Toronto's Urban Angel and Friends

Roxanne Wildenstein, Joan Bennet, Vanessa Nicholas-Schmidt, Peter Kopplin

Our walk will begin from the historic McGill Square (now Metropolitan United Church) through which flowed one of Toronto’s lost rivers. After a look at the architecture and history of the Metropolitan Church we will proceed north on Bond Street passing the Art Deco entrance of St Michael’s’ Hospital. A stop at the historic St Michael’s Cathedral will be followed by the very modern architecture of the Li Kai Shing Institute. A roadside glimpse of the old and the new of another of Toronto’s heirlooms, Massey Hall will blend into a visit to the NW corner of the hospital block with its layered history of an old Toronto church, nursing education and a helipad. South along Victoria will take us to the hospital’s new Peter Gilgan Tower, once the site of one of Toronto’s early black churches. Its neighbor, the Donnelly wing, ends our walk with more history and the mystery of its name. Bring a cellphone to enrich the walk.

Walk Start:

The park in front of Metropolitan United Church at Queen St East and Bond; short walk east from Queen Street subway station

Walk ends at Victoria and Shuter Streets close to Queen Street subway station and Dundas Streetcar line (505)

Walk End: