The Globe and Mail

Behind a chain-link fence, the former Eaton's at the Don Mills Shopping Centre lies broken in a million twisted, dusty pieces. Soon, the rest of the mall will follow and the long process of rebuilding the bull's eye of this half-century-old community will begin. Like the original 1954 John Parkin design, the new mall will be open to the elements; unlike the original, it will include thoroughfares with parking, sidewalks with benches, and a pond with skating in winter. About a kilometre away in a condo tower, retired architect Henry Fliess produces a letter he wrote to developer Cadillac Fairview asking if it would reconsider its design of the new mall. In his opinion, the increasingly grey population won't be too keen about fighting over parking near their favourite shops, or about the lack of sheltered spaces in which to congregate over coffee, something they enjoyed in the food court.