By the Market Gallery Team –
Steps above the bustling St. Lawrence Market is the Market Gallery – an intimate, historic exhibition space. What was once Toronto’s first purpose-built City Council chambers now houses rotating exhibits that dive deep into the history of our city.
When the South Market was renovated in the 1970s and its second floor was rediscovered, City Council decided to convert it into a display space featuring art and artifacts from the civic collection.
The main display area of the Market Gallery is on the second floor of what remains from Toronto’s City Hall from 1845 to 1899, which stood on this site on Front Street East. The first council chamber had been boarded up and forgotten for seven decades after the civic government moved to what is now called Old City Hall at Queen and Bay Streets. The barn-style South Market was built in 1902. The council chamber was the only room of the 19th-century City Hall saved from demolition. The original exterior brick walls and fan windows of the council chamber were enclosed by the new market building and overlook the main floor of the market – whereas once they overlooked Lake Ontario.
Beginning March 7, the gallery will feature Migrant Stories, a pop-up exhibit supported by the European Union’s International City Partnerships program and its Migrant Story Telling Project. Toronto and its partner city of Frankfurt, Germany, are working on a multi-year joint program to share and amplify migrant stories.
The effects of forced migration and climate change displacement have made the inclusion of migrants and refugees a topic of global significance. Historically, Toronto and Frankfurt are arrival cities, and both recognize the importance of municipal leadership on newcomer and migrant issues.
This is the first of various projects in this Toronto-Frankfurt partnership. Migrant Stories uses video to highlight the real stories of migrants to Toronto, in their own words.
Also included are the story of and artifacts from the life of Lloyd Lindo, aka “Uncle Lloyd,” a Jamaican British (Windrush Generation) migrant who arrived in Toronto in the mid-20th century. The Windrush Generation were mainly Caribbean-born British subjects who migrated to Britain before 1983 but were later denied their rights; some were deported.
Admission to the gallery is free, from Wednesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. To learn more, email marketgal[email protected] or visit www.toronto.ca.
