Toronto City Hall

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Toronto City Hall

The upper left hand corner of this picture is where Toronto City Hall would be built. The photo from 1923 shows Queen and Bay Street. (Old City Hall is to the upper right)

The City Hall of Toronto, Ontario, Canada is one of the most distinctive landmarks of the city. Designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell and engineered by Hannskarl Bandel, the building opened in 1965; its modernist architecture still impresses today. It was built to replace Old City Hall which was built in 1899.

1 Location
2 Design competition
3 Design
4 Toronto City Hall in fiction
5 Festivals
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Location

The building is on a large site on the north side of Queen Street West between Bay Street and Osgoode Hall. The address is 100 Queen Street West, and its postal code is M5H 2N2. It is on the site of Toronto's first Chinatown. The population of the large area was displaced, mostly to the northwest of the site. Much of the Chinese population residing in the district had to be relocated before construction of the new City Hall could begin.

[edit] Design competition

Toronto had been looking to build a more modern city hall for several years. In 1954, a partnership of three of Toronto's largest architectural firms was selected to do the design. The result, presented in November 1955, was an extremely conservative structure that was called "sterile" by Frank Lloyd Wright and "very poor" by Walter Gropius. It died when voters rejected plans for a new $18 million city hall in a December 1955 referendum. Led by Mayor Nathan Phillips, Toronto city council decided in 1956 to have an international competition to choose the new design under terms drawn up by the International Union of Architects. This caused some controversy as some felt the work should be done by a Canadian. A five-person panel of judges was drawn up with some of the world's greatest architecture experts. Eric Arthur served as advisor. Over 500 designs were submitted, from which eight semi-finalists were selected. In September 1958, Revell's design was selected by three of the judges, including Eero Saarinen. One of the two dissenting judges was William Graham Holford, who was skeptical that the design could be built within the $18 million budget set by the city. Revell received a $25,000 prize plus what was estimated to be $1 million in fees to supervise construction. He complained that not enough credit was given to his design collaborators, Heikki Castren, Bengt Lundsten, and Seppo Valjus, and asked that all names be listed as the architects. Construction began in 1961 and the building was completed four years later. Revell died in 1964 before the project was finished.

[edit] Design

While the building's base is rectangular, its two towers are curved in cross-section and rise to differing heights. The east tower is 27 storeys (99.5 metres) tall and the west tower is 20 storeys (79.4 meters). Between the towers is the saucer-like council chamber, and the overall arrangement is somewhat like two hands cradling the chamber. The outer concrete surfaces of the towers have been ribbed, to prevent collapse of the fabric as a result of the expansion of the exterior surfaces, and the tearing apart of the fabric as a result of differences in air pressure on the two sides of each wing-like tower during the high winds characteristic of the Great Lakes. The north, west, and east elevations are plain in contrast with the south elevation; each presents a view of unrelieved concrete. To the east of the square is the former City Hall (locally known as Old City Hall) which is now a courthouse.

Henry Moore's Archer

In front of the main structure is Nathan Phillips Square, a public space containing a fountain/skating rink; a memorial to Hiroshima; and Three-Way Piece No. 2 (The Archer), an abstract bronze sculpture by Henry Moore. The square is surrounded by an elevated walkway, with connections to City Hall, the square below, and the Sheraton Hotel across Queen Street.

City Hall has changed over the last four decades:

Minor upgrades by Toronto architect Bruce Kuwabara to connect the two towers and upgrade council chambers in 1997-1998
Observation deck closed
Outdoor Walkway closed
Peace Garden added
Gift shop closed
City Hall library reduced in size

City Hall was designated as a property of historical and architectural significance under the Ontario Heritage Act in 1991. In 2005 the building celebrated its 40th birthday and plans are underway to re-design Nathan Phillips Square.

[edit] Toronto City Hall in fiction

Filming Resident Evil: Apocalypse in front of Toronto City Hall

In the 1980 film The Kidnapping of the President starring William Shatner and Hal Holbrook the city hall and Nathan Phillips Square provided the location for a protracted hostage scene.

The city hall was seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Contagion" as one of the possible destinations of an alien portal.

In the October 2001 issue of Sonic The Hedgehog (Issue 103), the Freedom Fighters are seen fleeing the burning city of Mobotropolis, with Toronto City Hall portrayed in the background.

In the 2002 film The Tuxedo, the city hall was playing the role of "CSA Headquarters".

In the 2004 film Resident Evil: Apocalypse, the building portrayed the City Hall in Raccoon City. It was destroyed by a neutron bomb blowing up over the building.

In the 2006 film The Sentinel, an assassination attempt takes place at a Group of Eight summit meeting in Toronto's city hall.

[edit] Festivals

City hall is one of the main host of different festivals and events in Toronto. Great new year celebration is held there every year including fireworks, sparkling & singing of different music bands. One of the other major festivals at Toronto is annual Cavalcade of Lights sets which is held from ends of November until end of December. Inside the Toronto city hall is accessible to the public at Doors Open Toronto day.