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Toronto City Hall
The Toronto City Hall, or New City Hall, is the seat of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. Designed by Viljo Revell and engineered by Hannskarl Bandel, this example of Neo-Expressionist Modern architecture opened in 1965. Adjacent is the Nathan Phillips Square public square, designed and opened together with the hall.
Toronto City Hall replaced the neighbouring Old City Hall, which had been occupied by the municipal government since 1899 but was no longer adequate in size. Plans for a civic square dated to the 1900s, inspired by the "City Beautiful" movement.
The design of the hall and square was the result of an international design competition in 1958. The design competition sparked a national discussion on the meaning of monumental public buildings, the role of competitions in design and the place of urban public space in society. It was the first architectural competition in Ontario to allow international architects, requiring the local architects' association to change its rules and allow open competition at the instigation of then Toronto Mayor Nathan Phillips, after whom the square is named.
The first proposal to build a civic square at Queen Street West and Bay Street was made before World War I in 1905, followed by the Lyle plan of 1911. It included a civic square and monumental government buildings inspired by the "City Beautiful" movement. While the proposal ultimately failed, one part was built: the 1917 Classical-style Land Registry Office. Another proposal in 1927 failed due to the onset of the Great Depression, as there was no longer any civic will to spend the money.
By the end of World War II, the old City Hall was full, and municipal employees were being housed elsewhere. Interest in a new city hall and square was renewed. In 1943, a report to city council had recommended a new city hall and square in the block bounded by Queen Street West, Bay Street, Chestnut Street, and a line 460 feet (140 m) north of Albert Street. A referendum to spend CA$2,000,000 (equivalent to $30,504,854 in 2023) on land acquisition was approved by the electorate in a referendum on New Year's Day in 1947. Acquisitions of lands in the proposed block proceeded, but no other activity proceeded. Most buildings in the block were small two-storey buildings housing Toronto's first Chinatown; on Bay (then Teraulay) was the large 1914 Shea's Hippodrome, a huge theatre for vaudeville and cinema (once considered one of the "big four" theatres in North America) which operated on the site until 1956.
In October 1952, a Civic Advisory Committee panel of citizens appointed by city council proposed a new building facing a civic square. The design proposed an office block with council chamber linking the existing Land Registry Office with a new police headquarters, all in the same style as the Registry Office, and to be designed by local firm Marani and Morris. This proposal was criticized by the University of Toronto Architecture Department staff and students and local architects, and was scrapped.
In 1954, City Council approved a partnership of three of Toronto's largest architectural firms – Marani and Morris, Mathers and Haldenby, and Shore and Moffat – to create a design. Presented in November 1955, their design proposed a conservative, symmetrical limestone-clad building in the Modernist style facing a landscaped square. It retained the Land Registry Office on the western part of the site and also included a landscaped public space in front of it. The podium of the new city hall was to house the council chambers, and was given columns to complement the eight columns of the Registry Building, with which it was aligned across the new public space in front of it. The tower was virtually identical to the Imperial Oil Building which Mathers and Haldenby were constructing on St. Clair Avenue West.
The scheme was panned by leading architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright (who called it a "sterilization" and "a cliché already dated") and Walter Gropius (who deemed it a "very poor pseudo-modern design unworthy of the city of Toronto"), and all classes of the University of Toronto Faculty of Architecture co-authored a letter condemning the proposal and calling for an international competition. The whole CA$18 million proposal was scrapped when voters rejected it in a 1955 municipal election.
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Toronto City Hall
The Toronto City Hall, or New City Hall, is the seat of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. Designed by Viljo Revell and engineered by Hannskarl Bandel, this example of Neo-Expressionist Modern architecture opened in 1965. Adjacent is the Nathan Phillips Square public square, designed and opened together with the hall.
Toronto City Hall replaced the neighbouring Old City Hall, which had been occupied by the municipal government since 1899 but was no longer adequate in size. Plans for a civic square dated to the 1900s, inspired by the "City Beautiful" movement.
The design of the hall and square was the result of an international design competition in 1958. The design competition sparked a national discussion on the meaning of monumental public buildings, the role of competitions in design and the place of urban public space in society. It was the first architectural competition in Ontario to allow international architects, requiring the local architects' association to change its rules and allow open competition at the instigation of then Toronto Mayor Nathan Phillips, after whom the square is named.
The first proposal to build a civic square at Queen Street West and Bay Street was made before World War I in 1905, followed by the Lyle plan of 1911. It included a civic square and monumental government buildings inspired by the "City Beautiful" movement. While the proposal ultimately failed, one part was built: the 1917 Classical-style Land Registry Office. Another proposal in 1927 failed due to the onset of the Great Depression, as there was no longer any civic will to spend the money.
By the end of World War II, the old City Hall was full, and municipal employees were being housed elsewhere. Interest in a new city hall and square was renewed. In 1943, a report to city council had recommended a new city hall and square in the block bounded by Queen Street West, Bay Street, Chestnut Street, and a line 460 feet (140 m) north of Albert Street. A referendum to spend CA$2,000,000 (equivalent to $30,504,854 in 2023) on land acquisition was approved by the electorate in a referendum on New Year's Day in 1947. Acquisitions of lands in the proposed block proceeded, but no other activity proceeded. Most buildings in the block were small two-storey buildings housing Toronto's first Chinatown; on Bay (then Teraulay) was the large 1914 Shea's Hippodrome, a huge theatre for vaudeville and cinema (once considered one of the "big four" theatres in North America) which operated on the site until 1956.
In October 1952, a Civic Advisory Committee panel of citizens appointed by city council proposed a new building facing a civic square. The design proposed an office block with council chamber linking the existing Land Registry Office with a new police headquarters, all in the same style as the Registry Office, and to be designed by local firm Marani and Morris. This proposal was criticized by the University of Toronto Architecture Department staff and students and local architects, and was scrapped.
In 1954, City Council approved a partnership of three of Toronto's largest architectural firms – Marani and Morris, Mathers and Haldenby, and Shore and Moffat – to create a design. Presented in November 1955, their design proposed a conservative, symmetrical limestone-clad building in the Modernist style facing a landscaped square. It retained the Land Registry Office on the western part of the site and also included a landscaped public space in front of it. The podium of the new city hall was to house the council chambers, and was given columns to complement the eight columns of the Registry Building, with which it was aligned across the new public space in front of it. The tower was virtually identical to the Imperial Oil Building which Mathers and Haldenby were constructing on St. Clair Avenue West.
The scheme was panned by leading architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright (who called it a "sterilization" and "a cliché already dated") and Walter Gropius (who deemed it a "very poor pseudo-modern design unworthy of the city of Toronto"), and all classes of the University of Toronto Faculty of Architecture co-authored a letter condemning the proposal and calling for an international competition. The whole CA$18 million proposal was scrapped when voters rejected it in a 1955 municipal election.