HTO Park (stylized as HTO) is an urban beach in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that opened in 2007. It is located west of Harbourfront Centre, on Lake Ontario.
| HTO Park | |
|---|---|
 HTO in June 2019 | |
  Location of the park in Toronto | |
| Type | Urban beach |
| Location | Toronto, Ontario |
| Coordinates | 43°38′15″N 79°23′17″W / 43.637436°N 79.388037°W |
| Area | 22,993 square metres (247,500 sq ft)[1] |
| Created | 2007 |
| Operated by | City of Toronto |
History
editThe park is built on quays once used by ships berthing in Toronto's Inner Harbour.
The park consists of two sections:
- HTO Park West is built on the eastern half of Maple Leaf Quay
- HTO Park East is built on the old Peter Street Slip
The two quays are concrete man-made infill during the 1920s with the project completed by 1929. The eastern portion was home to Maple Leaf Mills Silos until 1983. The western half was home to a smaller industrial business with a small office structure. During the 1980s, a condo project (now known as Harbour Terrace) was built on part of Maple Leaf Quay while the rest stood empty as a parking lot. The eastern portion lay empty in the 1980s and 1990s.
Name
editHTO is a play on H
2O, the chemical formula for water, since "TO" is commonly used to refer to Toronto and it is a waterfront park.
Design
edit
HTO Park was designed by landscape architecture firm Janet Rosenberg & Studio, Claude Cormier Architectes Paysagistes Inc. and Hariri Pontarini Architects. The park incorporates elements of a park, beach, and golf course. The park's standout feature is a sandpit that holds Muskoka chairs and enormous fixed yellow metal umbrellas. The umbrellas were designed to evoke the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.[1] At night, the park knolls are illuminated by LED lights.
In 2016, HTO Park was included in The Landscape Performance Series Case Study Briefs, a database of over 200 exemplary built projects with quantified environmental, economic and social benefits.[2]
Area
editHTO Park East is also home to the Toronto Fire Services Station (Marine Unit) 334 (built 2000), Toronto EMS Station 36.
See also
edit- List of Toronto parks
- Other beaches and waterfront parks:
References
edit- ^ a b "A day at the urban beach" (PDF). Toronto Star. 2007-06-06. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ^ "HTO Park". Landscape Performance Series. Landscape Architecture Foundation. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
External links
edit