Around the corner at Ryerson University, the university’s president Sheldon Levy is looking to expand the campus. Levy wants to add a "digital-hub" to the bustle of a campus dropped in the middle of the downtown core. This digital-hub is where Levy hopes graduate students and professors from the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo and Ryerson University will create Canada’s “next big thing.” Think Silicon Valley in California, but on the remnants of a once seedy strip of Yonge Street.
(Some pictures courtesy of Ron Soskolne)
"It was a real loss of innocence for Toronto..." The Emmanuel Jacques murder
In August 1978, a 12-year-old shoeshine boy, whose parents emigrated from Portugal, was raped and murdered in an apartment above Charlie’s Angel’s rub-parlour on the corner of Yonge Street and Shuter Street.
The homicide shocked Toronto. Susan Walker, Toronto Star journalist, says “it was a real loss of innocence for Toronto.” The murder happened less than ten years after she graduated from York University in the late 1960s. Even then, she says, it was hard to find a place to get an alcoholic drink on a Sunday afternoon in downtown Toronto, save for a few non-descript gay bars like the St. Charles Tavern on the corner of Alexander and Yonge Streets. The result was thirty years of what Toronto's former Chief Planner Ron Soskolne calls “a downward economic spiral of disinvestment.” The area became grungy and replete with dollar stores. Soskolne says the strip began to take on the characteristics of a third world street.
Fixing Yonge Street retail or contributing to the mess?
The first phase of the Eaton Centre was completed in 1977. Former John Sewell was heavily involved in fighting the development of the Eaton Centre in the 1970s because he saw the mall taking away from Yonge Street. In many ways, the mall was designed without the long-term health of the street in mind.
In 1977 the Globe and Mail wrote that the Eaton Centre had "the latest innovations and the newest commercial goods," but, "across the street at Charlie's Angels, they're peddling warm bodies, the oldest game in history.”
When members of Toronto's city council who opposed the the construction of the Eaton Centre realized the plans would go ahead, Sewell says the alternative goal was to “make sure that you had lots of activity on Yonge Street.” But that didn’t happen. “We weren’t able to do very much,” he said. Thirty two years later Sewell says, “So Eaton Centre is very successful commercially. But it’s caused a lot of problems for the city; for retail strips in Toronto.”
Some proponents of the Eaton Centre argued that the mall would boost Toronto city tourism. When asked about the role the Eaton Centre plays in tourists’ perspectives of Toronto, Sewell laughed and said, “Tourists think it’s terrific. And they go to it.” Sewell says that he even he takes his turn playing tourist, taking trips to the mall when relatives and friends visit Toronto. “Come and look at it, it’s a good piece of urban design, inside."
Map of downtown Yonge Street strip
Sewell argues that tourists just “don’t go walking on Yonge Street. I mean, why would you do that? It’s really boring.” He says that in order to find vibrant Toronto retail you’ve got to get away from Yonge Street. The real Toronto, he says, is found on the Beaches, Bloor Street West, or the funky shops on Queen Street West.
Hello Yonge Street? Ryerson is looking to expand
The first step to achieving Levy’s digital-hub has already happened. Earlier this year, Ryerson University bought the well-known Sam the Record Man store and a Future Shop outlet on the corner of Gould Street and Yonge Street. The university plans to expand its small library into the upper level of the new space and rent the lower area to retail businesses. This will help cover their $10 million mortgage.
The future
Downtown Yonge Street has come a long way since the Jacques murder. The former "third world street" is now rife with corporate slogans and towering billboards concentrated in Yonge-Dundas Square. Susan Walker, who has witnessed the transformation, says “this could be anywhere in the world.” Almost none of the chain stores in Dundas square are Canadian franchises. If Sheldon Levy gets his way, Yonge Street’s corporate march will continue north, plowing through the last remnants of the motley crew of shops that were once emblematic of the historic streetscape. Some see it as a loss of soul, others as an urban revitalization.
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Dundas Square was built between 1995 and 1998 under the aegis of the Yonge Street Regeneration Project:
The architecture of a public space (Legend and picture courtesy of Ron Soskolne)
1) The Bowed Plane- The surface of the Square rises in the centre in order to give the space a heightened theatrical presence, create stepped edges for sitting and allow for positive drainage of water.
2) Access- The surface stays flush at Yonge Street to remain completely accessible and a ramp is provided on the north-east edge to promote accessibility of pedestrian traffic from that direction.
3) Trees- Planting is maximized on the south edge (due to the parking structure underneath) and provides shade and amenity to the granite beaches underneath.
4) The Canopy- The large north canopy acts as a moderator between Dundas Street and the inner space and also provides an infrastructure for future signage and retail kiosk developments planned for the Square.
5) Light Masts- Three large light masts create vertical elements that will provide event lighting, signage and variable lighting for the square, depending on the light level required.
6) The Marquee- This canopy will provide information and signage for events on the Square and commercial advertisements, generating revenue and giving the Square a dynamic presence at the Yonge-Dundas corner.
7) The Plinth- The raised stage area covers the entrance to the parking garage below and faces toward Yonge Street supplying a venue for small to medium size performance and simple amenity space for public use.
8) TTC Connection- Stairs and an elevator connect the Square directly to the underground garage below and faces toward Yonge Street supplying a venue for small to medium size performances and simple amenity space for public use.
9) Fountains- A line of 22 fountains provides a playful amenity for public use and a drawing point for activity in the summer months.