Toronto Cityscape

The more time I spend in Toronto, the more I like it here. Toronto doesn't have the magnificent natural setting of a city like Seattle, Vancouver or Denver to immediately wow a first time visitor. It doesn't wear its history like Philadelphia or Boston; constantly reminding you of its historical importance. Toronto doesn't have an obvious and interesting industry like Nashville's music or Los Angeles' movie-making. That said, I think it's a great city.

I'll use a walk I took earlier this week as one example to help illustrate my point. I had a few hours to kill between rehearsal and the evening performance, so I wandered the streets admiring some of the city's diverse architecture. The range of impressive architecture I took in made me really happy! All of the photos that follow were taken on Thursday in a two hour span along the route of my walk. I had no guide book or even a real plan - I just walked and took pictures of what I though looked interesting.

The Canada Life Building & The CN Tower

The defining element of Toronto's skyline is the 1,815 foot tall CN Tower. Completed in 1976 and designed by WZMH Architects, the tower was the tallest freestanding structure in the world until September of 2007 (when the Burj Dubai's construction height surpassed the tower). The CN tower was built by the Canadian National Railway to "demonstrate the strength of Canadian industry" and as a solution to the communication problems the city was experiencing as a result of a building boom in the 1960's.

When the Canada Life Building opened in 1931, it was the tallest building in Toronto at 285 feet. Architects Sproatt & Rolph designed the Beaux Arts tower to be taller, but Great Depression lowered the building's profile. The weather beacon that tops the building was added in 1951. The ball on top changes color to indicate approaching precipitation and the lights on the tower chase up, chase down or remain steady to indicate changes in the temperature. The president of Canada Life became enamoured of other such weather beacons on a visit to New York and had this one installed as the first in Canada.

The Canada Life Building anchors University Avenue. Named for the University of Toronto, the Avenue is eight lanes wide with a median of small parks and plantings. It is lined with grand government and financial buildings as well as a series of hospitals. At the north end of University Avenue, the lanes divide to go around Queen's Park and the Ontario Legislature.

The Ontario Legislature as seen from the Southwest

The Ontario Legislature is housed in this sprawling Romanesque building designed by Richard A Waite. The building was completed in 1893 and is constructed of Ontario Pink Sandstone, giving it the nickname: "the Pink Palace". In addition to serving as home for the legislature, the northwest portion of the building is an apartment suite for the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, the Queen's Representative to the government of Ontario.

The Legislature sits on land leased from the University of Toronto for $1 a year in the middle of Queen's Park. The park was dedicated in 1860 by Edward Prince of Wales and is named for his mother Queen Victoria. At the north end of the park is the Royal Ontario Museum.

The Royal Ontario Museum from the Northeast

and from the Northwest

The Royal Ontario Museum first opened in its current home in 1914. The original building is a heavy Neo-Romanesque affair and has been added onto several times. The first addition, in 1933, used the same building materials as the original, but this time in an Byzantine style. In the 60's a planetarium was added and in 1994 a modernist addition was completed. The most recent addition was designed by Daniel Libeskind and opened in 2007. It's design reflects a crystalline form (it's named the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal after a prime donor to the capital campaign). It floats in front of the older buildings without touching them except at passageways (the older buildings are land-marked). The addition is clad in aluminum over 75% of its surface and glass over the remainder and hangs out over the sidewalk. The effect of Libeskind's crystal growing out of the older building is quite striking from the outside, but leaves the inside feeling a bit disjointed.

The campus of the University of Toronto also features some interesting buildings. The old parts of campus are built in the ivy-covered collegiate style. Several more modern building live shoulder to shoulder with these Romanesque and Gothic Revival structures. The Robarts Library (opened in 1972) is a prime example of the concrete Brutalist style. The Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building was recently completed by Norman Foster (the architect of the Hearst Tower in NYC). Right next to the Pharmacy Building sits the Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research.

The Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research

The research center opened in 2005 and was designed by the German firm of Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner. The photo above doesn't do its striking presence justice. It appears as two glass boxes stacked on top of one another with small columns separating the two. The glass is of two shades of reflective glass and colored glass streaks decorate the sides. The lobby of the building contains trees and plants that bring the exterior courtyards inside. The building won several architectural awards in 2006.

The Art Gallery of Ontario's new facade under construction

Just south of the University, the Art Gallery of Ontario is undergoing a major renovation. The new building is designed by Frank Gehry and is set to open in November of this year. The building's front facade is created from curved glass and wood and will be home to a new sculpture gallery. The rear of the building is clad in blue titanium and will house the contemporary arts gallery. The AGO's new home will befit its stature as one of the largest art museums in North America and will increase its gallery space by nearly half.

The rear of the new AGO building as seen from Grange Park

Immediately to the east of the AGO is the Ontario College of Art and Design which also boasts a building by a big name architect.

The Ontario College of Art and Design's Sharp Centre for Design - also as seen from Grange Park

The Sharp Centre from the South

This is my favorite of all the buildings on the page! The British architect Will Alsop designed the addition that floats above the OCAD's old building. The new addition is supported by 12 colored steel columns - I liken them to tinker toys. The effect of the big, slab-like building held 4 storeys above another building by sticks is incredible; the perfect home for a school of art and design! The upper building has plenty of windows, but from a short distance away, the windows disappear into the randomized checkerboard pattern making the building appear even more surreal.

Toronto's municipal buildings are a study in contrasts.

Toronto's "Old City Hall"

Old City Hall sits at the head of Bay Street and commands the corner. When it was completed in 1899, it was the largest building in Toronto. The clock in the tower has a face that is 6 meters across - making it the 3rd largest in the world! The Romanesque Revival building was designed by EJ Lennox and served as the center of Toronto's municipal operations into the 1960's. Today, the city has leased it to the provincial government and it's a court house.

Right across the street stands Toronto's current City Hall:

The current City Hall is the result of a design competition held in 1957. The Finnish architect Viljo Revell was the winner and his design was finally completed in 1965, unfortunately, Revell didn't live to see the building completed. The two curved towers (one is 27 storeys and the other is 20) surround the circular Council Chamber. The convex sides of the towers have no windows and are decorated with austere concrete ribbing which helps them withstand the force of winter winds from Lake Ontario. The concave sides are entirely windows. When viewed from above, the building looks like a giant eye - lending the structure the nickname: "the unblinking eye of government". While the building is controversial (Frank Lloyd Wright described the building as "a head marker for a grave" and continued: "future generations will look at it and say: 'This marks the spot where Toronto fell.'") it is iconic. In fact, Toronto's city logo features the building:

As I said before, these are just buildings that I wandered past on one afternoon & got inspired to take pictures of. Many other great architects have left their mark on Toronto and more are working here currently: Calatrava designed the BCE Place, Thom Maine won the Pritzker Prize for the Graduate House at the UofT, and the Gardiner Museum recently completed an award-winning expansion by KPMB Architects.

The effect of the city's past and present mashing together is wonderful. Rows of brick Victorian homes with gates and gardens give way to the floating slab of the OCAD. The colorful gate of Chinatown buts up against the mixed styles of the UofT. Bay Street begins with Old City Hall, takes you past the ultramodern skyscrapers of the banking titans and drops you at the 18 columns of the massive Beaux-Arts Union Station on Front Street. I think that this juxtaposition helps establish Toronto as a world class city!

JV