Doors Open Returns with 4 Etobicoke Events

After being cancelled two years in a row due to the pandemic, Doors Open Toronto is returning May 28-29. The two-day event provides the opportunity to see inside more than 100 of the most architecturally, historically, culturally and socially significant buildings across the city, many of which are not normally open to the public. Here are four buildings in Etobicoke (okay, one is just east of the Humber River border) that will open their doors for the free weekend event.

Cloverdale Mall
ArtworxTO Hub West is located at Cloverdale Mall, beside Service Ontario. Visitors can pass through to experience interactive installations and multimedia exhibitions, including Home(land), curated by Claudia Arana, and digital arts experiences using virtual and augmented reality with Arts Etobicoke. Artist Alexandra Gelis will be on-site May 28, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Saturday May 28: 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. (last admittance 4:30 p.m.)
Sunday May 29: 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. (last admittance 4:30 p.m.)

Unscheduled tours offered daily.

Lambton House
A stagecoach stop and hotel, the two-storey brick building with double veranda is the only public building remaining from the milling era on the lower Humber River. Visitors can access Lambton House‘s wildflower garden, which is based on the drawings by Agnes Moodie Fitzgibbon from the 1868-published book, Canadian Wildflowers, and a companion exhibit of drawings inside. A guided tour of the upstairs will allow you to travel back in time to the late-1800s. There will be live veranda concerts (11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.) and indoor large screen video presentations.

Saturday May 28: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (last admittance 4 p.m.)
Sunday May 29: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (last admittance 4 p.m.)

45-minute tours begin at 11 a.m. and take place every hour thereafter. The final tour is at 4 p.m.

Montgomery’s Inn
The Village of Murals (Village of Islington) is filled with 28 historical murals commissioned by the business improvement area. Eight of them have been digitally enhanced with augmented reality created by 11 local artists who added Indigenous and new Canadian narratives. Montgomery’s Inn has invited some of the best storytellers from this group of artists and community members to share insight, wisdom and historical knowledge for an audio-video tour of the murals on the exterior of the building. The program will run on a loop and can be experienced at any time.

Saturday May 28: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (last admittance 4:30 p.m.)
Sunday May 29: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (last admittance 4:30 p.m.)

Power House Recreation Centre
Once a power source for the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital, the Power House is now home to a variety of innovative recreation programs and community activities. Visitors will be introduced to some of the current eco, art and music production programming, and everyone is welcome to participate in a community art project.

Saturday May 28: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (last admittance 4:45 p.m.)
Sunday May 29: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (last admittance 4:45 p.m.)