Picture Toronto: Don Valley Brick Works

While it is located just steps from the Don Valley Parkway, Bayview Ave, and Danforth Ave/Bloor St. E, the Don Valley Brick Works isn't very well known. A heritage site for its industrial history, it was once the site of one of the world’s most prolific brick-producing plants. The Brick Works is now open to the public and is in the process of being weaned back to its natural environment.

In operation for over a century, the factories at the Brick Works produced bricks for places such as Casa Loma, the University of Toronto’s Hart House, and Toronto General Hospital. Of the four original kiln chimneys that used to each bear one word

of ‘Don Valley Brick Works’ in white bricks, only the chimney displaying ‘Valley’ remains.

Walking from the parking lot, off Bayview, you will come across Mud Creek, which flows between buildings through the middle of the industrial area. If you follow it upstream, you will find a vast expanse of nature, where quarries and pits have been transformed into ponds and marshes. You can walk along a wooden walkway, which winds its way across the wetlands, or you can follow footpaths around the area, including one which leads up to Donor’s Lookout, where you can survey the surrounding landscape.

While great for a leisurely nature walk in the middle of the city, don’t expect a host of amenities at the Brick Works. While there are public washrooms, remember to bring your own refreshments, as it can get very hot in the meadows, and there isn’t much shade.

For the geologically-inclined, exposed shale from which bricks were once made can be seen along some of the western slopes. Along the North Slope, many layers of rock have been exposed, and hundreds of thousands of

years can be traced. Check here for more info.

Next to the parking lot is a ‘Dog Patch’, a free, fenced-off area for dogs, dubbed ‘Nature’s Canine Playground’. For more information, check here. The path system around the wetlands is also a great place for dog walking.

Evergreen, a Toronto-based charity, is currently redeveloping the Brick Works area, to be called ‘Evergreen Commons’, and is described as being ‘built on the foundations of nature, culture, and community.’

Type	Outdoors
Location	Bayview Ave. by Don Valley Parkway interchange (see map)
Hours	No restrictions
TTC	Not very accessible; 82 from Sherbourne, get off at Chorley Park, walk southeast
Parking	Large lot off Bayview

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