TOBuilt is a digital, crowd-sourced database of buildings, structures, heritage sites, and human-made landscapes in Toronto, Ontario, Canada maintained by the Toronto branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario. The database's initial catalogue was created by Robert Krawczyk in 2006. In 2015, ACO Toronto assumed the operation of TOBuilt and relaunched it on a new platform. As of December 2023, TOBuilt maintains entries for over 15,000 sites located across the city of Toronto. [1]
TOBuilt's central mandate is to document architecture and built heritage throughout Toronto's six boroughs: Old Toronto, North York, East York, York, Etobicoke, and Scarborough. Individual entries contain present and historical photographs of the site in question as well as information about its date of construction, architect, designer, creator, cultural history, architectural style, level of heritage designation, and location. Historical architectural styles that are highly represented in the database include Gothic Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne Revival, Edwardian, and Arts and Crafts. It also documents the use of early 19th-century English architectural styles in the city, including surviving Georgian, Regency, and Neoclassical buildings, as well as those representing modern styles such as Brutalism. [2] TOBuilt has documented various historical Indigenous sites across Toronto. [3]
TOBuilt has conducted several extensive surveys of architectural typologies in Toronto, including of missing middle architecture, places of worship, and schools. [4] [5] [6] In 2022, TOBuilt completed a first-of-its-kind research project documenting over 2,000 detached suburban houses, including Victory Houses, built between 1940 and 2000 in North York, Etobicoke, and Scarborough. [7] The database also maintains an updated list of "at-risk" buildings in the city that are currently threatened by demolition, redevelopment, neglect, or alteration, and most recently by provincial Bill 23. [8] [9] [10] [11]
In February 2021, the owner of a 3-storey Second Empire building designed by Scottish architect David Brash Dick in 1878 at 127 Strachan Avenue in Toronto's West End Niagara neighbourhood withdrew a demolition application after advocacy efforts led by TOBuilt. [12] [13] [14] The project centred around a TOBuilt Instagram campaign and an online petition garnering nearly 5,000 signatures.
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.
Etobicoke North is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented by one Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada since 1979. It covers the neighbourhood of Rexdale, in the northern part of the Etobicoke district of Toronto.
Kipling Avenue is a street in the cities of Toronto and Vaughan in Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, 6 concessions (12 km) west from Yonge Street, and is a major north–south arterial road. It consists of three separate sections, with total combined length of 26.4 km. (16.4 mi.).
Toronto Water is the municipal division of the City of Toronto under Infrastructure and Development Services responsible for the water supply network, and stormwater and wastewater management in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, as well as parts of Peel and York Regions.
The North York Civic Centre is a municipal government building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It opened in 1979 as the city hall of the former city of North York. It is located in North York City Centre.
The Etobicoke Civic Centre in the Eatonville neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, once housed the municipal government of the former City of Etobicoke.
Humber Valley Village is a neighbourhood located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is within the former suburb of Etobicoke and includes some of the most expensive real estate in the metropolitan west end. The boundaries are from Dundas Street on the south to Islington Avenue to the west, Eglinton Avenue to the north, and the Humber River in the east. The neighbourhood is in the political riding of Etobicoke Centre.
York Memorial Collegiate Institute is a public secondary school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is administered by Toronto District School Board (TDSB), de jure located at 2690 Eglinton Avenue West. Prior to 1998, the school was part of the legacy Board of Education for the City of York.
Vincent Massey Junior School, formerly Daisy Avenue Public School is located at 68 Daisy Avenue in the Long Branch area of Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. This school has kindergarten through grade five. The property was owned by the Toronto District School Board and was sold to a developer in 2017.
Line 6 Finch West, also known as the Finch West LRT, is a light rail line under construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to be operated by the Toronto Transit Commission. The 10.3-kilometre (6.4 mi), 18-stop line is to extend from Finch West station on Line 1 Yonge–University to the North Campus of Humber College in Etobicoke. The line will operate in a dedicated above-ground right-of-way, much of it within Finch Avenue, segregated from street traffic. The line will use transit signal priority and standard gauge rather than the broad Toronto gauge. The line is forecast to carry about 14.6 million rides a year or 40,000 a day by 2031 and will replace the 36 Finch West bus route, which is one of the three busiest bus routes in Toronto. The line is expected to open within the first half of 2024, with an estimated cost of CA$2.5 billion.
Lieutenant-Colonel George Taylor Denison III Armoury, commonly known as Denison Armoury, is a Canadian Armed Forces facility located at 1 Yukon Lane in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is in the northeastern corner of Downsview Airport, just west of the W.R. Allen Expressway on Sheppard Avenue West.
The Scarborough Board of Education, formally the Board of Education for the City of Scarborough is the former public-secular school district serving Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. The board was founded in 1954 through a merger of the Scarborough Collegiate and Township School Boards.
The Princes' Gates is a triumphal arch and a monumental gateway at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Made out of cement and stone, the triumphal arch is flanked by colonnades on both of its sides, with curved pylons at both ends. The 350-foot-long (110 m) structure serves as the eastern gateway to the Canadian National Exhibition, an annual agricultural and provincial fair held at Exhibition Place.
Yvan Baker is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the federal riding of Etobicoke Centre in the 2019 federal election. He is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. Prior to entering federal politics, he served as the Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for the provincial riding of Etobicoke Centre from 2014 to 2018.
The Ontario Line is an under-construction rapid transit line in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its northern terminus will be at Eglinton Avenue and Don Mills Road, at Science Centre station, where it will connect with Line 5 Eglinton. Its southern terminus will be at the existing Exhibition GO Station on the Lakeshore West line. The Ontario Line was announced by the Government of Ontario on April 10, 2019. As of November 2022, the estimated cost for the 15.6-kilometre (9.7 mi) line is CA$17 to $19 billion with an estimated completion in 2031. Originally, the cost was estimated at $10.9 billion with completion by 2027. A groundbreaking ceremony for the project took place on March 27, 2022. Upon opening, the plan is for the line to assume the "Line 3" name which was used by Line 3 Scarborough until its closure in July 2023.
Henry Sears was a Canadian modernist architect, and an urban and gallery planner. He was a founding partner of both Klein & Sears Architects and Sears & Russell Architects Ltd. His work centred around social housing development on a neighbourhood scale. It spanned Canada, the United States and Europe.
City Adult Learning Centre (CALC), formerly known as Parkway Vocational School and Parkview Secondary School is an adult high school serving the Riverdale community in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, overseen by the Toronto District School Board. Prior to 1998, it was part of the Toronto Board of Education.
The Dominion Foundry Site is a group of heritage industrial buildings in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The site was developed by Dominion Wheel & Foundries Limited, a rail parts manufacturer based in Toronto. Now publicly owned, the site is planned for sale and redeveopment. The plans for redevelopment by the Government of Ontario have been controversial, sparking public opposition.