Berczy Park a Celebration of Man’s Canine Friends!!!

by MAC · Published December 8, 2019 · Updated January 7, 2020

Imagine that you are strolling down Front Street in Toronto’s Downtown area and you happen to see a fountain surrounded by dogs. Intrigued you stop and wonder what all this is about. You look closely and see that all the dogs are eyeing that bone on top of the fountain. But what is even more intriguing is that amongst the 27 dogs there is one cat eyeing two birds sitting on a nereby lamp post which I guess most people would miss unless they give the fountain a good look. And further on it looks as though a part of building is peeling off and would flutter away at the slightest breeze. It is not some Alice in Wonderland dream world but a small park called Berczy Park.

What makes this small (less than an acre) triangular park bordered by Scotts, Wellington East and Front Street special is also where it is located and some of the vista’s are truly stunning with a view of the Gooderham building a Toronto Heritage Building on one side and tall sky scrapers and even the CN Tower (visiblefrom certain angles) on others. Surrounded by other older builings on Front Street side. The Gooderham building is often featured in photos of Toronto and was built in 1892 it is a good example of a Flatiron Building. The murral on the reverse side facing Berczy park was created by artist Derek Michael Besant using a ” tromp l’oeil (fancy French term meaning deceive the eyes) giving it the fluttering away impression. Unfortunately the fountain was off that day or else each dog would have a spray of water aimed at the bone on top of it which would have been something quite humorous to see.

Murral on the back side of the Gooderham Building a Toronto Heritage Site.

Berczy holds another surprise. If you look towards the skyscraper side you will see two giant hands that seem to be like a slumbering giant ready to burst out of the ground and use the surrounding skyscrapers for climbing practice it is truly stunning.