Residents’ group organizes cleanup for Allan Gardens Nov. 23

Eric Morse –

Who’s speaking up for Allan Gardens?” Architect Michael McClelland wants to know.

The Gardens, one of the largest Downtown parks, was founded in 1858 and received its present name in 1901. Its Victorian-style conservatory, c. 1910, famous for seasonal displays, was originally christened the Palm House. Additions were made in the ‘20s and ‘50s. The University of Toronto Greenhouse was added to the north side in 2004.

But—aside from being managed by Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation like every other city park—Allan Gardens has no natural constituency or support group as several other major parks do. In many ways, it’s a 150-year-old community orphan. Riverdale Farm has a stewardship group. Brand-new Corktown Common is forming a support group (Friends of Corktown Common) and the assorted groups who care about Allan Garden now feel that its time has come. The questions are, what should be done, and by whom? Local resident and professor emeritus of York University Joe Green repeated McClelland’s question—“Who’s the ‘we’?”

Green raised the question at a  Friends of Allan Gardens meeting, convened by councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam last month at city hall.  About 28 interested neighbours attended including representatives from Parks People, Garden District Neighbourhood Association, McGill-Granby NA, residents of the large condos on Carlton and Homewood streets to the north and several faculty from Ryerson who live in the area. It was the second meeting of the group following one in late July.

Michael McClelland presented a brief history of the Gardens that led to the evolution of the Friends group. A principal in heritage architects firm ERA, McClelland has been involved with the Gardens for about 10 years, at first in transplanting the UofT greenhouse to its present site. He then became involved with the Toronto Master Plan for the Gardens published in 2006. When Wong-Tam began her public consultations on the area, ERA proposed annual art competitions for the gardens to help promote engagement with the community, and McClelland told The Bulletin he was hugely pleased that the Oct. 1 meeting suggested putting a performance space of some sort in the Gardens as a focus for community activity.

One of the major impediments to getting Allan Gardens reintegrated into the community is the massive capital works project that has been under way on the Gerrard St. edge of the Gardens for some years now, called the “Gerrard-Elm-D’Arcy-River St. Watermain Replacement” project. The site is the size of two football fields and is enclosed by a hoarding decorated by a mural created by aboriginal artists in the neighbourhood.

The meeting divided into four discussion groups, which brought back a number of comments, recommendations and proposals for performance space, clusters of food trucks, expanded greenhouse seating, contemporary art, chess tables, communal gardens (of which some already exist in front of the greenhouse), programming outreach to local institutions like Ryerson, the National Ballet School and Loblaws, and a fountain fundraiser.

Other comments focused on security, including better lighting and more benches with centre arm-rest dividers. There was a consensus that there has to be more initiative on “take back the Gardens” activity by local residents.

At the end of the session Wong-Tam and the Garden District Residents’ Association announced that they will organize a community clean-up on Nov. 23. Contact gdrainfo@gardendistrict.ca for more information about the cleanup.

For more information on the Friends of Allan Gardens visit bit.ly/18Zb3OU.