Photos of Doors Open 2012

Now that the doors have closed on most Doors Open 2012 locations, it's time to share the photos. Along with our staff photographers, a host of folks fromt he blogTO Flickr pool were out and about this weekend shooting those venues particularly well suited to documentation. The results remain a snippet of what was on offer — there were more than 135 buildings on view — but a beautiful one, nevertheless.

Li Ka Shing Knowledge Centre — Photos by Morris Lum

We were pretty excited to get into this contemporary research centre, which has been lauded for the manner in which the architectural elements fosters an interdisciplinary approach to medical study. Will it win a PUG this year?

Fire Station 315 — Photos by Libby Roach

First built in 1878, this majestic building is a true landmark in the College and Bathurst area, and still responds to thousands of emergency calls annually with its two trucks, the P315 (pumper) and A315 (aerial, with ladder) serving the Dovercourt, University, Bloor Street and Queen Street West corridors. Improvements to the building were made in 1922 and in 1972 a major overhaul involved the demolition of the original bay, replacing it with two expanded bays to accommodate the much larger fire trucks. The clock tower is still used today, though only to dry out the hoses in between runs.

City Hall — Photos by Christian Bobak

City Hall is actually quite accessible to the public, but two areas that were of much interest this weekend were Mayor Ford's office (nice rugs) and the observation deck in the east tower. We would have liked more of a chance to snoop around Ford's desk, but that wasn't really possible. Still, the whole area looked kind of, um, unused.

Osgoode Hall — Photos by Scott Snider

Osgoode Hall is an old Doors Open favourite, but it's also one of the oldest, most important and beautiful buildings in the city. First constructed in 1829, the attention to detail — particularly when it comes to the ceiling work — is just profound. Here's what the building looked like in 1856.

From the blogTO Flickr pool

The following photos were shot by the talented members of our Flickr pool. Add yours and we'll continue to build the gallery.

Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library via dtstuff9

Native Child and Family Services of Toronto Exterior via dtstuff9

Interior dtstuff9

St. Lawrence Hall via dtstuff9

Campbell House via Jackman Chiu

The vault at One King West via Jackman Chiu

PCC streetcar at Roncesvalles Carhouse via Greg David

And a Peter Witt via Jer1961

Metropolitan United Church via stvntal

Bloor Hot Docs Cinema projection room via Alfred Hermida

Osgoode Hall ceiling via Dom's World

R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant via syncros