Queens Quay (Toronto)

125px Queens Quay
290px Looking east down Queens Quay, next to Ann Tindal Park.
Major junctions
West end:	Stadium Road
East end:	Parliament St
Location
Major cities:	Toronto
Nearby arterial roads ← Lake Ontario Queens Quay Lake Shore Boulevard →

Queens Quay is a prominent street in the Harbourfront neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The street was originally commercial in nature due to the many working piers along the waterfront; parts of it have been extensively rebuilt in since the 1970s with parks, condominiums, retail, and institutional and cultural development.

History

The road supplanted both Front Street and Lake Shore Boulevard as the most southerly east-west corridor in the city when it was created on reclaimed land in the inner harbour. Sometime after 1919 to the early 1920s the inner harbour was filled in and new slips were created.

File:Queen's Quay in 1910.jpg

Queens Quay in 1910

Queens Quay continues to go through a significant transformation. Originally, it served as an access road for the various ports and slips in the inner harbour. The street between Yonge Street and Parliament Street was home to storage buildings devoted to trade on the Saint Lawrence Seaway, major industries such as the Redpath Sugar Refinery and Victory Mills, as well as small commercial enterprises. However, the mainly industrial uses along Queens Quay were slowly replaced by commercial and residential uses, mainly high-rise condominiums. Between 1975 and 1979, a cluster of large, concrete towers were erected at the foot of Bay Street, south of Queens Quay; these included the Westin Harbour Castle and Harbour Square. In 1990, the 40-storey York Quay towers were built and remain the tallest buildings on Queens Quay. The scale and density of these and subsequent high-rise development along Queens Quay were criticized for blocking the lake and failing to provide a welcoming realm for visitors. In 1999, the Toronto Transit Commission opened a dedicated streetcar right-of-way in the median from Bay Street to Bathurst Street.

In 2001, the city planners set out to improve Queens Quay by reclaiming public space for pedestrians and cyclists. This resulted in the Waterfront Toronto Central Waterfront Public Realm International Design Competition, which was completed in 2006. In August 2006, the city closed the two eastbound lanes, replacing them with bike lanes as part of the Martin Goodman Trail and additional pedestrian space. The experiment resulted in an improved public realm and more visitors to the overall waterfront area.

In 2009, Waterfront Toronto announced its plans to turn Queens Quay into a grand lakefront boulevard by placing streetcar lanes in the centre, traffic only on the north side and a pedestrian-focused space on the south side. The plan will restrict Queen's Quay to two traffic lanes, on the north side of the streetcar tracks, similar to the design of the 2006 experiment. Additionally, the plan calls for the beautification and extension of the Harbourfront streetcar line along Queen's Quay East between Yonge and Cherry Street. The transit right-of-way will be grass-covered.

In 2013 two open spaces opens, Ontario Square and Canada Square. The former is an open public space and the latter a green area. Both replace the former parking lot, which is now underground.

Transportation

Queens Quay is served by two streetcar lines, operating on a dedicated right-of-way. The 509 Harbourfront and 510 Spadina both terminate at Union Station and run along Queens Quay from Bay Street, westward. At Spadina Avenue, the 510 heads north to Spadina Station, and the 509 continues west, bound for the Exhibition Loop.

Originally there was to have been an underground station in front of the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel and the Toronto Island Ferry Docks, with underground access to the hotel. This plan was cancelled when the hotel management became unwilling to share in the cost, and a smaller station was built around the corner under Bay Street.

Plans to add a Queens Quay East light rail line are the subject of a class environmental assessment. Various bus routes currently serve portions of the eastern portion of Queens Quay: the 6 Bay operates from Bay Street to Jarvis Street, the 75 Sherbourne operates from Jarvis Street to Sherbourne Street, and the 97 Yonge and 320 Yonge Blue Night buses operate from Bay Street to Yonge Street.

Landmarks

Landmark	Cross street	Notes	Image
Little Norway Park	Bathurst		100px
Canada Malting Silos	Bathurst	Abandoned storage silos since 1980s; germination and kiln buildings demolished 2010	100px
Toronto Music Garden	Spadina
Walter Carsen Centre	Spadina	headquarters of the National Ballet of Canada	100px
Empire Sandy	Spadina
HTO Park	Spadina
Toronto Waterfront WaveDecks	Spadina, Rees, Lower Simcoe		100px
Harbourfront Centre	Lower Simcoe	a cultural centre built by the federal government as part of the Harbourfront Park development	100px
Queen's Quay Terminal	York	Built in 1926 as a cold storage warehouse facility turned into condos in the 1980s	100px
Queens Quay Station	Bay	Underground LRT station
Westin Harbour Castle Hotel	Bay	Built in 1975 as Harbour Castle Hilton and became a Westin hotel in 1987
World Trade Centre	Yonge		100px
Captain John's Harbour Boat Restaurant (1975-2015)	Yonge	Restaurant on a permanently docked boat (Restaurant closed 2011 and ship was removed from dock in May 28, 2015 for recycling in Port Colborne, Ontario)	100px
One Yonge Street	Yonge	Toronto Star headquarters	100px
Redpath Sugar Refinery	Jarvis	Last active industrial site along the quay	100px
The Guvernment	Jarvis	Night club opened in 1980s and closed 2015; demolition to begin in 2015 as property sold to condo developer Daniels Corporation	100px
Sugar Beach	Jarvis		100px
Corus Quay	Jarvis	Home of Corus Entertainment and first major development in the East Bayfront District	100px
Victory Soya Mills Silos (Central Soya Mills)	Parliament	Built 1943 and abandoned industrial silos since 1991; designated historic site	100px

Quays and slips along Queens Quay

Listed from west to east

• Bathurst Quay (Éireann Quay) - see Ireland Park and Canada Malting Silos
• Spadina Quay
• Peter Street Slip
• Maple Leaf Quays - former site of Maple Leaf Mills Silos
• Rees Street Slip
• John Street Quay
• Simcoe Street Slip
• York Quay
• York Street Slip
• Harbour Square
• Yonge Street Slip
• Pier 27
• Jarvis Street Slip - now Corus Quay
• Redpath Slip
• Parliament Street Slip

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons