River, to the junction of Highway 427 and the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) in the west, for a total length of 18.0 kilometres (11.2 mi). East of Dufferin Street to just east of the Don River, the roadway is elevated for a length of 6.8 kilometres (4.2 mi), unofficially making it the longest bridge in Ontario. It runs above Lake Shore Boulevard east of Spadina Avenue.
The Annex is a neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The traditional boundaries of the neighbourhood are north to Dupont Street, south to Bloor Street, west to Bathurst Street and east to Avenue Road. The City of Toronto recognizes a broader neighbourhood definition that includes the adjacent Seaton Village and Yorkville areas.
Tobermory is a small community located at the northern tip of the Bruce Peninsula, in the traditional territory of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation. Until European colonization in the mid-19th century, the Bruce Peninsula was home to the Saugeen Ojibway nations, with their earliest ancestors reaching the area as early as 7500 years ago. It is part of the municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula. It is 300 kilometres northwest of Toronto. The closest city to Tobermory is Owen Sound, 100 kilometres south of Tobermory and connected by Highway 6.
Spadina Museum: Historic House & Gardens, also known as Spadina House, is a historic mansion at 285 Spadina Road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is now a historic house museum operated by the City of Toronto's Economic Development & Culture division. The museum preserves the house much as it existed and developed historically. The art, decor and architecture of the house used to reflect the contemporary styles of the 1860s through the 1930s, including Victorian, Edwardian, Arts and Crafts, Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Colonial Revival styles. The museum closed for a year for extensive interior and exterior renovations. When it re-opened to the public on October 24, 2010, it was decorated in the style of the inter-war era of the 1920s and 1930s. The estate's gardens reflect the landscape during the Austin family's occupation of the house.
Harbourfront is a neighbourhood on the northern shore of Lake Ontario within the downtown core of the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Part of the Toronto waterfront, Harbourfront extends from Bathurst Street in the west, along Queens Quay, with its ill-defined eastern boundary being either Yonge Street or York Street. Its northern boundary is the Gardiner Expressway. Much of the district was former water lots filled in during the early 1900s to create a larger harbour district. After shipping patterns changed and the use of the Toronto harbour declined, the area was converted from industrial uses to a mixed-use district that is mostly residential and leisure.
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 197-acre (80 ha) site includes exhibit, trade, and banquet centres, theatre and music buildings, monuments, parkland, sports facilities, and a number of civic, provincial, and national historic sites. The district's facilities are used year-round for exhibitions, trade shows, public and private functions, and sporting events.
Spadina Avenue is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods.
William R. Allen Road, also known as Allen Road and the Allen, is a short expressway and arterial road in Toronto, Ontario. It starts as a controlled-access expressway at Eglinton Avenue West, heading north to just south of Transit Road, then continues as an arterial road north to Kennard Avenue, where it continues north as the northern portion of Dufferin Street. Allen Road is named after late Metro Toronto chairman William R. Allen and is maintained by the City of Toronto. Landmarks along the road include the Lawrence Heights housing project, Yorkdale Shopping Centre and Downsview Park, and Downsview Airport. A section of the Toronto subway Line 1 Yonge–University is located within its median from Eglinton Avenue to north of Wilson Avenue, and briefly runs parallel to it underground in the vicinity of Sheppard Avenue.
Spadina is a subway station on Line 1 Yonge–University and Line 2 Bloor–Danforth in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Spadina Road, north of Bloor Street West. It is one of only two stations open overnight, along with Union station. Wi-Fi service is available at this station.
The cancelled expressways in Toronto were a planned series of expressways in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that were only partially built or cancelled due to public opposition. The system of expressways was intended to spur or handle growth in the suburbs of Toronto, but were opposed by citizens within the city of Toronto proper, citing the demolition of homes and park lands, air pollution, noise and the high cost of construction. The Spadina Expressway, planned since the 1940s, was cancelled in 1971 after being only partially constructed. After the Spadina cancellation, other expressway plans, intended to create a 'ring' around the central core, were abandoned.
Black Creek Drive is a four lane north-south arterial road in the Canadian city of Toronto, which connects Weston Road and Humber Boulevard with Highway 401 via Highway 400, the latter of which it forms a southerly extension. Black Creek Drive officially transitions into Highway 400 at the Maple Leaf Drive overpass, southeast of Jane Street. The roadway is named after the Black Creek ravine, which it parallels for most of its route. It features a maximum speed limit of 70 km/h (43 mph). As a municipal road, it is patrolled by the Toronto Police Service.
The Lincoln Alexander Parkway, nicknamed The Linc, is a municipal expressway in the Canadian city of Hamilton, Ontario, which connects Highway 403 with the Red Hill Valley Parkway, which continues north to the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW). Collectively, the two expressways form a southern and eastern bypass of Hamilton. Located on the Hamilton mountain, atop the Niagara Escarpment, the freeway was named after the former Progressive Conservative MP and first black Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Lincoln Alexander in July 1997, despite him never holding a driver's license.
1 Spadina Crescent, also known as the Daniels Building, is an academic building home to the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building is situated in the centre of a roundabout of Spadina Avenue, north of College Street. Its location provides a picturesque vista looking north up Spadina Avenue; it is an axial view terminus for Spadina Avenue.
William Warren Baldwin was a doctor, businessman, lawyer, judge, architect and reform politician in Upper Canada. He, and his son Robert Baldwin, are recognized for having introduced the concept of "responsible government", the principle of cabinet rule on which Canadian democracy is based.
The Red Hill Valley Parkway (RHVP) is a municipal expressway in the Canadian city of Hamilton, Ontario. The route connects the Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway, Hamilton's second municipal expressway, to the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) near Hamilton Harbour. It is named after Red Hill Valley, through which it descends the Niagara Escarpment. It is a 7-kilometre (4.3 mi) four-lane freeway with a speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph).
The Highland Inn (1908–1957) was a year-round resort hotel built and operated by the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR), in Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park. It was located near the park offices on the northern edge of Cache Lake, and was a focal point for the park for many years. Wishing to return the park lands to a more natural state, the Inn was purchased by the Ontario Government in 1956 and removed. Today all that remains are traces of the concrete stairs and platform that met the CNR line, which was lifted after departure of the last train in 1959.
Dhosi Hill is an extinct volcano, standing alone at the north-west end of the Aravalli mountain range, of which it is a part, with height varying from about 345 to 470 meters from the surrounding land and 740 meters from the sea level. It has temple, pond, fort and caves on the top and forest around it. The Aravalli range is a Precambrian Malani igneous suite of rocks that have been dated at 732 Ma BP.
Sunnyside Amusement Park was a popular amusement park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that ran from 1922 to 1955, demolished in 1955 to facilitate the building of the Metro Toronto Gardiner Expressway project. It was located on the Lake Ontario waterfront at the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue, west of downtown Toronto.
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.