Fort York, What Is All the Fuss About?

Commemorating history has no purpose for dead people. They don’t care anymore. It is not intended for the sake of folks who lived heroic or ordinary lives in times past—they are long gone.

It is about us, today, and our kids, tomorrow.

We look at the road travelled because it helps us understand where we are going. Because it gives our journey a sense of purpose and direction. Because it grounds us. It is in the context of understanding our time and place that our individual journeys gain perspective. Or so we like to think. So…does it really matter that a battle was fought 200 years ago on this spot, to our lives today?

To get an answer, I talk to my kids. My 11 year-old spent the night at Fort York as part of a reading club outing. My 9 year-old was recently able to dress up as a soldier and parade around the fort in a red coat. They tell me: “we would have been part of the USA”… “sometimes, kids my age had to fight”… “the food was terrible.” It becomes clear to me that my children have gained perspective of their national identity, their privileged childhood, and a slightly-greater appreciation for my home cooking, among other things. As they talk about their impressions of the fort, I can see them mirror an understanding of themselves.

Now, it is my turn to stand on the grounds of the fort and reflect on how times have changed. Open spaces have transitioned from battlefields to port lands to parklands. A sense of expanse and seclusion has been replaced by the clamour of urban vibrancy. A defensive ethos has been replaced by a welcoming and celebratory vocation. Even the shoreline has receded and been infilled with expressways, condos, and one striking library. And, somewhere in the midst of all of this is a story that perseveres and continues to be written.

It is clear to me that conserving the 41-acre grounds of Fort York is about much more than keeping a memory alive. It is about accepting the legacy we inherit, for building a city and defining ourselves. It is the inheritance of our generation. How we choose to leverage it or squander it is up to us. What we manage to pass on to our children is also up to us.

So, the question remains: will the lives of our children be richer by how we invest or extinguish the legacies we receive? To this question, the new Visitor Centre at Fort York is a resounding yes. It is a declaration in favour of building a city upon our endowments. It draws from times past to give us a mirror upon which we can understand ourselves and imagine a future. It is also reinventing an extremely riddled juncture of the city—under an expressway, across a former shoreline and palisade—as a renewed crossroads. This time for children, families, tourists, residents, and visitors, as they make their way from downtown to the waterfront, from the new library to a park. It is healing a series of gaps in the urban fabric—alongside gaps in our sense of identity—enhancing a sense of place and quality of life. It is a renewed beacon at the centre of our city (formerly at the edge) that anchors a new neighbourhood and a renewed sense of Toronto as a welcoming, vibrant, robust populace, still “fighting” for a brighter future—bridging from the military past with contemporary design by Patkau Architects and Kearns Mancini.

So, what’s the take home?

Everyone will take home a different experience from visiting Fort York—and I urge you to visit. One particular notion I would like to put on the table is the importance of investing in our cultural institutions. This is not a moralistic enterprise. It is not something we do because it is the “right” thing to do. Rather, we do it because we have a tremendous amount to gain.

Think about all the places in the world that you enjoy visiting. Close your eyes for a minute and picture yourself in one of them. Now, ask yourself: why are you there? In all likelihood you have chosen to be there because of its strong sense of place and character; because it has a history you can relate to; because it is animated and vibrant; because it is beautiful.

In Toronto we are at a crossroads. We can embrace our future with enthusiasm and work tenaciously to deliver a grand vision, or we can incrementally chip away at our legacy till the authenticity melts away. The Fort York Visitor Centre clearly opts for the former. But, it is not a one-step journey. In fact, it requires each and every one of us to support the enterprise, to carry a torch for the Centre, the Fort, the neighbourhood, and the city.

Commemorating history is not about romanticizing a distant past, it is a call to action and an open question: what is the sense of self and the character of city you wish to bequeath to your children?

Antonio is a founding partner of DIALOG. Acting at the intersection of urban design, planning, and architecture, his work with cities, communities, and campuses is characterized by an engaging and collaborative process. He has worked on a number of city-building projects and heritage districts and acted as a juror for the Fort York Visitor Centre competition. agp@dialogdesign.ca @aurbanist