Leon's at the Roundhouse

We were walking by the Rogers Centre a few afternoons ago, the day before they opened the Leon's at the Roundhouse. Some media coverage and and a podcast discussing it. We have yet to check it out, but below are some pictures we snapped .

See some of the construction workers playing on the mini train

Personally, we remember shopping at all the furniture stores in Toronto before moving down to the Queens Quay area. We wonder if Leon's has Toronto condo-friendly furniture: Hint: smaller spaces, a little hipper for the working and young set.

Doors Open Toronto: Queens Quay's neighbourhood list

As we wrote earlier this week, this Saturday and Sunday marks Doors Open Toronto, that good old event that will let you in many historic buildings. Pictured above is the Roundhouse by Rogers Centre (we wrote it about here).


Here's a full list (find more detailed descriptions and times)

And below are waterfront and sorta waterfront sites. One notable new site is HMCS York and a cool site is the wind turbine generator at Exhibition Place.  Enjoy!


Distillery Historic District - Deaf Culture Centre 55 Mill Street, Building 5, Suite 101
11am to 5pm 4:30 12noon to 5pm 4:30

Distillery Historic District - Kiln Furnace 55 Mill Street Building 36
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 4:45 10 am to 5 pm 4:45

Distillery Historic District - Rack House D 55 Mill Street
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 4:45 10 am to 5 pm 4:45

Distillery Historic District - Scale Tank Loft 55 Mill Street
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 4:45 10 am to 5 pm 4:45

Exhibition Place - Horse Palace - Green Roof 15 Nova Scotia Ave.
10 am to 4 pm 3:30 10 am to 4 pm 3:30

Exhibition Place - Horse Palace - Riding Academy 15 Nova Scotia Ave.
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 10 am to 5 pm

Exhibition Place - Horse Palace - Toronto Animal Services 15 Nova Scotia Ave.
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 5:00 PM 10 am to 5 pm 5:00 PM

Exhibition Place - Horse Palace - Toronto Police Mounted Unit 15 Nova Scotia Ave.
10:00 am - 4:00 pm 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Exhibition Place - Scadding Cabin Exhibition Place
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 4:50 10 am to 5 pm 4:50

Exhibition Place Wind Turbine Generator Yukon Place, Toronto, ON

Fort York Armoury 660 Fleet Street W
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 4:45 10 am to 4 pm 3:45

Fort York National Historic Site 100 Garrison Rd.

Her Majesty's Canadian Ship YORK 659 Lakeshore Blvd. W.
10am-4pm 3:45pm 10am-4pm 3:45pm

John St Roundhouse - Toronto Railway Historical Assoc. 255 Bremner Blvd
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 4:30 4-Oct 3:30

John St. Roundhouse - Steam Whistle Brewing 255 Bremner Blvd.
10 am to 6 pm530pmnoon to 5 pm430pm

Museum of Inuit Art (in the Queen's Quay Terminal building) 207 Queen's Quay West
10 am to 6 pm 5:30 PM 10 am to 6 pm 5:30 PM

Union Station 65 Front Street West
10 am to 4 pm 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Toronto Life's 50 Reasons To Love Toronto Now (and 5 reasons to love the waterfront)

In the June issue of Toronto Life, it lists 50 reasons why they love Toronto right now.

Lists are, well, arbitrary. We can imagine the staff of Toronto Life gathering at a story meeting thinking up ideas. Maybe they have a map of Toronto so they try to cover the city. Who knows.

Anyways, from our boring but safe banks (No. 1) to the number of same-sex couples (No. 4) to our enviro-mayor (No. 35) they hit just enough topics to seem to cover the city.

So what about the waterfront community and Queens Quay? The Waterfront Revitalization comes in at No 34, with the magazine citing the HTO Park. Number 43 is that everyone bikes and everyone knows that they have to bike through the waterfront to get from east or west to downtown. And they point to Porter (No. 22) as a civilizated way to travel "we're ready to swap our protest for praise". Finally, at No. 13, they point out to the ethnic food (injera) at nearby Roundhouse Park and the CN Tower's LEDs make it cool (No. 12).

We have to say we agree that there are cool aspects to the waterfront.

Steamwhistle building (John Street Roundhouse) of cultural interest

Either than the fact that it houses precious cargo - beer! -- the Steamwhistle building (John Street Roundhouse) and the surrounding buildings have been declared a "cultural heritage value or interest." Nice to have and area to seek relief from yet another modern glass-built condominium (we know, don't throw stones if you live in glass houses and we all do here on Queens Quay.)

This fine collection of buildings -- the roundhouse, the water tower -- is of interesting heritage value and shows, of course, the industrial past of this city. What we're not sure is what exactly a sand and coal loader is. Anyone have any ideas? The plot of land is actually pretty desirable as they've built up a park to surround it.

There's also this building that was moved to the location -- it says 'Cabin D' -- we think.



The roundhouse's tenant, Steamwhistle, has opened up the doors of its buildings to corporate clients (many a Christmas party has been held there) or for public events (It was used a post-race party area for St. Patrick's day road race or for a gallery).

We think the Steamwhistle building is a fine addition to other Queens Quay landmarks: The Redpath building, which is still being used, and the Malting plant building.

Here's a report (PDF to html) that sums up the interesting history of the place

"The John Street Roundhouse was completed in 1931 as a semi-circular structure with 32 bays that originally serviced steam locomotives (and later diesel engines). The Canadian Pacific Railway operated the facility until 1982, and closed the building in 1986. The property at 222 Bremner Boulevard was listed on the City of Toronto Inventory of Heritage Properties in 1984 and designated under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act in 1996 by By-law No. 395-96. In 1990, the federal government designated the John Street Roundhouse as a National Historic Site."

"The property is owned by the City of Toronto, where the John Street Roundhouse is now a feature in Roundhouse Park. The first 11 bays of the Roundhouse were dismantled and reconstructed as part of the Convention Centre expansion. Since the building closed as a railway facility, it has been used for the storage of rail-related equipment and rolling stock."

Beginning in 1997, the City sought an outside party to restore and reuse the Roundhouse.

Two years later, City Council authorized a 20-year lease with Steam Whistle Brewing Incorporated to operate a specialty brewing operation and retail outlet in Bays 1 to 11. In 2002, City Council authorized a head lease to a consortium comprised of O and Y Properties Incorporated, Headline Media and Tenen Developing and Producing Limited, and the amending of the lease with Steam Whistle to allow the brewery to acquire additional space in the building.

The official notice passed in December:

In the matter of the Ontario Heritage Act
R.S.O. 1990 Chapter 0.18
City of Toronto, Province of Ontario

Notice of passing of by-law

222 Bremner Boulevard (CPR John Street Roundhouse, Turntable, Sand and Coal Loader and Water Tower)

Take notice that the Council of the City of Toronto has passed By-law No. 1143-2008 to designate 222 Bremner Boulevard (CPR John Street Roundhouse, Turntable, Sand and Coal Loader and Water Tower) (Trinity-Spadina, Ward 20) as being of cultural heritage value or interest.

Dated at Toronto this 5th day of December, 2008.

Acting City Clerk