Wellington Place

Former The Body Politic Offices
24 Duncan Street
This building was once home to one of Canada's first significant gay publications, The Body Politic. In 1977, Toronto police raided its offices and the publication's workers were charged with possession of obscene materials for distribution and use of mails to distribute immoral, indecent and scurrilous materials. This event garnered international attention and support, and the workers were acquitted over four years later though an incredible amount of emotional trauma and financial damage had already been done. The magazine also played a significant role during the February, 1981 bathhouse raids as it was the only news source the LGBTQ2S+ community could trust. The raids galvanized the community, and the next night 3000 angry people marched to Queen's Park to protest the arrests. These protests helped lead to Toronto's first Pride Parade that spring.

299 Queen Street West
299 Queen Street West
This heritage-designated building was constructed in 1913 by the Methodist Book and Publishing House and named for John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Religious materials were printed, published, and bound in the building until 1971. In 1984, media company ChumCity purchased the property and turned it into the world's first television production facility without formal studios. The building became well-known in the 1980s and 1990s as the main studio of MuchMusic, often attracting thousands of people hoping to see their favourite internationally famous artists performing there. Thanks to the efforts of executives such as Denise Donlon, MuchMusic was also integral in boosting the careers of many Canadian artists, including The Tragically Hip, Jann Arden, and Blue Rodeo. The building was also notable for a small booth at the corner of Queen and John called 'Speakers Corner' where for one dollar anyone could tape a short clip of themselves in the hopes they would be put on the air on CityTV. Toronto band the Barenaked Ladies - largely unknown at the time - recorded themselves singing 'Be My Yoko Ono' in Speakers Corner before a show in 1991, helping raise their profile immensely.

401 Richmond
401 Richmond Street West
This heritage-designated building was originally a factory for the Macdonald Manufacturing Company, which made tin lithography. It was constructed in five separate stages between 1899 and 1923. It was subsequently used by the Continental Can Company between 1944 and 1967, after which it was largely neglected. Margaret Zeidler and the Urban Space Property Group purchased the building in 1994, and transformed it into a thriving cultural and commercial centre. These renovations led to 401 Richmond receiving a 1999 Award of Merit from Toronto Heritage for best adaptive re-use. Today a wonderfully vibrant mix of tenants can be found here, including artists, architects, jewelers, charitable organizations, and a dance school.

Graffiti Alley
160 Rush Lane
Toronto's famous Graffiti Alley holds multiple murals to explore on the walls of Rush Lane. In June 2020, over 30 artists came together to add new art in tribute to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Regis Korchinski-Paquet and in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Alex Wilson Parkette and Garden
556 Richmond Street West
Walk too fast and you may miss this oasis between downtown's towering buildings. This community garden features a boardwalk and communal plantings of herbs, vegetables, flowers, berries, native grasses and a hedgerow.

St. Andrew's Playground and Park & Waterworks Building
450 Adelaide Street West
This lovely little park is an urban oasis with a fascinating history. The block the park is situated on was designated for a public market in 1837, with St. Andrew's Market opening here in 1850. The buildings housed food vendors, a police station, a community hall, and a public library branch, closing in 1932. Part of the grounds was replaced with the Waterworks Building at 505 Richmond Street West immediately north of the park, a now heritage-designated Art Deco structure that was home to a public works complex. The southern part of the land was first used as a parkland beginning in the 1880s, and in 1909, St. Andrew's Playground opened, becoming the first City of Toronto property dedicated to, and equipped for, children's play.

Factory Theatre
125 Bathurst Street
These heritage-designated buildings have been occupied by performing arts organization Factory Theatre since 1983. It is a combination of two separate buildings, the first being a home constructed in 1869 by John Mulvey, an Irish immigrant who was a City Alderman and prominent local merchant. The second structure was constructed in 1910 for St. Mary's Catholic Parish. Factory Theatre was initially founded in 1970 with the intent purpose of producing only Canadian plays, the first of its kind in Canada to do so. In the 50 plus years Factory has been in operation, they have produced more than 300 mainstage Canadian plays and over 600 workshop and other format productions. Some notable playwrights to have their work premiered at Factory include Florence Gibson, Linda Griffiths, and Andrew Moodie.

Victoria Memorial Square Park
10 Niagara Street
A quiet green space that's more than just a public park, it's Toronto's oldest colonial cemetery. Over 400 are estimated to be buried at this site, many of which were soldiers and families laid to rest in the cemetery before it was closed in 1863.

Draper Street
Draper Street (in between Wellington Street West and Front Street West)
This tucked away nineteenth century residential street contrasts with the industrial buildings in the area. Lincoln Alexander was born on this street in 1922. Alexander was Canada's first Black Member of Parliament and served as Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario from 1985 to 1991.

TIFF Bell Lightbox
350 King Street West
The headquarters of the Toronto International Film Festival, the TIFF Bell Lightbox occupies an entire city block, offering cinemas, galleries, and restaurants. The building was constructed on land donated by the family of Canadian filmmaker Ivan Reitman, famous for directing films such as 'Ghostbusters' and 'Kindergarten Cop'. Intriguingly, the site was once home to the first Toronto General Hospital in the nineteenth century, and when the Lightbox was under construction, numerous artifacts from that time were discovered. The building opened with a huge block party in September 2010, with Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald's film 'Trigger' becoming the first to be shown there. In November 2022, TIFF announced that the largest cinema in the building would be named in honour of Viola Desmond, a Black woman who was arrested for refusing to leave the whites only section of a movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia in 1946, helping to motivate those fighting against racial discrimination in Canada.

Jennifer Marman, Daniel Borins, and James Khamsi (FIRM a.d.) 'Speech Bubble'
295 Adelaide Street West
This intriguing piece of public art was designed by artists Jennifer Marman and Daniel Borins, and installed here in 2016. It resembles a speech bubble as seen in comic books, and has a built-in LED screen that plays abstract animated videos. It is intended to act as a commentary on what is spoken and left unspoken, and provides a key focal point in the plaza it is situated in.

Royal Alexandra Theatre
260 King Street West
This heritage-designated theatre was designed by noted architect John Lyle - most well-known for designing Union Station - and constructed in 1906-07. It is designed in Beaux Arts style, and provided an opulent setting for many of Toronto's theatre and music scene. The building was nearly demolished in 1963 to make way for a parking lot, but was saved and rejuvenated by local merchant and theatre impresario Ed Mirvish. The theatre has hosted over 3400 performances since its opening, including by legends such as Mary Pickford, Edith Piaf, the Marx Brothers, and Paul Robeson, among many others.

Roy Thomson Hall
60 Simcoe Street
Roy Thomson Hall is a heritage-designed theatre with a striking design that makes it a very notable landmark along King Street West. Roy Thomson Hall was primarily designed by noted Canadian architect Arthur Erickson, and named in honour of the late newspaper baron Roy Thomson, whose family donated over $4 million dollars to fund its construction. It hosted its inaugural gala concert featuring the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir on September 13, 1982. Over the years, many notable people have graced the stages of Roy Thomson Hall, including Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray, Queen Elizabeth II, and many others. It has also been the primary venue for the Toronto International Film Festival's gala screenings since 1994, hosting the world premieres of notable films such as 'The King's Speech', 'Slumdog Millionaire', and 'Black Swan'.

Simcoe Park
240 Front Street West
This small parkette across the street from the Toronto Convention Centre is a good spot to eat lunch or have a quiet moment. It features the 'Worker's Monument', a millennial project by the Workplace Safety Insurance Board to honour lives lost due to workplace injury or illness, and a metal structure that represents the tent in which the newly appointed Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe and his family spent their first winter in York (Toronto) in 1793. Also located in this park is 'mountain', an aluminum sculpture by internationally renowned British artist Anish Kapoor.

Canadian Broadcasting Centre
250 Front Street West
The Canadian Broadcasting Centre has served as the main broadcasting hub for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) English-language services. It was conceived of and constructed in the late 1980s as a way to consolidate CBC's activities under one roof, as the broadcaster was operating out of 26 separate buildings across Toronto at the time. It cost $326 million to build and hosted its first broadcasts in 1992. Perhaps its most striking architectural feature is a 10-storey indoor atrium named after the late CBC broadcaster Barbara Frum, who passed away in 1992. It also features the Glenn Gould Studio - named after the celebrated Toronto pianist - that has hosted numerous classical, jazz, and world music concerts and is considered to be a state-of-the-art recording facility.