A Graveyard for Architecture

Back in 2014 while visiting Budapest, Hungary, we visited Memento Park, where statues from the Communist era were preserved, and I wrote about it in a post called “Stalin’s Boots”  . I discovered that Toronto has a very similar park, not preserving Communist Statues, but instead preserving pieces of significant buildings that were torn down to be replaced with Toronto’s  modern skyscrapers. 

In the 1050’s, many of the old stone buildings in downtown Toronto were being torn down to be replaced with modern office towers, and although many of these building were historically significant, laws preserving some of the beautiful old architecture of Toronto was not enacted until the 1970’s, so these buildings were just being demolished. 

Fortunately, Rosa and Spencer Clark, who owned the Guild Inn on the outskirts of Toronto in Scarborough, started taking away remnants of these historic building and preserving them on the grounds of their estate. They hired an architect and a stone mason who found ways to keep some of these pieces of history scattered around the Guild estate. In most cases it is simply columns, or sculptures standing alone, but they also designed and built a Greek outdoor theatre from remnants of the demolished Bank of Toronto building. 

I found that this park was listed in my 111 places book, and although it was a ways out of the downtown, I did want to go visit, so a walk, a subway ride and a 21 stop bus trip took us to Guild Park and Gardens in Scarborough. The old Guild Inn is a beautiful building, although not open to the public and no longer operated as an inn, it provides a backdrop to the gardens and the preserved architecture. There is a large open lawn in front where some pieces stand and behind, paths wander through the gardens and trees allow you to see some of the preserved building pieces. It is a bit odd to see these stone columns, arches and gateways standing alone among trees and flowers in the garden, it is a peaceful and beautiful setting and it was interesting to see these bits and pieces of the old buildings. 

In writing this post, I did a little research, as there are no plaques and guides to what the building bits are, so Wikipedia provided information on the many building which contributed to the collection amassed by the Clarks on the estate. Over 30 old buildings have bits of their history saved in the Guild Park and Gardens. 

And one more place checked off in the 111 Places in Toronto That You Must Not Miss.

The Greek outdoor theatre

One of only pieces that had a sign