The crowd that gathered at Museum station this morning to witness the official “unveiling” of its newly revitalized columns and walls was decidedly different from the crowds that usually pass through Toronto’s subway stations. First, there was the media, buzzing about carrying notebooks, recorders and press packages, vying for good spots to set up tripods and cameras. And then there were the politicians with their aides in suits and ties mingling with Hogtown’s cultural elite. Three times, I nearly ran into the easy-to-spot Royal Ontario Museum CEO William Thorsell (whom I saw defending the "Crystal" just last night on TVO’s The Agenda).

The event was touted as a celebration of the redesigned station, which, before the Toronto Community Foundation stepped in, was plastered with forgettable pale yellow tiles. Now, the columns that line the platform have been transformed into sculptures (made of Glass Fibre Reinforced Cement) that reflect artifacts on display in the nearby ROM and Gardiner Museum.

“Isn’t it extraordinary?” Mayor David Miller asked the crowd, who responded with a round of applause. The praise didn’t stop there. “Museum station is [now] as much of a gallery and art gallery as the [Royal Ontario] museum itself,” said the mayor. Toronto Centre Rosedale MPP George Smitherman added: “it opens the minds eye to opportunities to improve the TTC.” Said Minister of Culture MP Aileen Carroll: “this shows our government is on track supporting our cultural economy.”

There was the sense that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all — after all, it’s not everyday you see this kind of investment in the arts (millions spent on redevelopment of the ROM, Gardiner Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, and so forth notwithstanding).

Truth be told, though the columns are pretty neat, the rest of the redesign is disappointingly underwhelming considering its $5 million cost. The station’s walls, now covered with large, dull dark pink panels, clash with the different coloured columns. Parts of the wall left unpanelled look unfinished (most likely that’ll be where the ads go). The ceiling appears to have simply received a new coat of paint (exposed piping and fluorescent lighting remain). The new pillars also seem at odds with the still-cracked, speckled flooring (the kind you also often see in public school hallways).

I would have liked to have seen little plaques beside or nearby the pillars, explaining the artifacts they are modeled after and which Toronto museums they could be found in. These include reproductions of Toltec Warrior Columns from Mexico (on display in the Gardiner Museum), Chinese Forbidden City Columns (which can be viewed in the Gallery of Chinese Architecture at the ROM) and Osiris Pilaster, the god of the dead and eternity (the hieroglyphic inscription on the back of this particular column mirrors that found in the ROM’s Egyptian Gallery).

Drawing a connection between the subway station and what lies above it was integral to the design. Overall, the unveiling was accompanied by the usual talk of how investing in the arts is good for the economy, how “Public Philanthropic Partnerships” are good for public space and how everyone will benefit from this project and others like it. But while it’s good to see renewed interest in creating beautiful and engaging urban spaces, it’s hard not to question whether this was the best place for all that money to go.

I admit that I can’t help but let a recent tour I took of Scarborough Village cloud my review of the station. Last Saturday, community members there showed me around their priority neighbourhood,  pointing out the need for a well-lit walkway from a cluster of towers to a nearby strip mall, the need for a safe place for their children to play when they shop in the mall’s small stores and, perhaps most importantly, the need for at least one community centre (as it stands now, there is none). The city has recently promised the Scarborough Village community $1 million to invest in their neighbourhood and residents are anxious to decide how it will get spent. Meanwhile, philanthropists, the city and the province just dropped a generous $5 million on Museum Station alone. And investment in the Bloor-Yorkville area won’t stop there. The ROM and the Gardiner Museum have both received their mulit-million dollar upgrades. Up next is the revitalization of Bloor Street.

If you’re going to invest in renovating a station that not everyone agrees is in need of a complete renovation, in a neighbourhood that will more than likely continue to be successful without it, you ought to do a damn good job. Museum station’s redesign did not meet my expectations. I’m going to try to hold out hope, however, that the benefits that come from investing in giving the platform a makeover will eventually outweigh the costs.

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