This brochure contains information and a map about Tim Morawetz\'s walking tour of downtown Toronto\'s Deco skyscrapers,

1. Art Deco Architecture in Toronto OTHER ART DECO BUILDINGS AND
NEIGHBOURHOODS IN TORONTO
Art Deco has been described as the last world-wide,
comprehensive decorative style before the arrival of § Apartment buildings: Eglinton Avenue West between
Modernism after World War II. The style we associate Chaplin and Bathurst; St. Clair Avenue West between
with the skyscrapers of Manhattan or the streamlined Yonge and Avenue Road; Bathurst Street between St.
hotels of Miami Beach also made its presence felt in Clair Avenue and Eglinton Avenue; Garden Court
Toronto in the later 1920s and 1930s. Apartments on Bayview Avenue at Davisville Avenue
§ Waterfront commercial buildings: Former
On this tour, we’ll walk past speculative office towers,
warehouses on Queen’s Quay and Lakeshore
financial institutions and a department store that all Boulevard, from Bay Street to west of Bathurst Street
display the soaring lines and rich decoration of this
§ CNE grounds: Horse Palace Annex and Allstream
popular architectural style. Centre (former Automotive Building)
§ Municipal buildings: fire station at 849 Gerrard
DEFINING ART DECO ARCHITECTURE Street East; former police stations at 1313 Queen
1920s Deco Street West and 2398 Yonge Street; maintenance
§ Buildings are taller, usually with a symmetrical building at 511 Richmond Street West (all designed by
plan and façade City of Toronto Architect J.J. Woolnough between
§ Windows arranged in vertical strips on façade 1930 and 1932); R.C Harris filtration plant on Queen
§ Building profile ‘steps-back’ as it rises up Street East designed by Thomas Pomphrey
§ Façade often features ‘multiple planes’ § Movie theatres: located throughout the city;
§ Sometimes employed mass-produced materials including the former Eglinton on Eglinton Avenue
§ Decoration found around doors, windows, west of Avenue Road; former Allenby Theatre on
building edges and top; often depicts animals, Danforth Avenue; Bloor Hot Docs cinema on Bloor
forces of nature, or technology; motifs usually Street West; Royal cinema on College Street
flattened and geometricized § Arenas: former Maple Leaf Gardens at Church and
Carlton Streets; Air Canada Centre (former Postal
STREAMLINED MODERNE Delivery Building) at Bay Street and Lakeshore
§ Buildings lower in height, sometimes with a Boulevard
symmetrical plan and façade
§ Windows in horizontal bands on façade
§ Frequent use of horizontal ‘speed stripes,’ plus
rounded corners on facade
§ Usually employed mass-produced materials
(glass block, vitrolite, stainless steel)
STRIPPED CLASSICAL
§ Often symmetrical plan and façade
§ Echoes the traditional classical façade
arrangement of ‘base-columns-entablature’ but
with simplified and flattened treatment of the
various elements
§ Façade usually built of natural or cast stone Walks led by Heritage Toronto volunteers.
§ Decoration often traditional motifs (e.g., coat of Researched and written by Tim Morawetz, 2012
(www.artdecotoronto.ca)
arms), with simplified and flattened treatment

2. 5. CONCOURSE BUILDING
TOUR START POINT: .
. 100 Adelaide Street West, west of Bay Street
55 York Street (Prudential House) Architects: Baldwin & Greene, 1928.
just north of Front Street /Fairmont Royal York Hotel This 16-storey speculative office tower avoided
step-backs since they would have reduced the
1. Former YORK MERCANTILE BUILDING amount of rentable floor area. The mosaic above
(now PRUDENTIAL HOUSE office building)
the door depicts the concourse of earth, air, fire and
55 York Street, south of Wellington Street West
water, while the seven mosaics under the arch
Architects: Kaplan & Sprachman, 1929. depict modern transportation and communication.
This warehouse building is a fine example of a
All were designed by Group of Seven artist J.E.H.
Manhattan-style 1920s Deco skyscraper, with MacDonald and son Thoreau. The abstract
plenty of jazzy decoration around the entrance,
coloured tiles at the roofline are based on First
just above the ground floor and at the roofline! Nations motifs.
Kaplan & Sprachman designed over 80 percent of
Canada’s cinemas from this era. 6. VICTORY BUILDING
80 Richmond Street West, west of Bay Street
2. Former TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE
Architects: Baldwin & Greene, 1929-37.
(now DESIGN EXCHANGE) This second tower by Baldwin & Greene (now 20
234 Bay Street, south of King Street stories tall) did not get its first tenants until 1937
Architects: George & Moorhouse, with
1 due to the Great Depression! Regrettably, the
Samuel Maw, 1937. former black marble base of the building has been
This limestone and granite building elegantly O replaced with a new pink granite skin, but the
combines the Streamlined Moderne, 1920s Deco spandrel panels are still wonderful.
and Stripped Classical styles. Its giant carved
stone frieze, front door medallions and eight 7. ADDITION TO FORMER SIMPSON’S
interior painted murals that depict the industries
Northeast corner of Richmond and Bay Streets
listed on the Exchange were designed by noted Architects: Chapman & Oxley, 1928.
Canadian artist Charles Comfort. N In response to rumours that rival department store
Eaton’s was planning a new flagship store at Yonge
3. BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA HEAD OFFICE & College (today’s College Park), Simpson’s
44 King Street West, northeast corner of Bay St. decided to expand their existing building at Yonge
Original design: John M. Lyle (1928); completed
L and Queen over to Bay Street. The initial plan
by Mathers & Haldenby with Beck & Eadie Map is not to scale.
start O end L called for a 20-storey tower at the Richmond-Bay
(1946-51).
corner, but only nine stories were ultimately built,
This building was initially conceived before the
including the Arcadian Court restaurant on the
Great Depression, but completed after World War 4. Former CANADA PERMANENT BUILDING eighth and ninth floors. The top of the western
II by different architects. The initial decorative (now CIBC MELLON) addition features wonderful 1920s Deco stone
scheme was to feature John Lyle’s favoured 320 Bay Street, southwest corner of Adelaide Street motifs, while the lower two levels boast stylish
Canadian-themed motifs but this approach was Architects: F. Hilton Wilkes, with Mathers & metal grillwork that matches the former Simpson’s
abandoned once the (now-demolished) Bank of Haldenby and Sproatt & Rolph, 1937. building in Montreal. The store’s shopping aisle
Montreal building (that incorporated Canadian A wonderful example of the Stripped Classical style from Yonge to Bay is the world’s longest!
decoration) was erected in the 1930s. Instead, the applied to a skyscraper. The bronze ground-floor
designers opted for symbolism going back to elevator doors (polished to look like gold) contain TOUR END POINT:
ancient Greece and Rome. figures said to be modelled on King Tut’s tomb! Northeast corner of Richmond and Bay Streets

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