Lighting Up History Around St. Lawrence Market

Posted by Roger Cullman
Filed in City
November 7, 2009

Heritage Lights in St. Lawrence Market neighbourhoodThe city of Toronto launched a new night lighting initiative, highlighting heritage and historic buildings in and around the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood Friday night.

Perhaps a little overshadowed by Toronto winning the bid for the 2015 Pan American Games, this celebration was somewhat subdued. That didn't stop about 100 of us from getting a small tour of these buildings by local historian Bruce Bell.

St. Lawrence Market, St. Lawrence Hall, the Flatiron building, St. James Cathedral and the south façades along Front Street (south of Berczy Park) now look much more majestic at night now, highlighted with theatrical LED lighting.

Heritage Lights in St. Lawrence Market neighbourhoodOntario's Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman was on hand at the ceremony, where they flicked the switch, shortly after it got dark.

Heritage Lights in St. Lawrence Market neighbourhoodThe Gooderham "Flatiron" Building, built in 1892 by architect David Roberts, was among the historical buildings to get the LED treatment.

Heritage Lights in St. Lawrence Market neighbourhoodThe lighting demonstration showcased what this Heritage Lighting Project will grow to become. While the majority of the lighting is on display for the weekend's events only, some of the new lighting is a permanent fixture.

Heritage Lights in St. Lawrence Market neighbourhoodThe Heritage Lighting Project is part of St. Lawrence Market's 205th anniversary celebrations.

Heritage Lights in St. Lawrence Market neighbourhoodToronto Hydro is organizing a festive light exchange in conjunction with this new display of lighting in the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood.

If you bring in two strings of energy-guzzling incandescent lights, they'll give you a replacement string of free LED lights. The exchange will be held in front of the north market on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Heritage Lights in St. Lawrence Market neighbourhoodPerhaps the most majestic display was saved for last. When they flipped the switch, The St. James Cathedral lit up the sky, its bells loudly chiming into the chilly night.

Roger Cullman.

rek on November 7, 2009 at 11:21 AM

Is this permanent then? Isn't it a waste of energy (even if they're LEDs or whatever)? Doesn't it contradict the kill-the-lights, save-the-birds initiative, somewhat?

Morga on November 7, 2009 at 11:29 AM

Lookin good, I could care less about the power consumption. We are finally starting to highlight what we should be proud of. Right on!

cocoa on November 7, 2009 at 12:39 PM

Looks fantastic.

K. on November 7, 2009 at 12:40 PM

Looks good, but it's a shame they don't do this in a more affordable area.

Nat on November 7, 2009 at 1:16 PM , replying to a comment from rek

The point of kill the lights save the birds is mostly office towers; birds fly into lit up windows not lit up concrete.

Sean on November 7, 2009 at 1:50 PM

The city of lights, Paris France better watch out! Toronto is lighting up its history!!! Bird lovers, don't worry, the birds get lost hitting the skyscrapers and not low buildings. Hope this progresses from every Friday night to ALL nights.

John Miller on November 8, 2009 at 5:20 AM

I thought there were money issues at City Hall, guess I was wrong.

nurk on November 8, 2009 at 11:02 AM

Light pollution is why we never see stars in the night sky.

citypainter on November 8, 2009 at 11:15 AM

It's a shame to see all the negativity here. This beautiful historic neighbourhood is filled with incredible buildings that many of us walk by every day without appreciating. I missed the opening, but in the photos the lighting looks very tasteful. Most of the lighting is only temporary. Toronto in the winter can be a grey and dreary place; a little bit of colour and light goes a long way towards making a neighbourhood feel welcoming and safe. Summarizing this initiative as mere "light pollution" seems unfairly harsh.

Eric S. Smith on November 8, 2009 at 2:22 PM , replying to a comment from citypainter

Light pollution, energy use, and winter gloom would all be mitigated if they had the lights on for, say, three or four hours after sunset.

Connolly on November 8, 2009 at 4:07 PM

Hate to come across as an ass, but night photography requires the use of a tripod. Not only are these photos awful (technically and cmpositionally), but they barely illustrate just how illuminated this area really is. Too bad, I would have loved to see some good ones.

heartTO on November 9, 2009 at 9:50 AM

Awesome! More please!

MelS on November 9, 2009 at 10:28 AM , replying to a comment from Connolly

That's the first thing i noticed with this article. The blurry photos. I've taken sharper photos even without a tripod. The blur was distracting but I think they were purely for illustrative purposes anyways. In any case good=article poor=photos

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Jason on November 9, 2009 at 3:39 PM

Awesome. Toronto does not have a good track record with properly lighting it's few, but key, historical buildings. This is a vast improvement.

The Ontario Legislature needs to come next though. So strange to have "ceremonial" University Avenue end in a blur of darkness when all of us that live in the city konw that a big honkin' important building is located there.

Peter Goering on November 10, 2009 at 9:47 AM

Congratulations Toronto for your heritage lighting but be aware that a little knowledge about the effects of light pollution on the night skies can be minimized by controlling up-light. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could call ourselves "the city of nights" rather than the "city of lights" by carefully controlling ALL city lighting, saving energy and the night environment to boot without sacrificing our safety.

Bongo on November 11, 2009 at 6:00 PM

You're in a megacity... if you wanna see stars, go outside the city. It's not rocket science.

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