"Old" City Hall

Photos by Alan L Brown - March 2004

When the Eaton Centre was being planning back in the 70s, one public plan showed the Old City Hall being torn down. After a hue and cry, the Eaton Centre people said well we could keep the clock tower. After more hue and cry, they abandoned plans to tear it down. Hurrah! An Archaeological and Historic Sites Board plaque in front of the building at 60 Queen Street West has to say:

City Hall was designed in 1887 by E.J. Lennox to fit this central site at the head of Bay Street. In one structure, these municipal buildings combined a City Hall, in the east portion, and Court-house, in the west. The building, constructed mostly of Credit River Valley sandstone, was begun in 1889 but not opened until September 18, 1899. Massive, round-arched, and richly carved, it is in the Romanesque Revival style, then popular in expanding cities throughout North America. The interior, as complex and monumental as the exterior, includes a large stained glass window by Robert McCausland. The building was acquired by the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto in 1965, when the City moved to a new City Hall on the adjacent Civic Square.

Plaque Location Co-ordinates: N 43 39.132 W 79 22.909

© 2010 Google

Related Toronto plaque pages
Old City Hall York County Court House
Robert McCausland Limited

More government buildings

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Here are the comments for this page.

Posted April 13, 2010
There is another plaque at Old City Hall. To the right of the entrance is a plaque naming the members of the first City Council. My great-great grandfather, John Craig, is named and the plaque has been pointed out to many young family members to connect them to history in a more personal way. This is a valuable project!

Posted October 9, 2008
Dear Sir, Why was the largest bell in the Bell tower called Big Ben?

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