For the first time, the Leaside Lawn Bowling Club at 190 Hanna Road is listed among the places to see during the annual Doors Open Toronto touring event being held this weekend (May 25-26, 2013). Doors Open Toronto is sponsored by the developer Great Gulf and organized by the City. There are more than 150 buildings old and new whose owners will open their doors so the public can get a peek inside these interesting and sometimes very historic buildings. The Leaside Lawn Bowling Club (left) was chosen as it celebrates its 60th anniversary and also marks the centennial of Leaside. The idea for the club began in the late 1940s when the Corporation of the Town of Leaside started to plan a park and sports complex (Howard Talbot Park) at the corner of Bayview and Eglinton Avenues. A clubhouse was built in 1952, and the Leaside Lawn Bowling Club was officially opened in 1953. Membership in the club was originally open to all male residents of the town of Leaside, who would be the only voting members of the club. Associate membership was also granted to persons residing outside the Town of Leaside and to ladies. In 1990, the two divisions of the club, male and female, were amalgamated. Among other buildings to see this weekend are the remarkable 1899 factory of the Toronto Carpet Manufacturing Company at 67 Mowat Ave (right) and the 107-year-old Toronto Fire Station 227 at 1904 Queen Street E. built in Dutch-Flemish Renaissance style (centre).
