Tuesday, October 7, 2025
It finally happened! After many years of dreaming about it, these past two weekends the TSA finally piloted our very own architecture boat tours exploring Toronto’s architecture, landscape and urbanism from the unique perspective of our Inner Harbour.
Hosted aboard the Toronto Harbour Tour’s Miss Kim Simpson, and made possible thanks to a new partnership with the Waterfront BIA and Waterfront Toronto as part of the 2025 Water/Fall Festival, our 90 minute boat tours took attendees on a journey through the harbour exploring the many stories of Toronto’s front porch. Included in the tour were visits to the western waterfront, where industrial buildings from our past have been converted into places to live, work and play, as well as to the eastern edge of the harbour where one of the world’s largest waterfront revitalization projects is taking place. A highlight for many was the visit to Toronto Island’s long pond, which included scenic views of the skyline as well as sailing by the architectural gems that are our island’s modernist bathrooms and pavilions. And peppered throughout the tour were stories about architecture, landscape, infrastructure, history and ecology that reminded us how important the lake is to our city and our responsibility to steward it well.
This pilot season included 12 different sails and just under 500 attendees—and the feedback so far has been a resounding success. So much so that discussions are already underway on how to convert this pilot program into a permanent part of our tour offerings for 2026.
An initiative like this is only possible thanks to the support of many, and we want to give a special shout out to Waterfront BIA and Waterfront Toronto for making these tours possible, as well as to the hundreds of attendees who joined us for our maiden voyages! A big thank you as well to TSA staff and volunteers who put this program together so quickly, as well as a tip of our hat to tour guides Rania Matta and Joël León Danis who led these tours over the past 2 weeks.
We look forward to seeing everyone aboard once again in 2026!
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