Village of Yorkville Park
Location Toronto, Canada | Client City of Toronto, Department of Parks and Recreation | Architect Oleson Worland Architects | Size 48,150 square feet | Awards ASLA President’s Award 1994, ASLA President’s Award of Excellence 1996, City of Toronto Urban Design Award 1997, ASLA Landmark Award 2012 | Status Completed 1995 | Images: Alamy, Brent Raymond, DTAH, MSP | Tags Parks and Civic Spaces, Public Realm and Infrastructure
The one-acre Village of Yorkville Park has revitalized the neighborhood. It reflects the diversity of the Canadian landscape, and celebrates the history of the area.
Its design was inspired by the Victorian hobby of collecting. It is made up of a series of zones along Cumberland Avenue, each with a distinct native plant community, providing a combination of textures, colors and light.
In the 1950s, a terraced row of Victorian houses was pulled down for a new east-west subway line, and for 40 years the area was a parking lot. The park’s zones reflect the 11 houses which were once there.
The gardens feature upland communities to the east, including Scots pines arranged in a grid of ringed seating circles, interspersed with slender posts which emit mist and act as beacons at night. These transition into the lowlands, including wetlands crossed by wooden boardwalks, and to the west are shade gardens including a vine-covered pergola. Groups of crab apple, maple, birch, pine, prairie wildflowers, ferns, perennial herbs, alder, herbs, juneberry (amelanchier) and marshland plants offer habitats for wildlife, and provide variety through the changing seasons.
Near the centre is a large paved plaza. Children enjoy climbing on a huge 650-ton granite boulder, around 1 billion years old, which celebrates the Canadian geological shield. Originally from Muskoka, it was taken apart along natural crevices and reconstructed in the park. Nearby is a 4m high ‘rain curtain; in the summer children play with the water, while in winter it becomes an ever-changing sculpture as icicles form, melt and reform.
The park is a popular meeting place, with residents, workers and visitors who can choose to sit on concrete plant rings, stone walls or at movable café chairs and tables. As well as being part of daily life in Yorkville, the park hosts events including the Bloor-Yorkville BIA’s Holiday Magic Tree Lighting in November, Icefest in February, and Music in the Park over the summer.
“It conveys a strong sense of Canadian identity and it’s a four seasons project, like very few are. A remarkable piece of work and just getting better with age.”
2012 Professional Awards Jury
The park won the 2012 American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Landmark Award for international projects built at least 15 years ago that retain their original design integrity and continue to be vital components of the public realm.
“What had been a run-down parking lot, has been transformed into an attractive oasis providing year-round interest. It has changed the entire streetscape along Cumberland Street. In addition to the continued flow of pedestrians along the street and through the park, the new parkland has helped spur renewal activity in the adjacent commercial storefronts. The park now serves as a popular meeting place for residents, business owners and tourists. The thriving retail environment around the park is a testament to the ongoing rejuvenation of Cumberland Street and a sign of a successful park design.”
Brenda Patterson, General Manager, City of Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation
