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Bookended by OCAD University to the east and the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) immediately to the north, Grange Park is just over a month away from the official re-opening. In our last update in early May, the bulk of construction was wrapping up following just over a year's worth of renovations to the site, with outdoor furniture installation underway and the showpiece children's playground—built by Earthscape—nearing completion. This Saturday, the famous Two Large Forms by Henry Moore, a prominent art installation piece at the southwest corner of Dundas and McCaul streets, was transferred over to the newly renovated park.
While the grand re-opening isn't scheduled until July 8th, the park's soft opening is anticipated to be in mid-June. Coinciding with the scheduled date, construction crews closed off McCaul Street south of Dundas on June 3, to individually move the pieces beginning at 7:00 AM. Lifted and then secured onto separate trailers, the bronzes were transferred to their new location in the park. There they placed onto the pins of the new base, situated to the west side of the circular path int he heart of the park. Now on a ground level base, the newly positioned sculptures are much more accessible to view from a 360° perspective, and now accessible to visitors with wheelchairs or other mobility devices.
The Art Gallery recently tweeted that a new piece will soon take the place of Two Large Forms at the McCaul/Dundas corner.
The revitalization of Grange Park is an $11 million venture, funded in partnership by the City of Toronto and the Weston Family. The park, already a popular space for OCAD students and local residents, will bring much needed parkland back into use in, just outside of Toronto's Downtown core. Designed by PFS Studios (with Thinc Design as Executive Architects), new park includes playgrounds, water features, more permeable walking paths, a dedicated space for a dog run, 60 new trees in addition to the existing stock, new flowerbeds, and a new central gathering space.
The project also features an expansion of the park through the addition of a former surface parking lot that divided Grange Park from the open space under OCAD U's tabletop Sharp Centre for Design. As a result, there is now a seamless transition to Butterfield Park and on to McCaul Street. The expansion has increased in the overall park space by 10%.
We will keep you up to date as the July 8th official opening approaches. Additional information and renderings of Grange Park can be found in the project's dataBase file, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Feel free to write a comment using the space provided on this page, or join in the ongoing conversation in the associated Forum thread.
