Celebrate: Fort York Visitor Centre Opening Sept.19 & On Common Ground Festival Sept.20-21, 2014

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Fort York Visitor Centre Official Opening

Friday, September 19, 2014

1 to 3:30 p.m., remarks at 2 p.m.

Fort York National Historic Site, 250 Fort York Blvd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada

 &

Grand Opening Celebrations
& On Common Ground Festival

FREE: Admission is FREE All Weekend

September 20 & 21, 2014

12 to 7 p.m.

Fort York National Historic Site, 250 Fort York Blvd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada

“Fort York National Historic Site is the birthplace of urban Toronto and the site of Canada’s largest collection of 1812-era military structures.””

Above, Fort York Visitor Centre is located below and just north of the Gardiner Expressway, at the entrance to the National Historic Site. Rendering by Kearns Mancini Architects and Patkau Architects.
Above, Fort York Visitor Centre is located below and just north of the Gardiner Expressway, at the entrance to the National Historic Site. Rendering by Kearns Mancini Architects and Patkau Architects.

The new visitor centre will be located below and just north of the Gardiner Expressway, at the entrance to the National Historic Site – in alignment with the original shoreline of Lake Ontario. The new building will be Fort York’s front door, welcoming and orienting visitors. Conforming to the Toronto Green Standard, the building will provide Fort York’s first secure exhibit space and enable the display of artifacts from the City’s collection that illustrate the history of the city’s founding site.”

Above, Sectional Perspective of Fort York Visitor Centre. Rendering by Kearns Mancini Architects and Patkau Architects.
Above, Sectional Perspective of Fort York Visitor Centre. Rendering by Kearns Mancini Architects and Patkau Architects.

“In 2014, the 24,000 square foot Fort York Visitor Centre will open on the south side of Garrison Common. Designed by the award-winning Canadian team of Patkau Architects Inc / Kearns Mancini Architects Inc, it will help the Fort tell its 200-year story and orient visitors to the entire 43-acre National Historic Site.

Step through our new front door for On Common Ground, a fabulous festival of culture and community energizing the Visitor Centre and grounds of Fort York with culturally diverse music, dance, theatre, craft-making, kidzone, community village and local food.”

Please click here for the complete itinerary of the Official Opening on September 19.

Also, the following five new exhibitions will open inside the new Visitor Centre:

  • The Great War – in Your Cellar, Closet or Storage Locker!
    Typical Canadian Objects from the First World War
    September 19, 2014 – September 2015
  • Charles Pachter’s “1812: The Art of War” Series: Pop Art Perspectives on Conflict
    September 19, 2014 – September 2015
  • Outfitted for War: Canadian Uniforms and Weapons of the First World War
    September 19, 2014 – September 2015
  • Art and the Great War: A Toronto Perspective
    Featuring works from the City of Toronto’s Artifact, Fine Art & Archival Collections
    September 19, 2014 – September 2015
  • An Act of Timing by Nestor Kruger
    Curated by Rhonda Corvese
    September 19, 2014 – January 2, 2015

For a schedule of FREE events, performances and activities taking place in and around the new Visitor Centre, as well as inside the grounds of Fort York, on September 20 and 21, please click here.

Contact Info

Fort York National Historic Site
250 Fort York Blvd.
416-392-6907
fortyork@toronto.ca

Enjoy! / Amusez-vous!

NEWS RELEASE

September 18, 2014

Official opening of the Fort York Visitor Centre

The Honourable David C. Onley, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, will be joined by Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly, Ontario MPP Han Dong and Chief M. Bryan LaForme of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation to officially open a new visitor centre at Toronto’s Fort York National Historic Site.

Date: Friday, September 19
Time: 1 to 3:30 p.m., remarks at 2 p.m.
Location: Fort York National Historic Site, 250 Fort York Blvd.
Note: At 1 p.m. media are invited to a guided tour of the visitor centre interior.

Events celebrating the official opening include performances by the Fort York Guard, the Kensington Horns, the Métis Fiddler Quartet and Red Pepper Spectacle Arts. During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, there will be a cannon round firing from the Fort York grounds.

The visitor centre opening will herald a new era in the more than 200 year history of Fort York. Designed by Patkau Architects Inc. of Vancouver with Kearns Mancini Architects Inc. of Toronto, the centre’s design received a Canadian Architect magazine Award of Excellence.

On September 20 and 21 the public are invited to a free weekend of performances and exhibitions under the name of On Common Ground in front of the visitor centre and inside the fort’s walls. Five exhibitions will also open inside the visitor centre. More information is available at http://www.toronto.ca/fortified.

Fort York, one of 10 historic sites operated by the City of Toronto, is the birthplace of urban Toronto and the site of Canada’s largest collection of 1812-era military structures. This opening event is co-presented by the Fort York Foundation and the Friends of Fort York.

Toronto is Canada’s largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world’s most livable cities. Toronto is proud to be the Host City for the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms.

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