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Most of the fighting occurred during the American landing, approximately {{cvt|2|km|mi}} west of the fort. Unable to prevent the landings, and repel the force at the western battery, the British-First Nations force eventually retreated back to the fort. American forces advanced east towards the fort and assembled themselves outside its walls, exchanging artillery fire with the fort.{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=55–56}} The naval squadron also bombarded the fort, having re-positioned themselves directly south of the fort's stockade.{{sfn|Feltoe|2012|p=81}} Recognizing that the battle was lost, the British commanding officer, [[Roger Hale Sheaffe]], ordered for a silent withdrawal from the fort, and to rig the fort's gunpowder magazine to explode to prevent its capture.{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=56}} The two sides continued to exchange artillery fire until Sheaffe's withdrawal from the fort was complete.{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=56}} Because the British flag was left on the flagpole of the fort, the Americans assembling outside its walls assumed the fort remained occupied.{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=56}}
[[File:Death of General Pike at the Battle of York.jpg|thumb|Death of US Brigadier General [[Zebulon Pike]] after the gunpower magazine at Fort York exploded.]]
As the gunpowder magazine contained 74 tons of iron shells and 300 barrels of gunpowder, a significant amount of debris was launched into the air once the gunpowder magazine was ignited and dropped onto the American forces still outside the fort.{{sfn|Stewart|2008|p=10}} The following explosion resulted in over 250 American casualties, including Brigadier General [[Zebulon Pike]].{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=56}} Fearing a counterattack after the explosion, American forces regrouped outside the wall and did not advance onto the abandoned fort until after British forces left York.{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=56}}
The fort was occupied by the American forces after the town's surrender.{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=58}} During the brief occupation, members of the militia were detained in the fort for two days before being released on "parole".{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=58}} The British dead were buried within the fort in shallow graves, although they were later reburied outside the fort after the Americans departed the town.{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=62}} Government House, already damaged by the gunpowder magazine explosion, was razed by American forces on 1 May 1813.{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=58}} Before they departed from York, the American forces razed several more buildings including most of the structures in the fort, except its barracks.{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=66}}
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In 1932, the municipal government of Toronto undertook a two-year restoration of Fort York, converting the fort into a historic site and museum.{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=134}} The city began to restore the fort to its 1816 configuration as a [[make-work job|make-work program]], and to celebrate the [[Centennial of the City of Toronto|centennial of the incorporation of Toronto]].<ref name=block/> As a result of the restoration, the Canadian militia ended its occupancy of the fort, although the military briefly reused parts of Fort York during the [[Second World War]].{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=134}} In order to accommodate the military, [[Fort York Armoury]] was built between Fort York and New Fort York in the 1930s.{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=134}}
Fort York was formally reopened as a museum on [[Victoria Day]] in 1934.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fortyork.ca/history-of-fort-york.html |title=A Brief History of Fort York |last=Benn |first=Carl |website=www.fortyork.ca |publisher=The Friends of Fort York and Garrison Common |year=2020 |access-date=5 June 2020 |archive-date=24 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424155244/https://www.fortyork.ca/history-of-fort-york.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A [[historical reenactment]] unit
In 1949, management of the fort was transferred from [[Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division|Toronto Parks Division]], to the Toronto Civic Historical Committee (predecessor of the [[Toronto Historical Board]]). Further restoration work on the site was also carried out that year.<ref name=histplaces/>{{sfn|FYANB|2005|p=8}}
In 1958, the government of [[Metropolitan Toronto]] proposed to move Fort York along Toronto's contemporary waterfront, whose location was now further south from the fort as a result of [[land reclamation]] projects during the late 1800s and early 1900s.{{sfn|Stewart|2008|p=12}} The regional government proposed the move in an effort to make way for the [[Gardiner Expressway]], and to "recreate" the fort's original setting by the shoreline.{{sfn|Stewart|2008|p=12}} However, the proposal was eventually rejected due to public opposition, with the planned expressway rerouted around the fort.<ref name=histplaces2/> The public effort to save the fort served as the impetus for the [[historic preservation]] movement in Toronto, as well as the foundations for the Toronto Historical Board.<ref name=histplaces2/>
The fort was included in the City of Toronto's inaugural inventory of heritage properties in 1973, with the entire precinct later designated as a provincial "heritage conservation district" in 1985.<ref name=histplaces2/> Several excavations were conducted between 1976 and 2011 to determine the exact location of several demolished buildings, and the initial topography of the fort.{{sfn|Venovcevs|Williams|Dunlop|Kellogg|2015|p=113}}
[[File:Fort York Summer Guard.JPG|thumb|The [[Fort York Guard]] march past the fort's stone-walled gunpowder magazine. These [[historical reenactment|historical reenactors]] were employed at the site until 2022.]]
In 1994, the Friends of Fort York and Garrison Common was formed by local residents, with the organization later incorporated as a registered charity to support the national historic site.{{sfn|FYANB|2005|p=3}} In the same year, the Toronto Historical Board reconstituted the Fort York Guard historical reenactment unit that operated until the mid-1980s. Management of the Guard was later assumed by the Friends of Fort York association, who continued to operate it until 2022 when the municipal government suspended the grant used to support it.<ref name=globeguard>{{cite web |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-fort-york-backers-frustrated-by-grant-cancellation/ |title=Fort York backers frustrated by grant cancellation |work=The Globe and Mail |access-date=26 August 2023 |date=13 August 2022 |last=Kivanc |first=Jake}}</ref><ref name=C2C>{{cite web |url=https://c2cjournal.ca/2022/06/torontos-fort-york-is-under-attack-again-this-time-its-an-inside-job/ |title=Toronto’s Fort York is Under Attack Again. This Time it’s an Inside Job |work=C2C Journal |access-date=26 August 2023 |date=27 June 2022 |last=Ostola |first=Larry}}</ref><ref name=Friends>{{cite web |url=https://www.fortyork.ca/featured-attractions/fort-york-guard/the-fort-york-guard.html |title=Fort York Guard on Pause in 2022 |work=Friends of Fort York |access-date=26 August 2023 |date=2022}}</ref>▼
▲In 1994, the Friends of Fort York and Garrison Common was formed by local residents, with the organization later incorporated as a registered charity to support the national historic site.{{sfn|FYANB|2005|p=3}} In the same year, the Toronto Historical Board reconstituted the [[Fort York Guard]] historical
Following the [[amalgamation of Toronto]] in 1997, museum operations fell under the city's Museum and Heritage Services.{{sfn|FYANB|2005|p=8}} However, in 2000, [[Toronto City Council]] transferred management of the fort to a board of citizen appointees, separate from the other municipally-operated museums in Toronto.{{sfn|FYANB|2005|p=3}}
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Restored to its 1830s configuration, the brick officers' barrack holds two apartments for officers; with each apartment holding four living quarters for officers, and a kitchen/servant's room.{{sfn|Goddard|2014|p=207}}{{sfn|Benn|1996|p=83}} The mess hall portion of the brick barracks was designed as a general officers' mess hall and has two access points, one to the outside, and another to the barracks portion of the building.{{sfn|Benn|1996|p=83}} Servant rooms were also provided with a separate entry point from the rest of the barracks.{{sfn|Benn|1996|p=83}} The officers' brick barracks also contain the city's "oldest kitchen," with a steep staircase in the kitchen pantry leading to the basement kitchen. The oven remains in the kitchen, although its floors have been removed for archeological studies.{{sfn|Goddard|2014|p=209}} A ground-level kitchen was added to the building in 1826.{{sfn|Benn|1996|p=85}}
The fourth barracks inside the fort, the blue officer' barracks and mess hall, is a reconstruction of a junior officer's barracks that stood on the site.{{sfn|Goddard|2014|p=209}} The single-storey reconstruction is made up of four apartments, each containing four separate quarters connected by a central hall for three officers and a servant's room/kitchen.{{sfn|Benn|1996|p=83}} The blue barracks reconstruction was built in 1986.{{sfn|FYANB|2005|p=3}}
====Blockhouses====
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As with several other British-designed fortifications for the time, the fort's two blockhouses featured splinter-proof constructions, [[Arrowslit|loopholes]] and portholes for small arms and small artillery pieces, and a second storey that overhangs off the first.<ref name=block/> However, contrasting other blockhouses built by the British during this period, the blockhouses at Fort York included cellar storage and magazine facilities; although lacked windows on the first floor, deemed too dangerous to place in the blockhouses.<ref name=block/> The levels of the blockhouses were designed so that they may isolate themselves from the other floor of the blockhouse, in the event the other level is penetrated.<ref name=block/> The foundations of the blockhouses are made of limestone and shale, coursed and laid in [[lime mortar]]; whereas the square-timber walls were made of [[white pine]] reinforced with [[trunnels]].<ref name=block/> [[Clapboards]] were placed on the exterior wall to improve its impermeability.<ref name=block/> Both blockhouses featured raised entrances on the second floor facing the east, with the expectation that an attack on the fort would come from the west.<ref name=block/>
The fort's two blockhouses were positioned north of the fort's shore batteries, defending the rear approaches of the batteries, while the rest of the fort's defences were being built.<ref name=block/> After the fort was completed, the blockhouses reverted to a secondary role, serving as the fort's [[citadel]].<ref name=block/> The blockhouses were also designed to act as barracks, with the blockhouse situated in the southeast (Blockhouse No. 1) able to accommodate 120 soldiers, whereas the blockhouse situated near the circular battery (Blockhouse No. 2) is capable of housing 160 soldiers.<ref name=block/> For a brief period, shortly after the 1837–38 rebellions, both blockhouses were equipped with a dry moat and draw bridge, although these entrenchments were later filled in.<ref name=block/> The interior of the blockhouses were modified on several occasions
====Ramparts====
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The fort's buildings are surrounded by bastioned, stone-lined earthwork designed to absorb incoming cannon fire; with room for [[palisade]]s to be placed on the earthen walls to prevent land assaults.{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=76}} Although land reclamation projects in the 18th and 19th centuries made the fort no longer situated along the [[Toronto waterfront]], the original shoreline embankment is still visible outside the southern ramparts of the fort.{{sfn|Stewart|2008|p=13}}
The location of the ramparts has also been modified throughout the decades, with the ramparts having been refortified/rebuilt in 1838, the 1860s, and the 1930s.{{sfn|Venovcevs|Williams|Dunlop|Kellogg|2015|p=107}} In 1916, the northeastern portion of the ramparts was demolished to make way for the [[511 Bathurst|Bathurst streetcar]] route.{{sfn|FYANB|2005|p=32}} The northeastern portion of the ramparts was rebuilt in the 1930s when the municipal government was restoring the rest of the fort.{{sfn|FYANB|2005|p=21}} However, due to the growth of the Railway Lands in the previous decade, the northern portion of the ramparts was rebuilt further south from its original location; with the wall's reconstruction also necessitating the demolition of a barracks.{{sfn|FYANB|2005|p=32}} During the same period, the fort's southern ramparts were also raised {{cvt|1.6|m|ft}} from its earlier configuration
{{multiple image
| total_width = 330
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| footer = Gun placements on Fort York's ramparts
}}
The fort and its ramparts have nine gun placements, although the fort's design had intended for more gun placement in other strategic areas inside the fort during wartime.{{sfn|Benn|1993|p=76}} The central "circular battery" on the fort's southern ramparts was expanded in 1828
====Demolished structures====
{{see also|List of lost buildings and structures in Toronto}}
[[File:Plan and front elevation of the lieutenant governor's house.JPG|thumb|Plans for the first [[Government House (Ontario)|Government House]] within the fort. Built {{circa|1800}}, the building was destroyed in 1813. Its remains are buried under the present fort.]]
The Commandant's House, "D" Barrack, the artillery barracks and the 1838 cookhouse were also structures within Fort York that were later demolished. However, the area where these cluster of buildings were situated is located north of the present fort; as the fort's northern ramparts were rebuilt further south from its original location during the 1930s restoration.{{sfn|FYANB|2005|p=32}}
===Visitor centre===
[[File:The Bentway near Garrison Common 2023.jpg|thumb|A section of [[The Bentway]], with Fort York's visitor centre to the north of it]]
The visitor centre is a {{cvt|27000|sqft|m2|order=flip}} rectangular building that lies north of the Gardiner Expressway, and south of Garrison Common.<ref name=kmai>{{cite web |url=https://kmai.com/projects/fort-york-visitor-centre/ |title=Fort York Visitor Centre |publisher=Kearns Mancini Architects |year=2020 |website=kmai.com |access-date=6 June 2020 |archive-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606163451/https://kmai.com/projects/fort-york-visitor-centre/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The contract to design the building was awarded to [[Patkau Architects]], in collaboration with Kearns Mancini Architects in December 2009.<ref name=azure>{{cite web |url=https://www.azuremagazine.com/article/fort-york-visitor-centre-opens-in-toronto/ |title=The Fort York Visitor Centre Opens in Toronto |publisher=Azure Publishing Inc. |work=Azure |date=11 May 2015 |access-date=6 June 2020 |last=Dick-Agnew |first=David |archive-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606162702/https://www.azuremagazine.com/article/fort-york-visitor-centre-opens-in-toronto/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The building was opened to the public in 2014, although was not completed until 2015.<ref name=canen/><ref name=azure/> The building is built along the original escarpment of [[Lake Ontario]]'s shoreline, with the building also acting as a [[retaining wall]] for the escarpment and Garrison Common directly north of the centre.<ref name=azure/> The roof of the building features a [[green roof]];<ref name=kmai/> which also contains the exit to the centre, depositing its visitors to the Garrison Common.
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==Surrounding defences==
[[File:Sherbourne Blockhouse -a.jpg|thumb|The [[Sherbourne Blockhouse]] off [[Bloor Street|Bloor]] and [[Sherbourne Street, Toronto|Sherbourne Street]], 1862. Fort York, and several blockhouses in the city's periphery defended the approaches into Toronto.]]
In addition to Fort York, the British erected
After the Battle of York, the fort was rebuilt, and three blockhouses were erected around the settlement; one at Gibraltar Point, another built next to the Western Battery, and the third blockhouse was built around [[Queen Street (Toronto)|Queen Street]], defending the inland western approach into the town.<ref name=block/> The blockhouse on Queen Street was dismantled in 1818, whereas the other two were left "in ruins" by the mid-1820s.<ref name=block/> Following the rebellions in 1837–38, three more blockhouses were erected in the periphery of Toronto; one around [[College Street (Toronto)|College Street]] and [[Spadina Avenue]], another [[Sherbourne Blockhouse|blockhouse on Sherbourne Street]], and a third along [[Yonge Street]].<ref name=block/> In 1841, New Fort York was completed along the shoreline west of Fort York.{{sfn|Sendzikas|2011|p=22}} The three blockhouses were dismantled and removed by the mid-19th century.<ref name=block/> Conversely, New Fort York remained in use by the military until the end of the [[Second World War]].{{sfn|Sendzikas|2011|p=149}} The majority of the New Fort York was demolished in 1951, although the new fort's officers' quarters still stand.{{sfn|Sendzikas|2011|p=149}}
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