Advertisement

News

Amsterdam lost

Amsterdam Square, tucked behind a canopy of green on the northeast corner of Avenue Road and St. Clair, is one of those public spaces in the city that’s become somewhat lost.

It hasn’t quite lived up to expectations city fathers and mothers had for the site when it was christened Amsterdam Square back in 1972 to honour our city’s twinning with, you guessed it, Amsterdam. The dedication was also meant to mark Toronto’s arrival as a global city. Shit done change.

Not quite a park, and not quite a square, the space has suffered in recent years from something between anonymity and neglect. There are plans for a raised concrete planter embossed with poetry and lined with Tulip Trees on the St. Clair side as part of the St. Clair streetcar right-of-way redo.

The facelift and additional pedestrian lighting that’s supposed to come with it, should provide the extra oomph needed to make the space more visible. Right now, the square is under used, save for the dog walkers, the odd toker tenant from area apartments and lunch hour stragglers from nearby office towers.

It’s a shame. Amsterdam Square should be something to shout about.

The terra cotta fountain that anchors the spot but sits almost hidden at the back of the plot was donated by commercial real estate magnate turned philanthropist Herbert Hale Williams in 1929 “as a mark of his love for his native city.”

The fountain is a replica of the Van Karnebeck Fountain found on the grounds of the Peace Palace in The Hague, which was opened in 1913 as the seat of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the oldest global institution for the settlement of international disputes.

Williams’s replica was designed and sculpted by Willem C. Brouwer, the same artist who sculpted The Hague landmark.

Amsterdam Square also sits at the historic heart of the Deer Park neighbourhood, the area of Toronto where the first Dutch migrants settled.

Back in the mid-19th century, it formed part of the Heath family farm known locally then as Deer Park Farm. Further west were lands held by Peter Russell, Receiver General of the Province of Upper Canada.

William Augustus Baldwin eventually inherited Russell’s holdings and built a country estate he named Mashquoteh, which means “meadow where the deer come to feed,” just west of the present-day site of the square.

The estate was subdivided for residential development in the 1880s as the extension of Avenue Road to St. Clair and opening of Upper Canada College pushed city growth further north. The city of Toronto annexed the area in 1908.

But back to H.H. Williams. The fountain in Amsterdam Square is not the only significant piece of public art in which Williams had a hand. Right across the street from Amsterdam sits Glenn Gould Park which contains another famous replica, this one of the Peter Pan statue found at Kensington Gardens in London.[rssbreak]

The statue was installed by the College Heights Association of Ratepayers in 1929 thanks in part to Williams efforts.

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted