Located within a neighborhood undergoing major revitalisation, The Cats is made up of two new parks – Draper Park and the Wellington Cat Promenade. Both are designed around the new mixed-use development – The Well – on the former Globe and Mail site, and are inspired by Dizzy, the neighborhood beloved resident cat.
Both parks offer an important pedestrian link in the area and a moment of pause in the daily urban life of the neighborhood. The Wellington Cat Promenade stretches across a long narrow linking the dynamic King West Village to the north with the graceful Wellington Place to the south. In contrast, the smaller Draper Park connects the historical Draper Street to The Well, responding to the needs of neighboring residents who had previously transformed this former vacant lot into a collective garden.
An active-passive program of laid-back and stimulating contemplation is deployed in both spaces under a lush canopy of deciduous trees. At Draper Park brick walls flank the linear space concealing adjacent parking lots and framing a double row of trees in lush beds of understory plantings made up of flowering redbuds and fragrant catnip bouquets. At the Wellington Cat Promenade, the experience is centred around a narrow water axis and a succession of flowing cascades that enhance a fresh microclimate to counter summer heat.
With their feline theme, Draper Park and the Wellington Cat Promenade integrate into the city’s broader parcours, where the east end dogs of Berczy Park meet their match at the west end Cats. Cast-bronze replicas of Dizzy, the neighborhood’s feline ambassador, as well as other feline references can be found in both parks.
