Quick Facts
Name
Grand Concourse Walkway Network
Type of Landscape
Ethnographic Landscape Natural Landscape
Location
Centered in the Metropolitan area of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador
200 km of walkways : from St. John’s on Conception Bay to the North Atlantic
Stewards
Grand Concourse Authority (GCA)
Landscape Architects
Neil Dawe, Gerhard Weiland, Ed Versteeg, James Staveley, and many others
Legacy
Master Planning and Urban Design
Institutional Landscapes (Memorial University, Pippy Park, College of the North Atlantic)
Recreation/Health & Well-Being
Introduction
The Grand Concourse Walkway Master Plan, officially completed in 1994 in the City of St. John’s, is today a cherished system of trails and walks which stretch from the city’s urban landscapes to the rugged seascapes of the North Atlantic. In harmony with St. John’s uniquely distinctive landscape, the walks are brilliantly diverse. They traverse some of North America’s oldest streets, negotiate dramatic coastal landscapes, and wind through wooded terrain and parklands to the headwaters of three urban rivers.
The aptly named Grand Concourse was originally conceived by a local St. John’s philanthropist with a truly grand idea. Some 30 years ago, Paul J. Johnson gazed out at the heady vista from St. John’s famous Signal Hill National Historic Site Lookout, and immediately noticed the disjointed nature of the trails on Signal Hill. Their choppy layout prompted him to envision a better, more unified pathway system for the hill and for the city itself. Through consultation and careful study, Johnson confirmed the viability of creating a "grand concourse", constructing two highly successful walking trail demonstration projects. Inspired by their success, the NL government established the non-profit Grand Concourse Authority (GCA).
The original Grand Concourse walkway took ten years to build (2004), uniting some 120 km of trails. Importantly, the GCA was uniquely empowered to plan and build its own projects, and to forge agreements with landowners and municipalities. After three decades of steady growth, today’s system of walkways touches every major park, river, pond and green space in the city, and reaches well beyond city boundaries to integrate nine communities in the Northeast Avalon Region. St. John’s has become the centre of a Walker’s Paradise, particularly when Newfoundland’s storied weather is fine.
Building a Walker’s Paradise
From its earliest days, the Grand Concourse brought trail building, Newfoundland style, into the public eye.
The trail builders were many. The Grand Concourse concept first took shape in the Master Plan drafted by Landscape Architect Fred Hann, under the auspices of the philanthropic Johnson Family Foundation. With Hann and Lead Landscape Architect Neil Dawe (who later became the GCA’s Chief Executive Officer), the Grand Concourse became an inspirational proving ground for some 30 Landscape Architects over the years, and a daily reminder of the importance of the profession to the province.
For dozens of LAs, inspiring stints at the GCA launched successful careers in the province and beyond. LA students too learned pragmatic skills, helping design and specify new amenities such as lighting, shelters and washrooms. More recently, due to popular demand, the GCA has offered new builds to communities outside the Metro Area, producing some 200 small parkettes, playgrounds, memorials and interpretive installations.
More ambitious assignments followed. Landscape architects of the GCA designed the Provincial Legislature grounds and master planned Bannerman Park. In their redevelopment of St. John’s beloved Bowring Park Duck Pond, the GCA demonstrated the reawakening of an Newfoundland style in detailing, by reconstructing the delightful fences of rough spruce logs and twigs that had once graced the park.
Locals have remained overwhelmingly positive. Some 86 percent of surveyed walkers (2008) applauded the system’s impact on the city, and embraced the Newfoundland spirit of the design: granular trails, native plantings, and locally sourced materials including local slate, bluestone, and larch. Over three decades, the GCA has also spurred significant economic growth through its landscape construction wing, which introduced new skill sets to the area, especially in masonry and retaining wall installation.
Maintenance Counts: Keeping it GRAND
Johnson’s grand idea remains wildly popular with locals. Every year, the GCA enhances its offerings, with new options for transit, recreation and closer experiences of the natural world. Professional groups rapidly took notice. Both the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (2003, 2004) and the Canadian Institute of Planners (2011) honoured the GCA for its remarkable contribution to St. John’s reputation as a “Walker’s Paradise.” Internationally, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) brought the project to wide attention, honouring the GCA’s sterling contribution to trail builders everywhere: its Maintenance Manual and GIS-based maintenance management system (2005).
The founding principles of the Grand Concourse Authority continue to guide its work. Maintenance remains key to the GCA, and the trail additions continue to showcase the unique, east-coast blend of highly diverse, often vertiginous rocky landscapes, punctuated by story-book old town streetscapes, and buildings painted in vivid hues. To travel along Grand Concourse trails several times weekly, or to walk long stretches from centre town to coast, is to experience the cultural heritage of a uniquely variable land.
Partial list of Landscape Architects who worked at Grand Concourse:
Peter Heyblom and Mike Tocher, Thinc Design
Josee Labelle, Principal of NIP Paysage
David Wood, President of Envison-Tatam Inc.
Hanita Koblents, Principal Planner, Halifax Regional Municipality
Julia Schwartz, Director of Planning and Development, Torbay
Sandro Bassanese, Urban Designer, City of Kitchener
Ed Versteeg, Senior Instructor, Landscape Architecture, Dalhousie University
Neil Dawe and Gerhard Weiland, Tract Consulting Inc.
Frederick Hann, Garden Connections, Toronto
The Cultural Landscapes Legacy Collection highlights the achievements that have made a lasting impact within the field of landscape architecture and on communities across Canada.