In recent months, Toronto has been taking a lot of heat lately for the state of its architecture. As residents of the city, we’re led to believe that our buildings lack creativity and that our city is full of glass boxes towering in the sky, but walking through the downtown core you can see that’s just not the case. Toronto has some legendary architecture created by some of the most notable modern architects. Don’t believe it? Read on.
Toronto-Dominion Centre
The Toronto-Dominion Centre is a series of 6 buildings that were completed between 1967 and 1987. The reason these buildings are so legendary is that they brought one of the most talented architects in the world to our city. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who also designed the Seagram Building in New York and the Barcelona chair, created his largest buildings in Toronto which are now designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, meaning they’re here to stay.
“TD Centre View from Yonge and King” by SimonP at the English language Wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Gooderham Building
This is one of our favourite buildings in Toronto because it represents the early days of our city. Designed by David Roberts Jr., the building only cost $18,000 to build in 1892. Can you imagine? This building also has its heritage designation so it doesn’t matter how many brand new buildings go up around it, we’ll always have this representation of Toronto’s history in the heart of downtown.
“Gooderham Building – Toronto” by Emmanuel Nataf - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
CN Tower
A list of legendary buildings in Toronto would be incomplete without the CN Tower. We don’t need to tell you about it so we’ll leave you with these recent photos from the opening and closing ceremonies of the Pan Am Games.
Roy Thompson Hall
As the home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Roy Thompson Hall was designed to be a space filled with the art of others. The building opened in 1982 and its unique round shape and water feature outside make it one of the most recognizable buildings in the city.
