Mel Lastman Square in North York: A Four-Season Toronto Guide

Mel Lastman Square is North York’s living room: an open, many-levelled square where the fountains, the amphitheatre and the subway entrance all share one address. It rewards every season, and it is easy to get to.

What is Mel Lastman Square?

It is a City of Toronto square with 20,000 square feet of open space, a garden court, an outdoor amphitheatre, fountains and a reflecting pool. The City says its various levels and areas suit cultural festivals, concerts, fundraisers, awareness campaigns, children’s activities and art displays. You will find it at 5100 Yonge Street, by the North York Civic Centre, just steps from shops, restaurants and public transportation.

The square carries the name of Mel Lastman, whose public service as North York’s mayor was honoured by the naming. It is one part of a larger civic cluster. By the mid-1980s the North York Civic Centre included civic offices, the square, the North York Central Library, the Douglas Snow Aquatic Centre and North York Memorial Community Hall, all on the west side of Yonge Street at Park Home Avenue. The station that serves it opened in 1987, in support of the vision of a new downtown in North York. Our history of North York tells how that downtown came together.

How do you get to Mel Lastman Square by TTC?

Take Line 1 to North York Centre Station, at 5102 Yonge Street. The TTC lists the station as accessible, with three elevators. The Yonge Street entrance by Mel Lastman Square has stairs from the street to the station entrance on the lower level of the square. The 5095 Yonge Street entrance, in Empress Walk, is reached by elevator or escalator to the lower level of Empress Walk. Check the TTC’s station page for elevator status and access details before you travel.

Once you are inside the district, some developments offer underground pedestrian connections, mostly around the three subway stations and between Yonge Sheppard Centre and North York Civic Centre. That is a handy trick on a cold January afternoon.

What is there to do in winter?

Skate. The square’s own site says its large pond doubles as a skating rink in the winter. Its events page announced the rink open for the 2025-26 season, and we have not yet seen 2026-27 dates, so check before you plan a night around it. For a sense of timing, the City says its outdoor artificial ice rinks typically open in late November and close for the season in March, and that rinks may be closed depending on the weather. At those rinks, drop-in programs are free and everyone on the ice must wear skates. On a warm day, check the rink status or call 311 before you head out.

No skates? The City’s Skate Lending Library offers free skates, helmets and skating aids at select outdoor rinks. The library was at Mel Lastman Square on Family Day 2026, and its van will visit rinks starting November 20, 2026, with the schedule still to be posted.

The square also hosts seasonal gatherings. The City’s calendar for the square currently lists a Diwali festival, a Christmas market and a public menorah lighting this fall and winter. Check the City page for dates, and see our roundup of Christmas markets in Scarborough, North York and Etobicoke for more.

What about spring, summer and fall?

When the ice goes, the open levels, fountains, reflecting pool and amphitheatre take over, the same features the City highlights for festivals and concerts. Fall is the season we would circle: the City’s calendar shows a Diwali festival on the square. In our view spring is the quiet season, and it suits a slower plan with the library and the farmhouse museum below.

What else is within a short walk?

Plenty. North York Central Library is on the west side of Yonge Street on the north side of Mel Lastman Square, and it is wheelchair accessible. It has a Gladys Allison North York History Room, a Book Ends Used Bookstore and a KidsStop Early Literacy Centre. The current library opened on May 13, 1987, designed by Moriyama & Teshima Architects.

Gibson House Museum is a 19th-century farmhouse hidden between the high rises of North York. General admission is free, and the museum is north of the North York Centre subway station. It is one of the sites in our guide to City of Toronto history museums.

Look for the public art too. Dance consists of 14 larger-than-life silhouettes of ballet dancers and 124 small figures, created in 1998 and inspired by movement on busy Yonge Street. One Hundred Links Equals One Chain, at 40 Park Home Avenue, honours David Gibson with a Clydesdale horse and a bronze apple. A mural called Petals of Flight, by a Toronto artist, is at 4844 Yonge Street, and was unveiled in November 2025. The Willowdale Mosaic Mural Project is a series of 19 mosaic hearts on cement planters along the west side of Yonge Street between North York Boulevard and Upper Madison Avenue.

How do you make a day of it?

Here is the version we would send a friend. Start with a walk through the square and the art, add a stop at the library’s history room, then walk north to Gibson House. Skate if it is winter. When you get hungry, turn to our North York restaurants route, which walks the Yonge corridor stop by stop. For the wider neighbourhood, our North York hub has the rest.

Send this to the friend you would bring to the rink, and tell them to meet you at the amphitheatre.