Toronto heritage property is now being excavated for a new subway station

Work on the forthcoming Ontario Line subway is taking place before our eyes at sites across downtown Toronto, with future stations at key intersections like Queen-Spadina, Queen-Yonge and King-Bathurst slowly coming to fruition.

As enormous caverns months in the making are dug out at these locations to prepare for the new stops and the tunnels that will connect them, crews are just starting major excavation work at one other nearby corner that the line will serve — a site that has been far more controversial due to its history.

While the juncture of Queen St. and University Ave. has long been home to Line 1 Yonge-University's Osgoode Station, work on the attached Ontario Line stop will, to the dismay of some, infringe upon the previously-preserved Osgoode Hall property on the northeast corner.

Built in 1832, the landmark building and its grounds have over the years been home to the province's first law school, military barracks, the Law Society of Ontario, the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Appeal, among other things.

The address also serves as a National Historic Site and is designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, recognizable for its 158-year-old cast iron fence with unique kissing gate and mix of Georgian Palladian and Neoclassical design.

The building's 2.4-hectare grounds also boast (or, boasted) some of Toronto's oldest and most beautiful trees — trees that were the basis of a court injunction to stop Metrolinx from razing them in 2023.

Despite the pushback, the property was cleared later that year, though work on the Ontario Line station entrance was still years away.

While there was such a pause in construction that vegetation started growing back after the rushed tree removals, two new updates from Metrolinx outline the latest stages of progress kicking off this week.

After the completion of foundation piling and other prep work in the spring, an acoustic shelter is now going up around the excavation shaft on the northeast corner, along with an overhead crane inside it.

Once the giant tent-like structure is complete, full excavation activities at Osgoode Hall will start as early as the end of this month. Soft soil will be removed to a depth of up to 17 metres, while walls around the hole are braced and materials lowered down for the formation of the new station.

Residents may notice more trucks in the area in the coming weeks, with work taking place around the clock. Some overnight sidewalk, cycle path and traffic lane closures are also set to start on July 24.

The same project is a few steps ahead at the southwest side of the intersection, where pieces of another historic building, 205 Queen St. W., were actually relocated for preservation while the station takes shape underneath.