Toronto Eaton Centre

The CF Toronto Eaton Centre, commonly referred to simply as the Eaton Centre, is a shopping mall and office complex in the downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is owned and managed by Cadillac Fairview (CF). It was named after the Eaton's department store chain that once anchored it before the chain went defunct in the late 1990s.

The Toronto Eaton Centre attracts more visitors than any of Toronto's tourist attractions because it sits on top of two subway stations in downtown Toronto and is close to Union Station. It is North America's busiest shopping mall when one counts the daily commuters along with tourist traffic. The mall has over 230 stores and restaurants in 2014.

The main portion of the Toronto Eaton Centre complex is bounded by Yonge Street on the east, Queen Street West on the south, Dundas Street West on the north, and to the west by James Street and Trinity Square. There are three office towers, while the main retail mall in the centre is organized around a long arcade, running parallel to Yonge Street. The mall's north street entrance (at Level 3) is one level higher than the south street entrance (at Level 2), given that the mall is built over the former Taddle Creek and the mall is thus on a gentle slope.

South of the main shopping arcade is the Hudson's Bay Queen Street complex, including the Simpson Tower offices and flagship location of the Hudson's Bay department store chain. Hudson's Bay Queen Street is connected to the main retail mall (at Level 3) by a skywalk over Queen Street West and underground by Toronto's Path network, and has been managed as part of the Eaton Centre since 2014 after being purchased by Cadillac Fairview. Hudson's Bay Queen Street itself is bounded by Yonge Street to the east, Queen Street West to the north, Richmond Street West to the south, and Bay Street to the west.

The Toronto Eaton Centre's interior passages also form part of the Path underground pedestrian network, and the centre is served by two subway stations: TMU and Queen on Line 1 Yonge–University; TMU station is connected to Level 1 (walkway under platform level) and Level 2 (platform level), while Queen station is connected to Level 1. The complex also contains four office buildings (at 20 Queen Street West, 250 Yonge Street, 1 Dundas Street West and 401 Bay Street) and Toronto Metropolitan University's Ted Rogers School of Management. Additionally, the Toronto Eaton Centre is linked to a 17-storey Marriott hotel on Bay Street.

Timothy Eaton founded a dry goods store on Yonge Street in the 19th century that revolutionized retailing in Canada and became the largest department store chain in the country. By the 20th century, the Eaton's chain owned most of the land bounded by Yonge, Queen, Bay and Dundas streets, with the notable exceptions of Old City Hall and the Church of the Holy Trinity. The Eaton's land, once the site of Timothy Eaton's first store, was occupied by Eaton's large Main Store, the Eaton's Annex and a number of related mail order and factory buildings. As the chain's warehouse and support operations were increasingly shifting to cheaper suburban locales in the 1960s, Eaton's wanted to make better use of its valuable downtown landholdings. In particular, the chain wanted to build a massive new flagship store to replace the aging Main Store at Yonge and Queen streets and the Eaton's College Street store a few blocks to the north.

In the mid-1960s, Eaton's announced plans for a massive office and shopping complex that would occupy several city blocks. Eaton's sought to demolish Toronto's Old City Hall (except for the clock tower and cenotaph) and the Church of the Holy Trinity. The plan required the closing of a number of small city streets within the block: Albert Street, Louisa Street, Terauley Street (not to be confused with the stretch of Bay Street north of Queen Street, also formerly known as Terauley Street), James Street, Albert Lane, Downey's Lane and Trinity Square. At one point, even the Old City Hall clock tower was to be demolished. After a fierce local debate over the fate of the city hall and church buildings, Eaton's put its plans on hiatus in 1967.

The Eaton Centre plans were resuscitated in 1971, although these plans allowed for the preservation of Old City Hall. Controversy erupted anew, however, as the congregation of the Church of the Holy Trinity exhibited an increased willingness to fight the demolition plans for its church. Eventually, the Eaton Centre plans were revised to save Old City Hall and the church and then revised further when Holy Trinity's parishioners successfully fought to ensure that the new complex would not block all sunlight to the church.