Toronto: Distillery District
On the Sunday of our recent stay in Toronto we took the subway to Union Station and walked east to the Distillery District. On the way we passed this clever mural on the Flatiron Building. Some of the windows are real!
The Distillery District, formerly the home of Gooderham and Worts, is the most intact Victorian era industrial site in North America, though the distillery itself closed in 1990. Since 2003, the area has housed arts and crafts, live performance, and bars and restaurants. We enjoyed just wandering around.
When it came to lunchtime, we stepped into Cluny Bistro expecting the stripped back decor of an ex-industrial building and were amazed to find decorated ceilings and chandeliers. It was also very busy – obviously a go-to place for Sunday lunch. We couldn’t get a table in the restaurant, but got a seat in the bar. We liked it so much that we booked a table for the last night of our stay. (The picture with John is brunch – and that’s fruit juice in the glass, by the way – the others show the restaurant at night.)
In the afternoon, we decided to walk back to our accommodation instead of going back to the Subway. We passed Old City Hall:
Toronto Sculpture Garden:
And the Cathedral Church of St James:
Just outside St James, we liked this monument to a Scot, Robert Gourlay. Sounds like a fine fellow!
Our last stop before home was Allan Gardens with its six greenhouses. Beautiful!
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
WOW! That Distillery Distric looks so amazing!
I thhink I like this part of Toronto better than the part in the previous post 🙂
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It’s interesting in a different way. I think I preferred the island though.
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Oh how I love Toronto. Had not seen the Flatiron Building Mural…it went up since my last visit…which says I have been away too long.
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Great city! I know we would like to go back.
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You surely leave no stone unturned, or better, no area unwalked when you visit a place, Anabel! I really liked that first mural with the windows. Clever and original indeed!
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Bizarrely, the comment has appeared on both posts!
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I love the mural. You captured some great street art during your visit. Next time I visit Toronto i will definitely check out the Distillery District and Allan Gardens. Couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t get too much sunshine. Next time come visit Ottawa and I will order a few sunny days! 🙂
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You have that power?! It was a strange week – the first day when we went to the islands was sunny but 0C, it snowed on the second day and by the end of the week it was sunny and quite warm (15C).
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You’ll have to come visit to see if I have the power. This spring the weather has been all over the place but mostly cool. The flowers and leaves are a little behind. I’m just glad it stopped snowing. Glad to hear you did get some sun. 🙂
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I haven’t been to Toronto in years. I’d love to get back there one day. So many things that I haven’t seen before!
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We loved it, still working on more posts!
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I’ve never seen such pretty pictures out of Toronto! You actually make me want to visit it! 😀 That mural and all the brick and copper are really pretty.
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Glad you like it! We had a great time – well worth a visit.
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This mural looks really interesting!
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Yes, it’s very clever.
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Lovely buildings and flowers! I always enjoy looking at your photos. I’ve never been to Toronto. The CN tower in your previous post looks incredibly tall. Do you know how high it is?
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Thanks Lori! According to my guide book the tower is 553m / 1815ft and was the tallest building in the world till 2010. So very high!
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Wow, that’s a long way up. I can’t imagine what it would be like if the elevators broke.
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Every April (for 26 years) there is a charity climb up the 1,776 steps. Thousands do this. I am not one of them.
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I am in awe of anyone who can climb that many steps at one time. I would not be one of them either.
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Nor me!
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That’s very brave!
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I’m glad no-one planted that thought before I went up!
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Ha, ha!
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There are a couple of places I have not been to….hahahaaa typical in some ways since it is so close to me. You took some great pictures
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Definitely worth a stroll round.
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Toronto is on my list of places I want to visit. It looks wonderful! I especially love all of the public art.
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Yes, it’s great! Loads more posts to come – eventually.
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I look forward to them!
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Thanks for sharing this delightful and varied stroll.
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Glad you enjoyed it.
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Thanks for the wonderful tour, Anabel. The Old City Hall is such an amazing building. Love all your nature photos too.:)
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Thank you!
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I’ve never been to the Distillery District as I moved from Toronto to Glasgow in 1992, just as they were converting all those buildings. I wish I’d thought to visit last time I was there! Lots of your other photos looked very familiar, though I don’t know Allan Gardens. Looks like it can compete with our own Botanics! Looking forward to your next instalment…
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There’s only so much you can do! And always leave something to go back for…..
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This is a first for me and quite an eye opener reading about the Distillery district in Toronto. It looks super interesting thank you. Next time we are in Totontk visiting family we will have to check it out!
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Glad to tell you about something you didn’t know! Thanks for visiting.
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I’ve never even heard of the Distillery District – I think it is officially on the list of places to visit when I get Paul up there for a Toronto trip!
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Definitely! We liked it a lot.
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I’m glad you enjoyed the Distillery. For many of us who live here, it has a delightfully faint whiff of Europeanness in the city.
How was Cluny for dinner? I’ve been there for lunch and loved it, but dinner was, well, not so enjoyable.
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I think we enjoyed lunch better too. Can’t put my finger on why, the food was fine – maybe just the atmosphere in the bar was more cosy.
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I will definitely put the Distillery District on our list of places to see when we are in Toronto! And, we’ll check out Cluny Bistro. Thanks for the tour!
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Yes, it was very enjoyable. Hope you like it too!
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You’ve captured so many great places! Being a hockey nut, I spent my one Toronto day at the Hockey Hall of Fame and Wayne Gretzky’s restaurant – thanks for showing me there’s much more I need to go back and see!
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We passed the Hockey Hall of Fame but it wasn’t our thing so we didn’t go in!
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Actually the building is quite impressive! I believe it’s a former bank and it has a stunning stained glass ceiling over the room that houses the coveted Stanley Cup – a suitable setting for those of us who do worship hockey!
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Yes, I think it was a bank. We did admire the outside!
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Enjoyed your Toronto photos and descriptions. I like seeing old buildings and the art work of other cities. Really like the period architecture of Old City Hall.
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Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the post.
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The Distillery District was a favourite of ours when we lived in Toronto. It was close to where we used to live so we would often have it as a destination for our walks. We have lots of pictures of the area and maybe I should post some on our own blog. Nice collection of images of Toronto…(Suzanne)
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Yes, I’d like to see more of it from another person’s point of view. Lovely place to live near.
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Well, we were on the other side of the bridge (over the Don River) in Leslieville so it wasn’t so near but we are good walker so didn’t mind going on foot. I will pull together some photos we took over the years and post them soon.
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We spent a few days in Toronto in 2005 but didn’t visit the Distillery Historic District so I have really enjoyed this post. I did visit the Allan Gardens though as they were quite close to where we stayed. And Cabbagetown which I really must write about. How long were you there for?
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We were there a week, so more to come when I find time for blogging. Didn’t get to Cabbagetown so that would be interesting to read about.
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I have been meaning to write it up for years, have to see what quality the photos are now.
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