Guild Park and Gardens is a public park in the district of Toronto, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. The park was formerly the site of an artist colony and is notable for its collection of relics saved from the demolition of buildings primarily in downtown Toronto arranged akin to ancient ruins. Located on the Scarborough Bluffs, Guild Park and Gardens has an outdoor Greek stage and a 19th-century log cabin, among the oldest in Toronto. The principal building in the park is the Guild Inn, a former inn and estate mansion.
The park is located on Guildwood Parkway, east of Eglinton Avenue East and Kingston Road. Its 50 acres (20 ha) is accessed from the Guild Inn’s parking lots and a parking lot for the Lake Ontario access trail just to the east. The park is mostly forested. South of the Inn is a large area of grassy, open space. A ravine leads down from Guildwood Parkway to Lake Ontario to the east. Along the bluffs, an east-west trail connects to Livingston Road to the west, with several points viewing the lake. The edges of the bluffs are roped off for safety, as the bluffs are tall and composed of soft, sandy, unstable material.
Toronto Parks manages the park on land that is the property of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. It was formerly known as Guildwood Park. It became a park after the Guild Inn, and its property was bought by Metropolitan Toronto and the Government of Ontario in 1978 from Rosa Hewetson Clark and Spencer Clark. The Inn continued to operate until it closed in 2001. It was managed by various hotel management companies, including Delta Hotels, Canadian National Railway, and others. It was first the “Ranelagh Park” estate of Col. Harold Bickford. It became the China Mission Seminary and the “Cliff Acres” estate of Richard Look before it was bought in 1932 by Rosa Hewetson. She and her husband, Spencer Clark, converted it to “The Guild of all Arts” artists’ colony and inn. During World War II and for a period afterward, it was used by the Government of Canada. A1 Bed Bug Exterminator Scarborough
From the 1990s onwards, the property was the subject of several redevelopment proposals, which failed or were rejected. The City of Toronto government developed a management plan in 2014 for the park and gardens. The plan intends to preserve the park, protect the forest, bluffs, and lakeshore, and maintain the heritage buildings (inn and cabin). The inn was restored, part of a new facility for weddings, meetings, and gatherings. One new wing is a banquet hall. Another new wing includes meeting rooms.
Address: 201 Guildwood Pkwy, Scarborough, ON
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