Toronto St Lawrence Market North | 25.3m | 5s | City of Toronto | Rogers Stirk Harbour

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Nice project but I wish Toronto did one thing differently; (Wider Sidewalks). This last photo is a great illustration where we see the wide sidewalk lined with trees/patios just to the east of the St. Lawrence N under construction. I don't see space where trees can be planted along this new building on Jarvis. Imagine if Yonge street was lined with trees, how beautiful it would be. This is a problem in planning Toronto since its inception and has not been fixed over time.
 
and here is one of the 'arm' going...

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Nice project but I wish Toronto did one thing differently; (Wider Sidewalks). This last photo is a great illustration where we see the wide sidewalk lined with trees/patios just to the east of the St. Lawrence N under construction. I don't see space where trees can be planted along this new building on Jarvis. Imagine if Yonge street was lined with trees, how beautiful it would be. This is a problem in planning Toronto since its inception and has not been fixed over time.
The City (and neighbourhoods) DO try to get wider sidewalks and the one at 158 Front was made even wider by investing section 37 $$ to widen it and the building was not allowed to go to the property line. There WERE street trees in west side of Jarvis at the North Market and I think they will be replanted - whether they will do well is another matter! The site for the new Market is VERY tight and there is no way to make a wider sidewalk without making the street one-lane each way and THAT is really not feasible. When you are re-building an old City you cannot start afresh. When it's a 'new' site (look at West Don Lands) you can do things properly - or the 'properly' we see in 2022, I bet those who laid out Front/Jarvis in the late 1700s though their planning for street widths etc was 'timeless" too!
 
Nice project but I wish Toronto did one thing differently; (Wider Sidewalks). This last photo is a great illustration where we see the wide sidewalk lined with trees/patios just to the east of the St. Lawrence N under construction. I don't see space where trees can be planted along this new building on Jarvis. Imagine if Yonge street was lined with trees, how beautiful it would be. This is a problem in planning Toronto since its inception and has not been fixed over time.
You mention the patios and wider sidewalk on Front just east of Jarvis. It was not always like this! There used to be quite narrow sidewalks and there as the Market Weigh-house in the middle of Front Street and a right-turn channel for traffic turning north on Jarvis. This was removed in the early 1970s when the 'artwork' was moved there and the sidewalk widened a bit. Then in 2012 or 2013 (with Section 37 funds) the sidewalk was further widened and the median installed going east from Jarvis to George (the median west of Jarvis dates from, I think, the 1980s.) City building (and re-building) is an incremental process and from what I remember, the very idea of on-sidewalk patios was a totally foreign thing in Toronto until about 1990. Maybe OK in Montreal but NOT in Toronto the Good!

Here is the turn channel from 1970s:

Jarvis-Front 1970s.jpg


Here is the weigh-house - 1950s):

weigh.jpg
 
You mention the patios and wider sidewalk on Front just east of Jarvis. It was not always like this! There used to be quite narrow sidewalks and there as the Market Weigh-house in the middle of Front Street and a right-turn channel for traffic turning north on Jarvis. This was removed in the early 1970s when the 'artwork' was moved there and the sidewalk widened a bit. Then in 2012 or 2013 (with Section 37 funds) the sidewalk was further widened and the median installed going east from Jarvis to George (the median west of Jarvis dates from, I think, the 1980s.) City building (and re-building) is an incremental process and from what I remember, the very idea of on-sidewalk patios was a totally foreign thing in Toronto until about 1990. Maybe OK in Montreal but NOT in Toronto the Good!

Here is the turn channel from 1970s:

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Here is the weigh-house - 1950s):

View attachment 412589
Thanks for these photos and explanations. Glad to see progress has been done over the years and like every Torontonian, would love to see such progress in every inch of our city.
 
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Thanks for these photos and explanations. Glad to see progress has been done over the years and like every Torontonian, would love to see such progress in every inch of our city.
Thanks, progress on things like streetscape depends on citizen involvement and 'vigilance'. Get involved with your neighbourhood association, email your councillor, pointing out locations that could be improved (removal of 'boulevard parking' being comparatively easy.) When you hear of a new development in your area write the Planner asking for better sidewalks, proper tree pits etc etc. as part of the site plan . As your Councillor to get Section 37 funds to improve public spaces. Of course, you will not win every battle but this kind of citizen pressure DOES help move things along!
 

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