Grasett Park

The Irish famine victims arrived by ship at Reeses Pier in great numbers that summer, many suffering from Typhus. The sick were brought to this very site along what is now Adelaide Street West, then just outside of the city proper. Fever sheds with simple beds divided by cheesecloth curtains were erected on the site for the care of the sick. Dr. George Grasett was the chief physician of the City of Toronto and directed their care, eventually succumbing to the disease of his patients. His sacrifice and the sacrifice of many other caregivers is marked by the creation of Grasett Park.

The floor of the park is a rich, dark granite quarried from the Caledonian Shield in Quebec. O­­­n it a transposed historic map of Toronto - the Cane map of 1842, revealing the markings, notations and landmarks that animated this site many years ago, the traces of which are barely discernible in the city today. The hospital site itself marks the centre of the site and will rise in back-lit relief from the textured floor. Astride the palimpsestic map are set a series of angled vertical edifications in clear structural glass.

These geometric formations form two clusters. They are vertical in orientation, stacked and layered to enable the passage of pedestrians and park users. Set within the layers of the glass are printed billowing curtains of cheesecloth - the modest and prosaic material that once delineated the site and its fever sheds. At night the glass is lit from below revealing the flowing lines of the material in high relief. Finally, textured granite benches trace the long axis of the site amongst the glass structures inviting users to rest and contemplate the city as it bustles today and as it might be remembered for the noble acts of the past.