Doors Open Buildings & Sites – City of Toronto
Parkdale Arts and Cultural Centre
The Parkdale Arts and Cultural Centre was formerly the City of Toronto Police Station Division 6 from 1931 to 1963. The building was constructed as a police station and there was some dispute as a constable submitted his own designs for the building causing the city architect to get upset . The building is one of a few art deco buildings left in the city.
- Address: #Main Floor 1313 Queen Street West M6K1L8
- Phone: 416-536-6778
- Days Open: Saturday May 28th 2022, Sunday May 29th 2022
- Architectural Style: Art Deco (1918-1940)
- Building Type: Arts and Cultural Centre
- Year Constructed: 1931
- Virtual Experience: No
- Website: Visit the Parkdale Arts and Cultural Centre page View Detailsof Parkdale Arts and Cultural Centre
The Parkdale Arts and Cultural Centre 1313 Queen St. West
A Short History
The building was constructed in 1931 as a City of Toronto Police Station Division 6 .
The architect was City of Toronto architect , J.J Woolnought. Esq . A police constable came up with some drawings that caused a little controversy .Drawings were submitted by Chief Draper . ( see articles posted in the Gallery ) .
The art deco building was constructed on the site of a former police station /municipal building that had burned down . You can see a blue print of the building on the wall .
The gallery was the site of the holding cells . There was a horse stable in the back and horses were brought in the gate and through the courtyard . Artists are now living in the former stable house in artist live work studios ..
The building ceased to be a police station in the early 1960’s . The building was converted to emergency housing units with the City of Toronto . Families lived in the building for the next 15 years .
The building then reverted to Metro and was empty accept for the occasional squatter for almost 5 years .
Numerous film shoots and videos were filmed at the gallery – Robo Cop, the series ,
It Takes A Thief, the series , Maryln Mansion music videos and more . \
In 1994 the local Parkdale Village BIA started looking into possible other uses for the building . Artscape a not for profit also was looking into acquiring possible space in the building for artist live/work studios . Other community service and support organizations such as the Parkdale Intercultural Centre also were looking for space . A series of meeting took place . Metro Councillor David Miller was very involved as was City Councillor Chris Korwin Kuczynski.
In 1997 after much discussion the building was turned over to Artscape for $1 a year for 20 years .The process of selecting tenants then came about .
About $275,000 of monies were received from the City of Toronto for renovation. Tenants did a lot of the work themselves . Artscape had 9 units of live work space for artists . Mariposa Festival occupied space to store there archives . The Kababayan Community Centre and Vietenesse Women and Childrens Group also occupied the building . There have been meetings to look into the opening of the basement ( 2000 sq ft ) for more rental community space . The space was a former shooting gallery .
The art gallery was the site of the 12 holding cells for prisons as well as a wash room area .
The building is owned by the City of Toronto and the lease will be renewed this August. It is managed by Artscape . Offices now include the Parkdale Village BIA , the Students for Tibet organization and Busy Bee Studios . The spaces that are not live work studios are managed by the Parkdale Arts and Cultural Centre Community Board .Gallery 1313 celebrates 25 years of operation . It is a incorporated not for profit artist run centre . It has 50 member artists from across the GTA .It has received funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation , the Toronto Arts Council , the Ontario Arts Council , the Telus Corporation and the KM Hunter Foundation . It has over 70 exhibitions a year in 4 programmed spaces with 20, 000 visitors a years. The Gallery displays the work of local, national and international artists .
The City has a plan for a Parkdale Community Hub which would move tenants of 1313 Queen St. West to 1303 Queen St. West ( the current Parkdale Library ) . A new building with 47 units of affordable housing would be built on the current site of 1303 and the Library would move to 1313 Queen St. West using the current space plus the Green P Parking lot . This may not happen til 2029 .There is much community consultation and city planning to be done . The facade of 1313 would be kept and incorporated in the new Parkdale Library .
Gallery 1313 celebrates 2022 as its 25th year of operation .