Yorkdale Shopping Centre

Yorkdale Shopping Centre (often shortened to simply Yorkdale) is a large retail shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located several kilometres north-west of downtown Toronto, at the interchange of Ontario Highway 401 and the Allen Road expressway, and at Yorkdale on the Yonge–University subway line, in the former suburb of North York. The mall contains over 250 stores, including many luxury retailers. It is the fifth largest shopping mall in Canada and also enjoys the second highest sales per unit area of any mall in Canada, after Vancouver's Pacific Centre, with current merchandise sales levels at over CA$1,100/square foot. It is currently owned by a joint venture between the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System through its subsidiary Oxford Properties Group Inc. and the Alberta Investment Management Corporation.

History

Construction and design

In the 1950s, the department store chain T. Eaton & Co. bought a 40 hectares (99 acres) site at Dufferin Street and the 401 for a new massive, suburban location. In 1958, rival department store chain Simpson's purchased a 8 hectares (20 acres) site to the east and the plan to build the complex was announced that year. Design of the mall was given to the Seattle firm of John Graham Consultants, except for the Simpson's store, designed by John Andrews of John B. Parkin Associates. Howard Lesser was the planning and development consultant. Using Lesser's market research, the developers determined how much floor space to give up to each category of retailer, and chose retailers who would appeal to a broad range of shoppers.

Yorkdale (TTC)

Yorkdale is a station on the Yonge–University line in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the median of the William R. Allen Road just south of Highway 401. It opened in 1978 in what was then the Borough of North York, and is named for the nearby Yorkdale Shopping Centre to which it connects by an enclosed walkway.

Connections to GO Transit commuter and Greyhound intercity buses are available at Yorkdale Bus Terminal, immediately west of the station.

Entrances

Architecture and art

Yorkdale was designed by Arthur Erickson. The station is above ground, and also above street level. It has two tracks: northbound and southbound. A dramatic vaulted glass roof spans the length of the single centre platform. It terminates symmetrically at escalators and stairs at both ends of the platform, creating the appearance of a glass dome. The interior walls of the station at platform level are unfinished concrete, but artistically cast, and curve over the tracks to form the ceiling. The shape of the windows on these walls recalls the oval windows of subway trains. On the exterior, these concrete walls are clad with stainless steel.