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Break-waters in front of Sunnyside

Dandy Horse

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Hi, i was just wondering about the concrete break-waters that go from the Humber River east, in front of Sunnyside Beach. What exactly are these there for? and when did they get built?
-Cheers
DH
 
Apparently from 1920-25 - from the Western Waterfront Master Plan p. 42:

4.5.2 Shoreline Protection
The shoreline is lakefill and therefore highly erodible. Although the breakwater provides some level of protection from wave action, beach erosion is clearly visible where there are gaps in the breakwater.

The breakwater itself was largely constructed from 1920 to 1925, is in poor condition, and has two primary functions: to protect the shoreline from erosion and to provide protected water for boating. The ownership of – and responsibility for – the breakwater outside of the Western Beaches Watercourse has not yet been resolved between the City of Toronto, Provincial Government and Federal Government.

And there is a great image of the breakwater under construction from the Sunnyside Bathing Pavillion on p. 32 of the linked document.

AoD
 
thanks! I am mostly interested in this because of the alleged ecoli- dangers in the summer at Sunnyside, and then I looked at google maps and it seems that these things divert some of the Humber water along the shore, rather than right out into the lake, creating stagnation. I'd say leave it around the marina area for boats, but the ones near Humber and Sunnyside should be removed, or at least not rebuilt.
Interesting that this area is lake-fill, how far back is the original shore?
 
. I'd say leave it around the marina area for boats, but the ones near Humber and Sunnyside should be removed, or at least not rebuilt.
Interesting that this area is lake-fill, how far back is the original shore?

Breakwaters are to 'break water" and stop or reduce erosion - if they were not there the shoreline would receed.

If you want to see where the original shoreline was I suggest you look at the many maps on the UT Historic Maps thread or look at:

City Archives: http://www.toronto.ca/archives/maps.htm

TPL: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/digital-archive/

U of T: http://maps.library.utoronto.ca/dvhmp/maps.html
 
dandy:

If you read up on the report I've linked, they are proposing to physically isolate the body of water between the breakwater and the shoreline so that it is more suitable for swimming from a water quality perspective.

AoD
 
Lake Shore Rd. at Sunnyside, 1914. The railway is the hill to the right.

s0372_ss0058_it0311.jpg


And in 1908.

f1244_it0239.jpg
 

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