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by David Spittal, Fort York Archaeologist This year, visitors to the fort saw not only the familiar Soldiers’ and Officers’ Barracks, the Magazines and the Blockhouses (the oldest surviving buildings in the city) but several more structures that once existed in the fort but that now are represented only by archaeological remains. At various times, Fort York contained many buildings other than those that can still be seen. For Doors Open Toronto weekend, May 29-30 , the buried stone foundations of four of these buildings were marked on the ground by white chalk lines. All of the buildings marked once existed together with the fort’s present structures. This was the first opportunity for visitors and staff to see the actual locations and orientations of some of the fort’s missing buildings and perhaps to gain a new perspective on the nature of the city’s most important historic site. The buildings marked include the 1815 Splinterproof Barrack No. 1. The forthcoming report, Fort York: Adding New Buildings, due out in the Fall, recommends that office and other support functions be removed from their present locations in authentic historic buildings and relocated to reconstructed or other buildings. Splinterproof Barracks No. 1 would be the first building to be reconstructed as part of this plan.
Other buildings marked on the ground include the 1838 Artillery Barracks, located inside the East Gate. The foundations of this building, which now extend beneath the newly restored Blue Barracks, the earthen walls of the North Rampart and the asphalt of the Central Road, help show how the form of the fort has changed over time. Also marked were the 1815 Commandant’s House, a two storey Georgian brick house, which boasted a raised front entrance flanked by columns, an areaway (or moat) and a full basement, and the 1838 Rebellion or ‘D’ Barracks, the largest structure ever built in the fort. A short walking tour of the fort, conducted by David Spittal, the fort’s resident archaeologist took place several times on both days of the Doors Open Toronto weekend. The tour identified these and other structures that now lie deeply hidden beneath the surface of Fort York. Chalk lines also indicated the location of the Garrison Cemetery, in Victoria Memorial Square, a short distance from Fort York. The oldest graveyard in the city, it dates from 1794 and contains several hundred graves. It was used until 1863 when a new site west of Fort York was opened.
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