City of Toronto considers $1.64M glass viewing feature for 1831 drain
A portal looking onto a drain from 1831 would cost an additional $1.64M, on top of the north market’s $91.5M budget

TheStar.com
Sept. 19, 2017
Tamara Harris

The City of Toronto is considering pouring $1.64 million into a drain.

But not just any drain.

The city’s historic central drain from 1831 is one of many archaeological discoveries made during the St. Lawrence north market’s renovation near Front and Jarvis Streets.

The proposal for a glass “viewing portal” looking onto the drain under the new north market redevelopment would be visible “through a glass covered interpretation area,” the report to committee says.

The drain feature would cost $1.96 million and the existing redevelopment budget could fund it but construction would require an additional $1.64 million.

The government management committee will consider the proposal on Sept. 25, followed by city council on Oct. 2.

The current north market redevelopment budget is $91.5 million and includes 250 underground parking spaces, a five-storey atrium, a market hall and mezzanine, court services and courtrooms.

Four markets have sat on the current north market site. Drainage systems, walls, storage cellars and support columns have been uncovered from the 1820, 1831, 1851 and 1904 periods.

Heritage Preservation Services hoped to create a comprehensive glass floor over the 1831 drain, but the original $5.3 million plan fell through.

The glass floor plan was not feasible because of the technical requirements for a floor that would bear traffic, while remaining see-through and not slippery.

Suzanne Kavanagh, president of the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association, called the project a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to showcase Toronto’s heritage.

“We’ve got some naysayers walking around saying, you want to celebrate a pipe?” she said. “But there is a story to go with it.”

Kavanagh said the total cost of the redevelopment puts the viewing portal’s $1.96 million cost into perspective, especially since preservation requirements increase costs.

Larry Wayne Richards, who spent nine years on the board of the Ontario Heritage Trust and is a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, called the notion of preserving Toronto’s early history “a wonderful idea.”

Richards called the archeological discoveries amazing — but said he wishes it was more comprehensively integrated into planning.

“My concern is that it’s going to become a kind of after-the-fact footnote, costing a couple million dollars, and it’s not even the original structure,” he said.

Still, some consider the project money down the drain.

Richard J. Anobile, who sits on the board of directors for the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association, would rather see the funds redirected to policing in the area.

“We’re crying out for lack of funds and here we are, wanting to spend $1.64 million dollars on exposing a storm drain,” Anobile said.

“I appreciate what one wants to do historically, but sometimes the present, I think, has to take a little bit more of a dominance over the past, especially for the people living in the area.”