In Toronto, you can admire beautiful cityscapes walking down the streets or from above, as hundreds of skyscrapers are located here. Some of them are the highest in Canada! All of them are of different heights and feature diverse architectural forms and history. Which of them are the most interesting to see and what do we know about them? Learn more at toronto-future.
Skyscrapers have become the main type of infrastructure in Toronto since 1894. The first tallest building in the city was the seven-story and 25.38 metre-high Beard Bank. It was named after George Beard, who owned the site where the bank was built. In 1935, the building was demolished and a gas station was built there instead.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the city experienced a construction boom, during which a huge number of tall buildings were built there. Then the process was stopped until 1964 and the largest buildings in the city reached 90 metres in height. However, the large-scale construction of skyscrapers was renewed due to the increasing number of immigrants and Toronto’s economic development. Most of them were not only preserved but also became landmarks of the city.
The CN Tower
The CN Tower is visible from afar and impossible to miss even among hundreds of other skyscrapers. It is the tallest building in Toronto, which is located in the city centre near the Ontario River. 1,500 people worked on its construction and they managed to build it in 3 years. The tower was considered the world’s tallest building until the Burj Khalifa in Dubai appeared.
The CN Tower was built at the initiative of city authorities. They wanted to enrich the city with a unique architectural object that would be better and higher than all the others. Since 1976, the TV tower has not only been broadcasting over-the-air TV and radio signals but has also become a popular tourist attraction. The tower capsule is located at an altitude of 351 metres and its observation deck offers wonderful views of the city and even Niagara Falls.
The Brookfield Place office complex
Brookfield Place is a huge office building in downtown Toronto, which was built in 1992. This 242,000 m2 edifice is the 6th tallest in the world. It consists of 2 towers, Bay Wellington and TD Canada Trust. During the 3 building boom in Toronto, they were connected by the Allen Lambert Galleria premises. The building has a majestic and distinguishable appearance owing to the towers.
This skyscraper hosts not only offices and a gallery but also a popular Toronto historical landmark, the Hockey Hall of Fame. It presents portraits, awards and artefacts of the Toronto hockey team members, and tells interesting historical facts about them.
The St. Regis 5-star hotel
It is a 57-story and 276.9 metre-high skyscraper located in the Toronto Financial District. Its construction began in 2007 and originally, it was intended to be taller than another skyscraper, the Sapphire Tower. The planned height of these two buildings changed several times during the construction and in the end, the St. Regis surpassed its opponent by 17 cm. It was designed by the German architectural company Zeidler Partnership Architects at the initiative of a Canadian developer who collaborated with politician and businessman Donald Trump.
The construction was completed in 2011 and since then, it has been the tallest multifunctional building in Canada. The edifice houses 260 hotel rooms and a 5,000 m2 spa centre on the first 31 floors. The rest of the building is residential and permanently occupied by Torontonians.
Trump International Hotel and Tower
One of the most popular and expensive hotels in Toronto is located on Bay Street. Its construction started in 2007 on the site of a destroyed mall. It was planned to be taller than any other buildings nearby. In 2011, it reached its maximum height of 252 metres and became one of the tallest buildings in Canada. Although it was intended as a 300 metre-high edifice, still the building looks huge and has a luxurious interior inside with televisions built into mirrors, marble shelves, precious chandeliers and expensive furniture.
Its residents are hotel visitors and apartment owners, who use different entrances and elevators. Trump International Hotel and Tower houses more than 200 hotel rooms and more than 100 apartments.
This edifice was specially built close to the Ontario River, so visitors can admire the view of nature, the waterfront arrivals and the urban infrastructure of Toronto. In 2017, the “Trump” sign was removed from the tower because Donald Trump didn’t own the skyscraper, which was managed by his company.
The Scotia Plaza office complex
This masterpiece of modern architecture with dark-tinted glass is located in the Financial District. When the edifice was completed in 1988, it became one of the tallest buildings in Toronto. It houses hundreds of offices and shops at an altitude of 275 metres and is connected to the underground system of the Eaton Center. Another interesting feature of Scotia Plaza is the depth of its foundation, 33.5 metres. This is the deepest foundation in Canada. Also, the 100 metres-high Bank of Nova Scotia Building was incorporated into the edifice in 1951, but in 2016 and 2017, its headquarters were sold to other companies.
The Toronto-Dominion Centre office complex
The Toronto-Dominion Centre office complex consists of 6 towers made of black lacquered steel and tinted glass and a canopied pavilion located in the very heart of Toronto. They house the headquarters of large Canadian companies, one of the largest banks and commercial premises. Since the beginning of the 21st century, about 20,000 people have been working here, so Toronto-Dominion Center took first place among business centres in Canada.
The idea of building an office complex appeared in 1962 when Toronto was not a big metropolis yet. Due to business development and population growth, there was a need to create a complex of office buildings. That’s how the project of one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city was developed. The tallest tower is 298 metre-high. In the 60s, its interior was decorated in a minimalistic style. In addition to offices and shops, you can get to the observation deck in 20 seconds.
The Minto Midtown residential complex
Visiting the Davisville neighbourhood, you will definitely notice two towers of the Minto Midtown complex, as they stand out from the rest of the buildings nearby due to their large size. One of them has 37 floors and the other consists of 52 floors. The design of the complex significantly exceeded existing height and density restrictions at the planning stage of the construction. In this regard, it was decided to reduce the height of the building by several floors.
The construction of the residential complex Minto Midtown began only after official permission from the City Council and was completed in 2007. Its design was developed by the Skidmore and Zeidler Partnership Architects architectural companies and featured panoramic windows, towers and innovative eco-systems. In 2 years, the project received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification.
