Toronto’s Top 10 : Architectural Highlights

1. BCE Place

   Spanish
   architect Santiago Calatrava designed the striking atrium of this 1990
   office complex. Its steel-and-glass canopy creates enchanting patterns
   of light and shadow. Façades of 19th-century buildings have been
   preserved in the Yonge Street frontage.

   • 181 Bay St

2. Toronto-Dominion Centre

   Two
   austere, perfectly proportioned towers and a single-story pavilion of
   glass and black metal, all set on a broad plaza, are Toronto’s only
   design by International Style architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
   (1886–1969). Built between 1964 and 1971, the complex spurred the
   skyscraper boom that gave birth to the city’s financial district. Four
   more towers were later added .
   

3. CN Tower

   Defining the skyline, Toronto’s most recognizable architectural icon is also the world’s tallest freestanding structure .
   

4. University of Toronto

   Founded
   in 1827 as King’s College, this institute has many refined, stately
   buildings, such as the Romanesque Revival-style University College .
   

   
   

   
   
   

   Trinity College, University of Toronto

5. City Hall

   Causing
   a significant stir in 1960s Toronto, the design of New City Hall is
   bold, daring, and unique. Finnish architect Viljo Revell’s two curving
   towers seem to embrace the central domed structure between them. A
   sweeping public plaza out front, Nathan Phillips Square, is the symbolic
   heart of the city .
   

   
   

   
   
   

   City Hall

6. Old City Hall

   Now
   a courthouse, this Richardsonian Romanesque building, completed in
   1899, was designed by the architect responsible for many of Toronto’s
   grandest historic buildings, E. J. Lennox. For the best view of the
   clock tower, look north up Bay Street .
   

   
   

   
   
   

   Old City Hall

7. Sharpe Centre for Design

   Propped
   up on 100-ft (30-m) stilts, British architect Will Alsop’s addition to
   the Ontario College of Art and Design is playful and audacious. The
   two-story “tabletop” building connects to the main building via a
   sloping tunnel.

   • 100 McCaul St

   
   

   
   
   

   Sharpe Centre for Design

8. Royal Bank Plaza

   The
   14,000 mirrored windows of the two towers (1977) are insulated with
   24-karat gold – $70 worth on each window, for a total of some $1
   million, money saved on heating.

   • 200 Bay St

9. Ontario Legislative Building

   The
   best view of this massive Richardsonian Romanesque building (1892), the
   seat of provincial government, is from College Street, looking north
   past the expanse of lawn. Built on the former site of a lunatic asylum
   (political pundits take note), the richly carved exterior is matched by
   the ornate interior .

10. Union Station

    The Great Hall of this 1920s monumental stone railroad station has an 88-ft- (27-m-) high vaulted ceiling .
    

    
    

    
    
    

    Union Station

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