North York Centre is a subway station on Line 1 Yonge–University of the Toronto subway system. The station is located under Yonge Street, where it is intersected by Park Home Avenue and Empress Avenue. The station, the system's first and only infill station, opened in 1987 to serve North York City Centre, a high density business district in the Willowdale neighbourhood. Wi-Fi service is available at this station.[2]
This station was added by excavating alongside the existing tracks, on a level section of route provided for this purpose when the line was built. The view across the tracks between platforms is not as open as most stations, as the solid concrete wall had to retain its load-bearing strength, and smaller openings were cut.[3]
In late 2007 the TTC began work to make the station accessible to those with limited mobility, and in November 2009 the work was completed.[4] Two elevators were installed to take passengers from mezzanine level to the subway platforms. Persons in wheelchairs or with other mobility restrictions are now able to enter from street level by way of existing facilities in the major buildings on both sides of the station.
Public art
Artwork in the station consists of North York Heritage Murals by North York artists Nicholas and Susana Graven, located at the platform level. The two murals, each made of over 5000 pieces of glazed ceramic tiles using a process invented by Artessa Studios of North York, depict scenes of North York in the 19th century in an abstract way and are titled:
Top of the North Hill—1850s on the northbound platform (surtitled with the historic place names "Don Mills, Flynntown, L'Amoreaux, Lansing, Milneford, Newtonbrook, Oriole, O'Sullivan's Corners, Willowdale"), and
Traffic at Yonge and Sheppard—1860s on the southbound platform (surtitled with the historic place names "Downsview, Dublin, Eglinton, Elia, Emery, Fairbank, Fisherville, Humber Summit, Kaiserville, York Mills, Weston").
The historic place names shown above each of the murals are names of historic communities near an imaginary line from the northwest to the southeast through the historic Lansing.
Top of the North Hill—1850s
Traffic at Yonge and Sheppard—1860s
Nearby landmarks
Yonge Street in 2005, looking north toward the Empress Ave intersection
Northbound to Steeles Avenue via Yonge Boulevard and southbound to St. Clair station via Yonge Boulevard
(On-street stop outside station)
320
Yonge
Blue Night Service; northbound to Steeles Avenue and southbound to Queens Quay
(On-street stop outside station)
References
^"Subway ridership, 2023–2024"(PDF). Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved November 12, 2024. This table shows the typical number of customer-boardings made on each subway line and the number of customers travelling to and from each station platform on a typical weekday in Sep 2023–Aug 2024.
