Lawrence Richards, a member of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto, has said: "Toronto is a new, brash, rag-tag place—a big mix of periods and styles." Toronto's buildings vary in design and age with many structures dating back to the early 19th century, while other prominent buildings were just newly built in the first decade of the 21st century. Bay-and-gable houses, mainly found in Old Toronto, are a distinct architectural feature of the city. Defining the Toronto skyline is the CN Tower, a telecommunications and tourism hub. Completed in 1976 at a height of , it was the world's tallest freestanding structure until 2007 when it was surpassed by Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Architecture
Toronto
Toronto | Architecture
It is a new, brash, rag-tag place—a big mix of periods and styles. Buildings vary in design and age with many structures dating back to the early 19th century, while other prominent buildings were just newly built in the first decade of the 21st century. Bay-and-gable houses, mainly found in Old Toronto, are a distinct architectural feature Bay-and-gable houses are a distinct architectural feature and the CN Tower was the world's tallest freestanding structure until 2007. Toronto's buildings vary in design and age with many structures dating back to the early 19th century.
what is don valley parkway?
user
It is a municipal expressway.
assistant
has it been represented in media?
user
Yes, the music video for the song Subdivisions by Canadian rock group Rush features scenes of the DVP
assistant
when was the construction completed?
user
1966
assistant
is it a busy expressway?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
what places does it connect?
user
It connects Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto.
assistant
can you elaborate on the architecture of the first place?
user
The Ontario College of Art and Design, for many years confined to a series of comparatively unprepossessing buildings in the western part of downtown, was transformed in 2004 by the addition of the Will Alsop's Sharp Centre of Design. It consists of a black and white speckled box suspended four storeys off the ground and supported by a series of multi-coloured pillars at different angles.
Architecture of Toronto | Post-secondary educational institutions
The Andrews Building, the first completed building of the campus named after its designer, John Andrews, was built in a brutalist architectural style and completed in 1964. The interiors were made to mimic streets of a city, with wide hallways and balconies on upper floors. The building is divided into two wings, known as the Science Wing and the Humanities Wing. The Meeting Place, a large atrium at the center of both wings, is often used to hold events. The design of the Andrews Building, along with its unique closed circuit television teaching system, were targets of international acclaim during the decade.
University of Toronto Scarborough | Architecture
First Canadian Place is named for Canada's first bank, the Bank of Montreal. Designed by B+H Architects with Edward Durell Stone as design consultant, First Canadian Place was constructed in 1975 and originally named "First Bank Building". The tower and associated buildings occupy a block once home to two major newspapers, the "Toronto Star’s" Toronto Star Building and "The Globe and Mail"s William H. Wright Building. The site was the last of corners of King and Bay to be redeveloped in the 1960s and 1970s, and a major bidding war began over the property. The then little known firm of Olympia and York eventually obtained nearly the whole city block, though the election of reformist mayor David Crombie led to new rules banning skyscrapers and it took three years of lobbying before permission for First Canadian Place was granted.
First Canadian Place | History and architecture
Toronto is built on the former lake bed of Lake Iroquois. This large flat expanse presents few natural limits to growth, and throughout its history, Toronto has sprawled outward and today has a ring of suburbs that spans hundreds of square kilometres. In 2005, the provincial government has attempted to place an artificial limit to this growth in the form of a Greenbelt around the city. Toronto was planned out on a grid system of concession lines spaced about two kilometres apart that separated rural landholdings. Major avenues were established along each concession line as the city spread outward. These avenues run straight with few diversions for long stretches, and Toronto is notable for the considerable length of its major streets.
Architecture of Toronto | Landscape
Lawrence Richards, a member of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto, has said: "Toronto is a new, brash, rag-tag place—a big mix of periods and styles." Toronto's buildings vary in design and age with many structures dating back to the early 19th century, while other prominent buildings were just newly built in the first decade of the 21st century. Bay-and-gable houses, mainly found in Old Toronto, are a distinct architectural feature of the city. Defining the Toronto skyline is the CN Tower, a telecommunications and tourism hub. Completed in 1976 at a height of , it was the world's tallest freestanding structure until 2007 when it was surpassed by Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Toronto | Architecture
In the northern part of the city, this era also saw the erection of the Park Plaza in 1929.
Architecture of Toronto | Hotels
The natural geography of the city also provided builders with a variety of resources to build from. The most abundant raw material was the shale layer underlying the city, as well as the abundance of clay, making brick an especially cheap and available material, and resulting in many of the city's buildings being built from brick.
Architecture of Toronto | Introduction
M. Pei (the tallest building in the complex, at 57 storeys, and the tallest building in Canada from 1972 to 1976), Commerce Court East (14 storeys), and Commerce Court South (5 storeys). Across the intersection on the northwestern corner is First Canadian Place, housing the main Toronto offices of the Bank of Montreal. It was designed by Edward Durell Stone and originally clad in Carrara marble. Since 1975, it has held the title of Canada's tallest office building with a height of . Scotia Plaza, headquarters of Scotiabank, is the second tallest building in Canada and is the newest of the Bay and King office towers having been completed in 1988.
Architecture of Toronto | Financial district
More expensive than brick, but more ornate, it was used for many early landmarks such as the Ontario Legislature, Old City Hall, and Victoria College. It is also the main material used in the unique Annex style house.
Architecture of Toronto | Building materials
The style of the building is late Georgian architecture. It was originally a three-storey building, with two front doors, one for the private residence and one for the post office proper. At the time, postmasters lived in the same building as their post office. The fourth-storey roof was added in 1876, while the building was part of De La Salle Institute (today's De La Salle College), a Roman Catholic boys' school, which had built an adjoining building between the post office and the Bank of Upper Canada Building to the west.
First Toronto Post Office | Architecture
Some of the most interesting architecture in the city can be found in St. Lawrence, one notable landmark is the Flatiron building, known for its distinct narrow, wedge shape where Wellington St. merges with Front. Built in 1892, it was the first of this type of building constructed in North America. If viewed from the east, the wedge can be seen in the foreground with the financial skyscrapers and the CN tower rising in the background. While many of the old industrial buildings along Front Street east of Jarvis have been demolished since the 1950s, several old industrial buildings remain, including old meat-packing plants from the 1800s.
St. Lawrence, Toronto | Character
Sir Norman Foster designed the University of Toronto's Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building, which is home to the largest pharmacy faculty in Canada. It was completed in 2006. The other two major universities, York and Ryerson Universities, have largely been built in more recent years and have fewer architectural monuments. Ryerson was long mostly hidden within the downtown streetscape, with the Brutalist library, podium, and Jorgensen Hall complex being one half block east of Yonge Street, but since the 1990s, an unprecedented building project has greatly expanded the campus and made it much more visible. York, like many of the universities that largely came into being in the 1950s and 1960s, has mostly eschewed monumentalism in pursuit of less dramatic, but more egalitarian architecture, particularly Brutalist architecture, such as the Scott Library.
Architecture of Toronto | Post-secondary educational institutions
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario. The Romanesque Ontario Legislature is one of the most prominent monuments in the city, forming a terminating vista at the end of University Avenue. To the east of the legislature are a number of governmental buildings, with the best known being the Whitney Block. Constructed over many decades, they embrace a number of different styles. The provincial government have been unwilling to pay for structures as lavish as those of the private sector, and few of the provincial buildings are of much prominence. Two of the most distinct and well-known structures in downtown Toronto are the old and current city halls.
Architecture of Toronto | Government
The architecture of Toronto is an eclectic combination of architectural styles, ranging from 19th century Georgian architecture, to 21st century postmodern architecture and beyond. Initially, the city was on the periphery of the architectural world, embracing styles and ideas developed in Europe and the United States with only limited local variation. However, a few unique styles of architecture have emerged from Toronto, such as the bay and gable style house and the Annex style house. Toronto's older buildings are influenced by the city's history and culture. Most of the city's older buildings adopted designs found in other areas of the British Empire, such as Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian, and various revival-styled designs that were popular during the 19th and early 20th century.
Architecture of Toronto | Introduction
Designed by Eberhard Zeidler, the Eaton Centre represented one of North America's first downtown shopping malls. It was designed as a multi-levelled, vaulted glass-ceiling galleria, modelled after the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, Italy. At the time of its opening in 1977, the interior design of the Eaton Centre was considered quite revolutionary and influenced shopping centre architecture throughout North America. Plans originally called for the demolition of Old City Hall and the Church of the Holy Trinity, but these were eventually dropped after a public outcry. Ultimately, Louisa Street, Downey's Lane and Albert Lane were closed and disappeared from the city street grid to make way for the new office and retail complex.
Architecture of Toronto | Shopping centres
First Canadian Place (originally First Bank Building) is a skyscraper in the Financial District of Toronto, Ontario, at the northwest corner of King and Bay streets, and serves as the global operational headquarters of the Bank of Montreal. At , it is Canada's tallest skyscraper and the 15th tallest building in North America to structural top (spires) and 9th highest to the roof top, and the 105th tallest in the world. It is the third tallest free-standing structure in Canada, after the CN Tower (also in Toronto) and the Inco Superstack chimney in Sudbury, Ontario. The building is owned by Brookfield Office Properties, putting it in co-ownership with the neighbouring Exchange Tower and Bay Adelaide Centre as well as various other office spaces across Downtown Toronto.
First Canadian Place | Introduction
The University of Toronto (U of T) has embraced dramatic design and monumentalism, and its prominent location at the centre of the city has given its structures a wide impact. Built up over almost two centuries, the university's buildings cover a wide range of styles. The Collegiate Gothic style was embraced for many of the earliest buildings, such as Hart House, Trinity College, and Burwash Hall, but there are also examples of almost all the Victorian revival styles on campus. In recent decades, the university has built examples of modernism, such as McLennan Physical Laboratories; brutalism, such as Robarts Library; and postmodernism, such as the graduate house by Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Thom Mayne.
Architecture of Toronto | Post-secondary educational institutions
Its tallest tower once dominated the Toronto skyline as the city's first modern skyscraper and the tallest building in Canada from 1967 to 1972. On the southeast corner is CIBC's Commerce Court complex. It is a cluster of four office buildings. The first building, known since the 1970s as Commerce Court North, was built in 1930 as the headquarters. Designed by the firm Darling and Pearson, the 34-storey tower was the tallest building in the British Empire / Commonwealth of Nations until 1962. In 1972, three other buildings were erected, thus creating the Commerce Court complex: Commerce Court West designed by I.
Architecture of Toronto | Financial district
When completed, the building was nearly identical in appearance to Stone's Aon Center in Chicago, Illinois; completed two years previous as the Standard Oil Building, the Chicago tower is of the same floor plan and clad in the same marble, the only overtly visible difference being the vertical orientation of the windows, as opposed to the horizontal run of those on First Canadian Place. First Canadian Place was the 6th tallest building in the world to structural top (currently 103rd) and the tallest building overall outside of Chicago and New York when built in 1975. It was also the tallest building in the Commonwealth of Nations until the completion of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1998.
First Canadian Place | History and architecture
Annesley Hall was the first residence built specifically for women in Canada. Burwash Hall is the second oldest of the residence buildings at Victoria. Construction began in 1911 and was completed in 1913. It was named after Nathanael Burwash, a former president of Victoria. The building is an extravagant Neo-Gothic work with turrets, gargoyles, and battlements. The architect was Henry Sproatt. The building is divided between the large dining hall in the northwest and the student residence proper. The residence area is divided into two sections. The Upper Houses, built in 1913, consist of four houses: North House, Middle House, Gate House, and South House.
Victoria University, Toronto | Sites and architecture
The firm also designed a glass spandrel system to replace the deteriorating marble façade of Canada's tallest building, First Canadian Place in Toronto. The firm has a particular focus on facade replacements, public spaces and lobby renovations.
Moed de Armas and Shannon | History
There was considerable controversy about the award of the design contract; the Board of Trade wanted to build a skyscraper like those in New York, Chicago and Boston, and they favored an American architect over Canadian-based ones, supposedly on the basis of experience with tall buildings. The first design by James & James of New York partially collapsed during construction. James & James were dismissed from the job and Edward A. Kent, an architect from Buffalo, N.Y., was called in to complete the building following the plans of James & James. The Board of Trade Building was soon eclipsed in height in 1894 by the Beard Building and then in 1895 by the ten-story Temple Building on Bay Street.
Toronto Board of Trade Building | Introduction
It is the first structure in Canada specifically designed to house both opera and ballet with customized acoustics. Other musical theatres in Toronto include the Danforth Music Hall, The Opera House, and the Budweiser Stage (formerly Molson Canadian Amphitheatre). The city also holds a number of live performance theatres including the Royal Alexandra Theatre, the oldest live performance theatre in North America. The Royal Alexandra's design was inspired by turn-of-the-century beaux-arts architectural styles, typical of British theatres. Other notable live performance venues include Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres, Ed Mirvish Theatre, Bathurst Street Theatre, CAA Theatre, Princess of Wales Theatre, and the Meridian Hall (formerly the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts and the Hummingbird Centre and was opened as O'Keefe Centre).
Architecture of Toronto | Theatre venues
Lyle and structures like the massive Princes' Gates at Exhibition Place in Toronto.
Architecture of Canada | Victorian architecture
When the province of Canada ceased to exist with the creation of Ontario at Confederation on July 1, 1867, Toronto was named the provincial capital, and these Front Street buildings were the first used by the Ontario legislature. Therefore, they are the province of Ontario's first parliament buildings, but not the first parliament buildings in present-day Ontario.
First Ontario Parliament Buildings | History
In response, the Academic Research Centre (ARC) and Joan Foley Hall were constructed. The ARC was built in 2003 as an extension of the Bladen Building with a copper finish. It allowed for the relocation and expansion of the library to its present state and introduced the campus's first 300-seat lecture theatre, which has since held the Watts Lecture series, after formerly being held in the Meeting Place. The Doris McCarthy Gallery, also found in the ARC, exhibits works by local artist and campus alumni, Doris McCarthy. The Student Centre was opened in 2004 through a project that was initiated and funded by students.
University of Toronto Scarborough | Architecture
Early subway stations in Toronto were utilitarian by design. The stations are typically described as "a series of bathrooms without plumbing", due to the extensive use of Vitrolite tiling. Later subway stations were designed by notable architects, particularly with the Spadina section of Line 1 Yonge–University, as well as Line 4 Sheppard along the namesake avenue. The extension of the Spadina section of Line 1 to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre has unique architecture as well. Museum station was renovated to resemble that of the Royal Ontario Museum's collection; its renovation was completed in 2008. Dufferin, Union, and Pape subway stations were renovated during the mid-2010s to add new artwork and in the case of Union, a second platform was added as well, though not as a Spanish solution.
Architecture of Toronto | Transportation architecture
Toronto has numerous theatre and sports venues. Many theatre and sports venues have naming rights sold to major corporations.
Architecture of Toronto | Cultural architecture
Samuel George Curry (Port Hope 1854 — 1942) was a Canadian architect who practiced in Toronto as the junior partner of several of Toronto’s leading architects, among them Frank Darling and from 1892 Darling's partner John A. Pearson, Henry Sproatt, Francis S. Baker, Ernest Rolph and W. F. Sparling. In 1880, in partnership with Frank Darling (architect), he designed the first-place entry for the new Provincial Parliament Buildings in Toronto; through delay and politicking the design was not executed. Darling and Curry designed the former Bank of Montreal building at the corner of Yonge and Front streets (now housing the Hockey Hall of Fame) and the Victoria Hospital for Sick Children, on College Street, Toronto.
S. George Curry | Introduction
As Toronto grew rapidly during the late 1960s and early 1970s, multiple skyscrapers were constructed in the downtown core, most notably First Canadian Place. The reflective nature of the new buildings compromised the quality of broadcast signals necessitating new, higher antennas that were at least tall.
CN Tower | History
The album featured two photos which were taken from the same place but at different times by Muffins guitarist Mark Gane using a time lapse camera and features the building at midday and dusk. The 7" cover again features the same photo but has 9 small images taken at various times of the day and night.
First Canadian Place | History and architecture
The arches are semicircular, and consist of small columns that provide the structural support to hold up vaults on the side of walkways. There is much ornamentation, especially in the form of stone carvings, liberally applied on the walls, arches, columns and façades of the building. Carved images include nature, animals, mysterious creatures as well as the college shield and motto. The building also features several stained glass windows, including the rose window by Robert McCausland. Some of the basic original layout plans remain at University College today. The focal point of the structure is at the south façade, where the stone tower at the center of the composition contains the main entrance of the college.
University College, Toronto | Grounds and architecture
The International Style period coincided with a major building boom in Canada, and few restrictions on massive building projects. International Style skyscrapers came to dominate many of Canada's major cities, especially Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, and Toronto. In Montreal fewer such buildings were erected, but those that were such as Place Ville-Marie and Place Victoria, were large enough to dominate the skyline. The first phase of the Toronto subway was completed 1954 as the first subway line in Canada, with sleek but austere and repetitive station architecture, influenced by the International Style. Yet the opening of the Montreal Metro opened in 1966 proved to be more architecturally significant in Canada because its individual stations each contained unique Modernist architecture with expressive uses of colour, form, and materials by different architects and incorporated works of art to enhance the experience of using the system.
Architecture of Canada | International style
The St. Patrick, , , , and stations of the Toronto subway system are nearby. The architecture is epitomized by a combination of Romanesque and Gothic Revival buildings spread across the eastern and central portions of campus, most dating between 1858 and 1929. The traditional heart of the university, known as Front Campus, is near the campus centre in an oval lawn enclosed by King's College Circle. The centrepiece is the main building of University College, built in 1857 with an eclectic blend of Richardsonian Romanesque and Norman architectural elements. The dramatic effect of this blended design by architect Frederick William Cumberland drew praise from European visitors of the time: "Until I reached Toronto," remarked Lord Dufferin during his visit in 1872, "I confess I was not aware that so magnificent a specimen of architecture existed upon the American continent." The building was declared a National Historic Site of Canada in 1968.
University of Toronto | Grounds
In Athens, in the Yucatan, in Paris, architecture still speaks eloquently centuries after so much else of value is gone. In 1967, a banker insisted that Toronto be remembered with respect."
Allen Lambert | The TD Centre
In 2018, Gow Hastings completed the Odeyto Indigenous Centre, a multi-purpose facility for First Peoples at Seneca College in Toronto. The Odeyto building takes its name from the Anishinaabe word for “good journey” and is inspired by the image of a canoe pulling up to a dock. Odeyto was named one of the 10 Best Canadian Architecture Projects of 2018 by Azure Magazine. In 2019, Odeyto received a Toronto Urban Design Award (TUDA) in the category Public Buildings in Context.
Gow Hastings Architects | Seneca College Odeyto Indigenous Centre (2018)
From the eastern side of the building, the Upper Houses look out at Rowell Jackman Hall and the Lower Houses see the St. Michael's College residence of Elmsley. The only exceptions are the view from Gate House's tower that looks down St. Mary's Street and the view from the south side of Bowles-Gandier house, which looks upon the main quadrangle of St. Michael's University College.
Victoria University, Toronto | Sites and architecture
Just beyond Bay and King, a number of other towers are found. To the south is the Royal Bank Plaza, the Royal Bank of Canada's main building in Toronto. At Bay and Wellington is TD Canada Trust Tower, the third tallest building in Canada, and its mate, the Bay Wellington Tower.
Architecture of Toronto | Financial district
The first Upper Canada parliament buildings were built in 1796 at Front and Parliament Streets when the capital of the Province was moved from Niagara-on-the-Lake. These were destroyed in 1813 during an attack on the then-City of York during the War of 1812. A second building was constructed on the same site in 1820, only to be lost to fire in 1824. They were replaced by a new structure built between 1829 and 1832 near Front, John, Simcoe, and Wellington Streets, which saw alterations took place in 1849. With the unification of Upper and Lower Canada in 1840, the building continued to see sporadic periods of usage as the legislature of the Province of Canada until the capital was permanently moved to what is now Ottawa shortly prior to Confederation in 1867, which saw the formation of the modern-day province of Ontario.
Old Toronto | Capital
The museum building is located at Queen's Park Crescent, on the campus of Victoria University, a federated college of the University of Toronto. Museum station is the nearest Toronto subway station to the museum. Completed in 1983, the building was at the cost of C$6 million. The building was originally only , and two storeys, although was designed to accommodate the construction of an additional floor. Designed by Keith Wagland, the neoclassical modernist building's was designed and position on the property's back court to provide the surrounding area an unobstructed view of the building adjacent to the museum, the Lillian Massey Building.
Gardiner Museum | Architecture
1 Spadina Crescent, also known as the Daniels Building, is an academic building home to the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto (U of T) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building is situated in the centre of a roundabout of Spadina Avenue, north of College Street. Its location provides a picturesque vista looking north up Spadina Avenue; it is an axial view terminus for Spadina Avenue.
1 Spadina Crescent | Introduction
Many of Toronto's early hotels were small inns and taverns that were built along each of the major routes out of the city. The oldest surviving hotel in Toronto is Montgomery's Inn, which was built in 1832. The Lambton House is another surviving hotel structure that also served those travelling on Dundas Street. Both hotels had since been converted as museums. The arrival of the railroad in the mid-nineteenth century dramatically changed travel patterns, and new hotels from this era were clustered around the railroad stations. Outside the central core, smaller hotels grew up to serve the stations in what were then the outer reaches of the city.
Architecture of Toronto | Hotels
In the 1970s, Toronto experienced major economic growth and surpassed Montreal to become the largest city in Canada. Many international and domestic businesses relocated to Toronto and created massive new skyscrapers downtown. All of Canada's Big Five banks constructed skyscrapers beginning in the late 1960s up until the early 1990s. Today downtown Toronto contains dozens of notable skyscrapers. The area's First Canadian Place is the tallest building in Canada at height of 298 metres (978 feet). The CN Tower, once the tallest free-standing structure in the world, remains the tallest such structure in the Americas, standing at 553.33 metres (1,815 ft., 5 inches).
Downtown Toronto | Architecture
After the Second World War, the Jewish community recentred upon the Bathurst Street corridor. During the late 20th century and the early 21st century, a wide number of other religious groups have grown to considerable numbers in Toronto and constructed traditional religious structures in the city. Several mosques, as well as Buddhist and Hindu temples, have been built. One of the most notable is the Hindu BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Toronto, which opened in the northwest of the city in 2007.
Architecture of Toronto | Houses of worship
The city of Toronto originally formed as a result of its good harbour, and the port was the source of the city's prosperity for most of its early history. The oldest parts of the city are thus by the harbour, with newer growth spreading out in all directions possible. Around the harbour grew up a belt of industrial structures, especially just east and west of downtown. These included massive facilities such as Gooderham and Worts whiskey distillery and Massey Ferguson's farm equipment factories. In the later half of the nineteenth century, the railways became Toronto's main connection with the outside world, and further industrial areas grew up around the freight lines, in areas such as Weston and East York.
Architecture of Toronto | Industrial architecture
A number of other stations also have public artworks within them.
Architecture of Toronto | Transportation architecture
Regarded as one of the city's first skyscrapers, it was completed in 1896 to house the world headquarters of the Independent Order of Foresters, which was a friendly society that acted as both a fraternal order and an important financial institution. The IOF was then run by the energetic Oronhyatekha who commissioned the grand structure. It was designed by George W. Gouinlock, who looked to Chicago's high rise buildings, and specifically the Rookery Building, for inspiration. The building was located at Richmond and Bay Street. Upon its completion it was Toronto's tallest building, a title it would hold until the Trader's Bank Building was built in 1905.
Temple Building (Toronto) | History
The First Ontario Parliament Buildings (or the Third Parliament Buildings of Upper Canada) were built between 1829 and 1832 near Front, John, Simcoe and Wellington Streets in Toronto, Upper Canada. It served as the parliament buildings for Upper Canada, the Province of Canada, and the province of Ontario after Canadian Confederation in 1867.
First Ontario Parliament Buildings | Introduction
Toronto is home to a variety of museums of varied styles. The Hockey Hall of Fame is housed in a Beaux-Arts building designed by Frank Darling that was formerly a branch of the Bank of Montreal. Several of Canada's most prominent museums are located in Toronto and since the late 2000s have seen a number of architecturally bold expansions. The Gardiner Museum recently commissioned KPMB Architects for a renovation and expansion, which was completed in 2006. The design consists of strongly pronounced rectangular and square windows, with various asymmetrical setbacks. Opened in 1914, the Royal Ontario Museum is Canada's largest.
Architecture of Toronto | Museums
The city later took over the castle when Pellatt could no longer afford to keep it. The building presently operates as a museum. The Princes' Gates is a neoclassical style triumphal arch monumental gateway at Exhibition Place. It was built to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Canadian Confederation and was to be named The Diamond Jubilee of Confederation Gates. The structure's name was changed when it was learned that Edward, Prince of Wales and Prince George were travelling to Toronto. The princes cut the ribbon on the structure on August 30, 1927. Prince's Gate was designed local architectural firm Chapman and Oxley.
Architecture of Toronto | Landmarks
2004, Mississauga, Canada At the edge of the university’s campus, enclosed by a park and a courtyard garden, sits the CCIT building. The building is a place of occupancy, adjacency, and transition, as it creates a linear public circulation space between the Student Centre and the Library. The concept was to bring the natural landscape through the building, into the courtyard garden, and through to the campus. The fully transparent glazed façade diminishes the line between the interior and exterior. Conceptual strands of landscape are vertically woven throughout the structure, connecting students and spaces together through bridges, ramps, platforms, and staircases.
Saucier + Perrotte | Communication, Culture, Information and Technology Building, University of Toronto at Mississauga (CCIT Building)
Thanks to its vast hinterland, Toronto designers have had access to a wide array of raw materials for construction. Due to the clay sediments of the former lake bed that Toronto is built upon, and but more prominently the shale layer underlying this area of North America, brick has been an especially cheap and available material for almost the city's entire history. Much of it was provided by the Don Valley Brick Works, Domtar's brick division, Canada Brick and Brampton Brick, whose output can still be found in thousands of structures across the city and throughout the surrounding regions. Throughout the city, most homes from all eras are made of brick or brick and cinder block.
Architecture of Toronto | Building materials
The Coffin Block Building at Front and Church streets was the first flatiron building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 3-storey Georgian structure was built some time before 1838 (based on a Bartlett print of the building drawn in 1838) and in 1845 became an annex to "The Wellington" hotel on Church Street. The basement housed the office of the William Weller (of Cobourg) Stagecoach Company from 1830 to 1835. The stage coach office at the apex of the building was added later. A business under the name J.M. McCuaig was located in the building as well.
Coffin Block Building | Introduction
The new Canadian architecture once again turned to the past. A prominent heritage preservation movement developed, and most cities today have heritage districts of restored structures. Old factories and warehouses, rather than be demolished, have been refurbished, such as the Queen's Quay Terminal, a former warehouse at a prominent central location on the Toronto waterfront that was rebuilt into a mix of stores, residential condominiums, and a theatre. New buildings have also begun to echo the past. Ronald Thom's Massey College is a notable early example completed in 1963. It adds strong Gothic influences to a Modern concrete, brick, and glass aesthetic.
Architecture of Canada | Late and postmodernism
The Main Street is the concept of small avenues and store frontages on busy roads, which maintain the vitality of communities and the continuity of the streetscape.
Architecture of Toronto | Main Streets
At the same time, planners avoided creating mixed-use areas, forcing suburban residents to work and shop elsewhere.
Architecture of Toronto | Rise of the suburbs
The tipi consisted of a thin wooden frame and an outer covering of animal hides. The structures could be quickly erected, and were light enough to transport long distances.
Architecture of Canada | First Nations
This is a list of heritage, historic or simply notable older buildings that were demolished or lost due to fire or other causes in what is now Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In some cases, facades or portions of the original buildings have been retained or reconstructed.
List of lost buildings and structures in Toronto | Introduction
The series, hosted by University of Toronto professor James Acland, examined modern Canadian architecture for selected Canadian projects that were built in the mid-1960s. Episodes included commentary by the architects involved in their respective projects. Acland previously discussed architectural subjects in CBC documentaries such as "Man in a Landscape" during the 1960s.
A Sense of Place | Premise
The post war years and the rise of the personal automobile saw the rapid rise of the suburbs, as occurred across North America. The most important suburban development was that of Don Mills in North York. Begun in 1952, it was the first planned community in Canada, and it initiated many practices that would become standard in Toronto suburbs. The Don Mills project put into practice many of the ideas of the Garden city movement, based on the ideas developed by Sir Ebenezer Howard, creating a multi-use community focused on distinct neighbourhoods. The earliest suburbs in North York, Scarborough, and Etobicoke mostly consisted of small single family homes often bungalows.
Architecture of Toronto | Rise of the suburbs
This building's architecture won Plumb the Habitation Space International Award of Excellence, the Canadian Architect Yearbook Award of Excellence, the O.A.A Toronto Life Design Award, the Canadian Architect Design Award and the Governor General’s Medal for Architecture. Plumb used the Scaramouche Restaurant in Toronto as another way to play with human interaction. Built-in 1979 this building is located at 1 Benevento Place in Toronto, Ontario. The foundation of the restaurant is created using a structural grid that controls but encourages the flow of traffic through the restaurant. Plumb designed this building to sit on a hillside, so diners could enjoy looking down onto the city while eating.
Helga Plumb | Notable works
Initially they eyed Peter Street near the then end of King Street, but Colborne desired it to be at Russell Square, between King, Simcoe, Adelaide and John Streets; Colborne's location was accepted, and tenders for construction of the new College buildings were put out in May 1830. The costs of the buildings were originally slated at £10,000, but the cost was eventually estimated to be double that amount. In "Lost Toronto", William Dendy wrote:
Architecture of Upper Canada College | 1829 to 1891
Smaller and lower versions of this design symmetrically frame the middle section on both sides. Beneath the central rose window is a blind arcade, and the main doorway below is topped with a gable with two roundels on either side. The brick- and copper-clad spire is characterized by corner niches, with gables rising above belfry openings between the angle turrets. The church's architecture aligns symmetrically with Adelaide Street with the tower facing the centre of the street, thus serving as a picturesque view terminus. Connolly's Church of Our Lady Immaculate in Guelph, Ontario stands similarly at the head of that city's Macdonell Street.
St. Mary's Church, Toronto | Architecture
This is a list of oldest buildings and structures in Toronto, that were constructed before 1920. The history of Toronto dates back to indigenous settlements in the region approximately 12,000 years ago. However, the oldest standing structures in Toronto were built by European settlers. Remains of a Seneca settlement may be found at the Bead Hill archaeological site, in eastern Toronto. The first European structure built in Toronto was Magasin Royal, a French trading post established in 1720. In the 1750s, the French built several structures in the area (including Fort Rouillé), although the French would later destroy them in 1759, following their defeat at the Battle of Fort Niagara.
List of oldest buildings and structures in Toronto | Introduction
The centre was described by "Canadian Architect" magazine as "a complex interweaving of urbanity, public space and sustainability", and it won the Ontario Association of Architects Award, the City of Toronto Architecture and Urban Design Award, and bronze in the environmental category of the National Post Design Exchange Award.
University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering | History
The quadrangle and cloisters are enclosed within elaborately carved walls faced with stone, "felicitously sited amid landscaped grounds". Until the Laidlaw Wing was completed in the 1960s, University College was a U-shaped structure that was open on the north end. Before the fire of 1890, the building was laid out such that the east wing provided access to the convocation hall, the museum and the library, and contained an entrance to the quadrangle. Residences and dining halls, classrooms, and public reading rooms were on the west range of the structure. The chemistry laboratory was relocated at the southwest range, in the present Croft Chapter House, because it was more logical than in the first study which was in the north.
University College, Toronto | Grounds and architecture
Zeidler says that the structures were designed to "give an illusion of dimensionless space, exploiting technology to shape the society of tomorrow." ""
Ontario Place | Design and construction
Historic Places of Canada
David Webster (architect) | External
Built of the abundant red brick, the design was also well suited to the narrow lots of Toronto. Mostly built in lower and middle class areas the style could be used both for town houses, semi-detached, and stand alone buildings. Hundreds of examples still survive in neighbourhoods such as Cabbagetown and Parkdale. A residential architectural style unique to Toronto is the Annex style house. Built by the city's wealthy and mostly found in the neighbourhood they are named after, these houses contain diverse and eclectic elements borrowed from dozens of different styles. These houses are built of a mix of brick and sandstone, turrets, domes, and other ornamentation abound.
Architecture of Toronto | Nineteenth century
The Board of Trade Building was one of the first skyscrapers in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Completed in 1892 on the corner of Front Street East and Yonge Street, the seven storey tower was home to the Toronto Board of Trade and the Toronto Transit Commission. The building was designed by the American architectural firm of James & James of New York City, and closely resembled the appearance of the Board of Trade Building in Boston, Mass., which had been designed two years earlier by the Boston firm of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge. That Boston firm was also credited with the plans for the Montreal Board of Trade Building.
Toronto Board of Trade Building | Introduction
The Old City Hall was built in 1899 and is a prominent example of the late Victorian Romanesque Revival style. Across the street is the starkly different new Toronto City Hall opened in 1965. This brashly modernist structure was designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell. It fronts Nathan Phillips Square, which was also designed by Revell. Today, both buildings are considered symbols of the city. The 3D Toronto sign was installed in Nathan Phillips Square for the 2015 Pan American Games and a permanent version of the sign was installed in 2020.
Architecture of Toronto | Government
The labyrinth is oriented in the direction of true north, as indicated by the directional lines created with the granite blocks.
Trinity Square (Toronto) | Design
The city hosts a number of music theatres and venues, most notably Roy Thomson Hall. Designed by Canadian architects Arthur Erickson and Mathers and Haldenby, the 2630-seat Roy Thomson Hall opened in 1982 as the primary home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The previous home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Massey Hall, is the oldest musical theatre venue in Toronto, and remains in operation today. In June 2006, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts opened as the new home of the Canadian Opera Company and The National Ballet of Canada. Designed by Diamond + Schmitt, the 2,000 seat opera house has a European-style tiered horseshoe-shaped auditorium.
Architecture of Toronto | Theatre venues
Priest’s on-going interest in architecture has led her to conceptualize and devise integrated permanent public art projects. The first to be built was "The Monument to Construction Workers" in downtown Toronto, a landmark component for the collaborative urban park project Cloud Gardens working with project architects Baird Sampson. Completed in 1993, it received a Governor General’s Award of Merit in Architecture in 1994. The "Monument" measures approximately 22 metres wide by 10 metres at its highest point, and consists of a structural steel grid with twenty-six 150 x 150 cm inserted panels. The panels began as Priest’s geometric composition drawings of materials and methods used in each of the professional construction trades, such as carpentry, concrete work, and pipe-fitting.
Margaret Priest | Public Art
One of the most common institutions in Toronto are the large number of churches and other houses of worship. In the 19th and early 20th century, Toronto was home to a wide array of Christian denominations, each of which erected a wide array of churches in what is today central Toronto. Over time, the decrease in population in the core and the move away from mainline denominations has seen many of these churches disappear. Many still remain, and they are some of the more notable buildings in the city. While some very early churches were in the Georgian style, Gothic Revival became the dominant.
Architecture of Toronto | Houses of worship
The 1960 building replaced the 1884 Yonge Street Arcade, an indoor shopping mall and commercial building that was demolished in 1954. The original 1884 building, designed by architect Charles A. Walton, is considered to be Canada's first indoor shopping mall, or arcade. The four-storey indoor mall linked Yonge Street and Temperance Streets to Victoria and Lombard Streets one block east. The arcade consisted of 52 retail stores and was intended to compete with the large nearby department stores. Businesses located at the arcade included the British American Business College on the top two floors, a dentist and a cattle dealer.
Arcade Building (Toronto) | Original Arcade building
The main door of the original building was retained and installed at the Globe and Mail's subsequent home on Front Street. Additional sculptural elements from the structure may be found at Guild Park and Gardens in Scarborough. The street address once occupied by the 1937 Globe and Mail Building is part of the First Canadian Place complex and is now occupied by the Exchange Tower. The plans for the William H. Wright Building are held at the Archives of Ontario as part of the "Mathers and Haldenby Fonds."
William H. Wright Building | History
Also in the vicinity is the 4.5 m-wide (15 ft.) divided stairway, leading to a landing branching east and west to what used to be the county and city divisions of the building. Stucco pillars were shaped by Italian craftsmen. Surviving original interior includes detailing in wood, plaster, iron, bronze and marble, including a mosaic floor laid by Jacomo Bespirt and family, columns with plaster capitals, faux-marble finishes, woodwork, wrought-iron grotesques and gas lamp standards, and door knobs bearing the city's old coat of arms. The main hall in its day was said to be the city's grandest indoor space, amazing visitors.
Old City Hall (Toronto) | Interior
The rectilinear pattern of Saint-Jean granite pavers follows the grid, serving to organize and unify the complex, and the plaza's surface material extends through the glass lobbies of the towers and the banking pavilion, blurring the distinction between interior and exterior space. The remaining voids between the buildings create space for the plaza and lawn. Phyllis Lambert wrote of the centre and the arrangement of its elements within the site: More towers were added over the ensuing decades, outside the periphery of the original site—as they were not part of Mies's master plan for the TD Centre—but still positioned close enough, and in such locations, as to visually impact the sense of space within areas of the centre, forming Miesian western and southern walls to the lawn and a tall eastern flank to the plaza.
Toronto-Dominion Centre | Site
The Dixon Building (number 49) and Griffiths Building (number 47) are parts of a heritage building located on Front Street, Toronto, Ontario. The three-and-a-half storey building is an example of Second Empire architecture and was constructed in 1872-3 according to the designs of Walter Strickland. The building is thought to be one of the few remaining structures in Ontario with a cast iron facade. The facade of the building is protected by an Ontario Heritage Trust conservation easement. The property is also designated by the City of Toronto under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act (By-law 429-78).
Dixon and Griffiths Buildings | Introduction
In 1988, architect Dermot Sweeny founded the architecture firm Dermot Sweeny & Associates in Toronto, Canada. The firm's very first project was The Derby, initiated by Ron Thom's Toronto office, located at 393 King Street East and Parliament. The Derby was a heritage preservation project which transformed the Derby Tavern (previously known as William Wright's Inn) into a 26 innovative loft residential building; it was the first re-zoning of industrial land to residential and was used to promote "Two-Kings" policy by the former Toronto mayor Barbara Hall in late 1990s. The Derby helped establish the firm's reputation in unique adaptation and optimization of heritage buildings within the city of Toronto.
Sweeny&amp;Co Architects Inc. | History
The building was once home to Toronto's first permanent city hall and jailhouse from 1845 to 1899. It was designed by English immigrant architect Henry Bowyer Lane, who also designed Little Trinity Church in 1843, Holy Trinity Church in 1847, and expansion of Osgoode Hall in 1844. Lane's design was chosen over those submitted by William Thomas, John Tully and John George Howard. Lane incorporated into his design contrasting red brick and white stone in the Georgian architecture tradition. A “cupola” was built on the top front side of the building with a clock. Two-storey wings extended on either side of a three-story center block and housed the offices of city staff and shops on the ground floor.
St. Lawrence Market South | History
Shaped by a combination of natural features (Lake Ontario and the Don River Valley) and the built environment (Corktown, Cabbagetown and Regent Park), Parliament Street is a reflection not only of the history of Toronto but of Canada as well. Established in 1791, the Province of Upper Canada moved its capital to York (Toronto) in 1793. Needing a place to house his new government, the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (Governor Simcoe) commissioned the construction of two modest Georgian buildings that were dubbed the “Palaces of Government”. Ontario’s first Parliament was located on the shore of the bay, just east of Berkeley and south of present-day Front Street.
Parliament Street (Toronto) | History
The surviving structures were often moved from the original site years after; they are mostly residential or military structures.
List of oldest buildings and structures in Toronto | 1794 to 1819
The federal agency Design Canada closed in 1985, followed by the University of Toronto's (soon rescinded) announcement in 1986 that it intended to close its school of architecture. In 1983 the Toronto Stock Exchange had abandoned its historic home for the last 46 years at 234 Bay Street, which had been declared a heritage property in 1978. Olympia and York (O&Y) purchased the building. In return for the air rights to build an office tower on the site, O&Y agreed to retain and restore the building. O&Y commissioned a study to consider the idea of using the trading floor as a public facility.
Design Exchange | History
The Gardiner Expressway was one of the first projects undertaken by the newly formed government of Metro Toronto. The route of the Expressway necessitated the paving over of parkland, demolition of residences and a popular amusement park, and a long elevated section to get through the downtown area. Planning was done stage-by-stage, from the Humber River east through downtown. The Humber Bay section was built according to initial plans. The route in the Exhibition Place area route changed over time from one along the lake shore into downtown, to one aligned along the railway north of Exhibition Place. The initial route east of Exhibition Place would have necessitated the moving or removal of Old Fort York, but was moved to a more southerly alignment after protest.
Gardiner Expressway | Planning
Accentuating the Tyndall limestone was granite and a corrosion-resistant alloy of nickel and copper called monel metal.(Shoemaker, and Smith 22) The monel metal was used copiously on the building as trim and in panels along the window and door frames. In addition to this metal trim, cast stone and carvings were created for detailed decorative elements on the façade (Morawetz 5). Marble was imported from Europe for the interior columns and colonnade. Lady Eaton arranged for two entire rooms to be removed from two manor houses in England and reassembled in the furniture department of the College Street store. The French architect Jacques Carlu (who later designed the Rainbow Room in New York City and Eaton's Ninth Floor (or the "9ième") in Montreal), was retained to design the interior of the Eaton's Seventh Floor, including the 1300-seat Eaton Auditorium and the elegant Round Room restaurant.
College Park (Toronto) | Architecture
The first Crystal Palace in Toronto, officially named the Palace of Industry, was modelled after the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, England, and it was Toronto's first permanent exhibition hall. Completed in 1858, it was located south of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, northwest of King and Shaw Streets. It was dismantled in 1878, and the ironwork was used to construct a new Crystal Palace on what would later become Exhibition Place. The second Crystal Palace hosted Toronto's first Industrial Exhibition (the predecessor to the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE)) in 1879. By the time it was destroyed in 1906 by fire, it was officially known as the CNE Transportation Building.
Old Toronto | Culture
In the west, these included the Gladstone Hotel and the Drake Hotel, while in the east, New Broadview House Hotel and the New Edwin Hotel were built. The twentieth century saw a new generation of hotels, much larger and more monumental than before as the skyscraper came to prominence. The King Edward Hotel was established in 1903, and is the oldest major hotel still in operation in the city. In 1927, the Queen's was demolished and replaced by the Royal York Hotel. At the time, the new hotel was the tallest building in Canada and quickly became the city's most elite lodging.
Architecture of Toronto | Hotels
Other notable buildings include Scotia Plaza, TD Centre, Commerce Court, the Royal Bank Plaza, The Bay's flagship store, and the Fairmont Royal York Hotel. Since 2007, urban consolidation has been centred in downtown Toronto and as a result has been undergoing Manhattanization with the construction of new office towers, hotels and condos.
Downtown Toronto | Architecture
Since its founding in 1829, Upper Canada College (UCC), in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, has occupied a number of sites and various structures on those sites. The school campus has always held a relatively prominent place within the city.
Architecture of Upper Canada College | Introduction
In 1929, the Pigott Building was built for $1,000,000. Known as Hamilton's first skyscraper, it has 18-floors and stands at . Originally an office building, the Pigott Building is now used for condominiums. The Lister Block building on the corner of James and King William Street was the first indoor commercial mall in Canada. In 1961, the old city hall, with its 38-metre clock tower was demolished to allow expansion of Eaton's department store. The clock and bell went into the tower of the 1990 Eaton Centre, now known as the Hamilton City Centre. In 1973, the Birks Building, at King and James was once described by Oscar Wilde as "the most beautiful building in all of North America." In 2000, LIUNA Station reopened the James Street North Canadian National rail station as a banquet hall.
James Street (Hamilton, Ontario) | Architecture
Toronto is a city of high-rises, having 1,800 buildings over . Through the 1960s and 1970s, significant pieces of Toronto's architectural heritage were demolished to make way for redevelopment or parking. In contrast, since 2000, Toronto has experienced a period of condo construction boom and architectural revival, with several buildings by world-renowned architects having opened. Daniel Libeskind's Royal Ontario Museum addition, Frank Gehry's remake of the Art Gallery of Ontario, and Will Alsop's distinctive OCAD University expansion are among the city's new showpieces. The mid-1800s Distillery District, on the eastern edge of downtown, has been redeveloped into a pedestrian-oriented arts, culture and entertainment neighbourhood.
Toronto | Architecture
Graduate House at the University of Toronto is a student residence specifically for graduate students, designed by Thom Mayne of Morphosis Architects in Los Angeles together with Toronto's Teeple Architects. It is located at 60 Harbord Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
University of Toronto Graduate House | Introduction
Construction began in 1961, and the building was completed four years later. The time capsule for City Hall was placed in a large ceremony on November 7, 1962 and Governor General Georges Vanier officially opened the new structure September 13, 1965. The area of Toronto City Hall and the civic square was formerly the location of Toronto's first Chinatown, which was expropriated and bulldozed during the mid-1950s in preparation for a new civic building. The location of City Hall itself was also the site of the 1917 Land Registry Office. It was designed in the Roman Classical style and was itself intended as part of a prior urban renewal plan for the area.
Toronto City Hall | Construction
The oldest intact structure of European settlement may be a piece of St Paul's Cathedral's courtyard railing dating from 1714, designed by Christopher Wren, that is now part of John Howard's tomb in High Park. Howard had it shipped from London in 1875. The following list does not include structures where only the facade of the building has been preserved.
List of oldest buildings and structures in Toronto | Surviving structures
Few structures survive from the earliest period of Toronto's history. The oldest home, and structure still standing, in Toronto is Scadding Cabin. Completed in 1794, Scadding Cabin is presently used as a heritage museum after it was relocated to Exhibition Place next to the Fort Rouillé site. Finished in 1807, John Cox Cottage is the oldest known house in the city still used as a residence. Two of Toronto's oldest surviving brick houses are Campbell House and The Grange. Both are brick structures built in the Georgian style during the first half of the 19th century, reflecting the tastes of Toronto's elite in that era.
Architecture of Toronto | Nineteenth century
The men originally found lodgings close to the railway station due to its convenience.
First Chinatown, Toronto | Beginnings
The design committee led by Cumberland initially designed a Gothic structure, but Governor General Edmund Walker Head disliked the style and suggested Italian instead, later changing his preference to Byzantine. The design committee would eventually include Norman, Romanesque Revival, and "faint traces of Byzantium and the Italian palazzo" styles in the design. In particular, the Byzantine, Norman and early English styles were deemed "fitting for educational institutions". Cumberland chose Norman Romanesque as the main influence because he thought it was the most appreciate for the topography in Canada. To achieve a picturesque approach, Cumberland ignored the classical symmetry and deliberately gave an asymmetrical architectural expression.
University College, Toronto | Grounds and architecture
In the years following World War II, the city experienced massive growth and adopted a number of modernist and postmodernist architectural styles, including the International Style and the towers in the park concept. With adoption of the Greenbelt throughout the Greater Toronto Area in 2005, the region has experienced a large condo boom with many designs adopting neo-futurism and neomodern styles. Since the end of World War II, many prominent architects have done work in city, including Toronto native Frank Gehry, Daniel Libeskind, Norman Foster, Will Alsop, I. M. Pei, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Reflecting this eclectic combination of architecture, Lawrence Richards, a member of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto, has said "Toronto is a new, brash, rag-tag place—a big mix of periods and styles." The growth of the city is influenced by the geography of the city, most notably the Toronto ravine system and the Greenbelt, a permanently protected area of green space, farmland, forests, wetlands, and watersheds within the Golden Horseshoe.
Architecture of Toronto | Introduction