North York Centre Station
North York Centre is a station on the Yonge-University-Spadina line of the subway system of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 5152 Yonge Street at the intersection of Yonge, Park Home Avenue and Empress Avenue. It opened in 1987 in what was then the City of North York. The neighbourhood is also known as North York Centre; the Willowdale neighbourhood is also close by.
Nearby landmarks include Mel Lastman Square and the North York Civic Centre, the North York Central Library, Empress Walk, Earl Haig Secondary School, Gibson House, the Toronto Centre for the Arts, and York Cemetery.
This station was added by excavating alongside the existing tracks, on a level section of route provided for this purpose when the line was built. The view across the tracks between platforms is not as open as most stations, as the solid concrete wall had to retain its load-bearing strength, and smaller openings were cut.
Public art
Artwork in the station consists of North York Heritage Murals by North York artists Nicholas and Susana Graven, located at the platform level. The two murals, each made of over 5000 pieces of glazed ceramic tiles using a process invented by Artessa Studios of North York, depict scenes of North York in the 19th century in an abstract way and are titled
- Top of the North Hill—1850’s on the northbound platform (surtitled with the historic place names “Don Mills, Flynntown, L’Amaroux, Lansing, Milneford, Newtonbrook, Oriole, O’Sullivan’s Corners, Willowdaleâ€), and
- Traffic at Yonge and Sheppard—1860’s on the southbound platform (surtitled with the historic place names “Downsview, Dublin, Eglinton, Elia, Emery, Fairbank, Fisherville, Humber Summit, Kaiserville, York Mills, Westonâ€).
The historic place names shown above each of the murals are names of historic communities near an imaginary line from the northwest to the southeast through the historic Lansing.
Surface connections
- 97 Yonge
- 320 Yonge
- GO Transit Newmarket B
External links
- Transit Toronto—North York Centre Station has a detailed history and photos of the station