One-Tank Trip for April 14/18
(c) By Jim Fox
“Knock, knock. Who or
what’s there? Open the door and find out.”
Learn about the secrets,
stories and treasures lurking behind doors often closed to the public.
It happens at Doors
Open, an Ontario Heritage Trust event in 35 communities.
There are about 800
sites to discover the historic gems and modern marvels with themed activities,
tours, exhibitions and demonstrations offered at no charge.
 |
| Don’t step on Elvis’ white-and-blue patent loafers at the Bata museum worn at his Las Vegas shows. (Jim Fox photo) |
Things get under
way with Doors Open Guelph on April 21 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the “Royal
City” with its historic limestone architecture.
Doors are open at 15
sites that include the city’s “finest buildings, creative spaces and
artistically or architecturally relevant sites,” said Patti Broughton of the sponsoring Guelph Arts Council.
Among the highlights
is the Petrie Building, called an incredible restoration of a Guelph landmark.
It was designed in
1882 by John Day as a pharmacy for Alexander Bain Petrie who wanted the tallest
building on Wyndham Street so he added an up-top empty shell that’s now an
elegant showroom for the Modern Bride.
 |
The Petrie building, a Guelph landmark built for a
pharmacist who wanted the tallest building on Wyndham Street, will be open for
tours. (Ontario Heritage Trust – Photo by Dean Palmer)
|
10C Shared Space, a
thriving collaborative
workspace and community hub, began as a seed warehouse from the 1860s and later Massey-Ferguson
Farm Supply and Ackers Furniture.
A fire in 1955 caused a huge safe to fall
through the first floor to the basement where it remains today.
The Forsyth-Hepburn Home was constructed in
1910 of red brick in Georgian Revival style as a residence for nurses at the Guelph General Hospital until the late 1950s.
Vesterra Property Management renovated the
building in 2013 keeping the original exterior wood trim, bay windows, front
porch with Tuscan columns and the interior staircase.
“Church House in the Ward will be
particularly interesting for visitors as a former church renovated as a
residence,” Broughton
said.
As well, the Guelph Little Theatre and
Hospice Wellington are planning interactive family activities.
New is Doors Open After
Dark, an after-party from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., featuring pop-up art and history installations
at and around the Guelph Civic Museum.
A Trails Open event
will be at the future Speedvale Trail Underpass that will provide a scenic link above the riverbank
between the TransCanada Trail, Riverside Park and the Evergreen Seniors Centre.
Walks of up to 20 minutes will be led by the
Guelph Hiking Trail Club.
I hear you knocking
 |
| Canadian Automotive Museum |
- Other Doors Open
events include the Canadian
Automotive Museum in Oshawa on Sept. 29 in the former 1920’s car
dealership that showcases the development of the car with vehicles from 1902 to
1988.
- The Hamilton Road Tree Carving Tour in London, Sept. 15 and 16.
These are 40-minute
walking tours to learn the stories behind the carvings including the Trafalgar
Bear, Baptist Church Deer Family, Crouch Library Honey Bear and the Accutax Squirrel.
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| Doors Open Toronto includes visits to the ornate Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre. (Ontario Heritage Trust - Photo by Josh McSweeney) |
- Toronto has tours
of the ornate Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre and the Bata Shoe Museum.
The centre is the
last operating double-decker theatre facility in the world from the vaudevillian
era and is open on May 26 while the shoe museum in its shoe-boxed-shaped
structure gives tours on May 26 and 27.
- Hop aboard a
vintage streetcar at the Halton County Radial Railway Museum in Milton and
visit the historical railway station on Sept. 30.
 |
| All aboard the old streetcars at the Halton County Radial Railway Museum in Milton. |
For details on all
Doors Open Ontario events: doorsopenontario.on.ca; (416) 325-5000
-30-
Jim Fox can be reached at onetanktrips@hotmail.com
For more One-Tank Trips: http://1tanktrips.blogspot.ca
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