rusty_armour | Doors Open Toronto 2026 (Reply)

Last Sunday, my brother and I went to Doors Open Toronto. The weather wasn’t great, but we did a LOT of walking and saw parts of the city that we hadn’t seen before.

We headed to Netflix’s Toronto office first, which is probably a good thing as the line to get in was INSANE. To be fair, this is the first year that Netflix participated in Doors Open, so it was bound to be popular.

B posing in front of the Netflix Canada sign with some strange woman while wearing my jacket

I didn't understand this on the day, and it still doesn't make any sense to me...

You can get an idea of what the weather was like last Sunday
based on this picture that I took from one of Netflix's windows.

From Netflix and the Well, we decided to visit STACKT market. I was sure I’d read that it was participating in Doors Open, but we really couldn’t see any sign of it. Still, we were able to walk around and snap some photos.

Opened in 2010, STACKT market is built entirely of shipping containers and is the home of over 20 retailers, along with service providers and event spaces. Included on the site is a clubhouse that offers workshops and weekly programs of various kinds. Stackt market is on the site of what was once a parking lot spanning from Bathurst to Tecumseth and an iron-smelting plant before that from 1900 until the late 1980s.

STACKT market clubhouse

I don't know what this is, but it looked cool.

We saw this on the way to lunch. There are people sitting inside of that thing.
This is meant to entice Torontonians to visit New Brunswick and the Bay of
Fundy. I have to admit that I might have been tempted to get in that thing if
the weather had been nicer, and we hadn't been hungry.

B eating lunch at Sunset Grill. Sorry,

grondfic. We didn’t make it to the Elephant & Castle

Next, we headed to the Waterworks Food Hall. The original Waterworks Building was created for the Water Works’ offices, maintenance, and equipment storage and designed in 1932 by City of Toronto Chief Architect J.J. Woolnough. The building was originally made up of connected structures built around a central courtyard with Art Deco features. The building was decommissioned in 2013 and gained heritage status. Restoration and construction of the Great Hall began in 2022, and the Waterworks Food Hall opened in 2024. On the site of the Waterworks Food Hall, St. Andrew's Market once stood. The first market was built in 1850 but destroyed by fire in 1860. St. Andrew's Market was then redesigned in the Renaissance Revival style and re-opened in 1873. Before it was decommissioned in the early 1920s, St. Andrew's Market provided fresh produce and included a police station and public library.

St. Andrew's Playground was opened in 1909 and is considered Toronto's first playground.

Waterworks Food Hall

Our next stop was the TIFF Lightbox. In 2010, the TIFF Lightbox opened as a cultural centre, cinema complex, and the new headquarters for the Toronto International Film Festival. Built on land that was donated by Ivan Reitman and his family, the TIFF Lightbox stands at the same location as York General Hospital, which was on the site in 1829. During construction of the TIFF Lightbox, crews discovered several artifacts from the former hospital site.