Walks led by Heritage Toronto volunteers. Researched and written by Tim Morawetz, 2012

(www.artdecotoronto.ca)

Art Deco Architecture in Toronto Art Deco has been described as the last world-wide, comprehensive decorative style before the arrival of Modernism after World War II. The style we associate with the skyscrapers of Manhattan or the streamlined hotels of Miami Beach also made its presence felt in Toronto in the later 1920s and 1930s.

On this tour, we’ll walk past speculative office towers, financial institutions and a department store that all display the soaring lines and rich decoration of this popular architectural style.

DEFINING ART DECO ARCHITECTURE

1920s Deco §  Buildings are taller, usually with a symmetrical

plan and façade §  Windows arranged in vertical strips on façade §  Building profile ‘steps-back’ as it rises up §  Façade often features ‘multiple planes’ §  Sometimes employed mass-produced materials §  Decoration found around doors, windows,

building edges and top; often depicts animals, forces of nature, or technology; motifs usually flattened and geometricized

STREAMLINED MODERNE §  Buildings lower in height, sometimes with a

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 §  Decoration often traditional motifs (e.g., coat of

arms), with simplified and flattened treatment

OTHER ART DECO BUILDINGS AND NEIGHBOURHOODS IN TORONTO

§ Apartment buildings: Eglinton Avenue West between Chaplin and Bathurst; St. Clair Avenue West between Yonge and Avenue Road; Bathurst Street between St. Clair Avenue and Eglinton Avenue; Garden Court Apartments on Bayview Avenue at Davisville Avenue § Waterfront commercial buildings: Former warehouses on Queen’s Quay and Lakeshore Boulevard, from Bay Street to west of Bathurst Street § CNE grounds: Horse Palace Annex and Allstream Centre (former Automotive Building) § Municipal buildings: fire station at 849 Gerrard Street East; former police stations at 1313 Queen Street West and 2398 Yonge Street; maintenance building at 511 Richmond Street West (all designed by City of Toronto Architect J.J. Woolnough between 1930 and 1932); R.C Harris filtration plant on Queen Street East designed by Thomas Pomphrey § Movie theatres: located throughout the city; including the former Eglinton on Eglinton Avenue west of Avenue Road; former Allenby Theatre on Danforth Avenue; Bloor Hot Docs cinema on Bloor Street West; Royal cinema on College Street § Arenas: former Maple Leaf Gardens at Church and Carlton Streets; Air Canada Centre (former Postal Delivery Building) at Bay Street and Lakeshore Boulevard

5.  CONCOURSE BUILDING 100 Adelaide Street West, west of Bay Street Architects: Baldwin & Greene, 1928. This 16-storey speculative office tower avoided step-backs since they would have reduced the amount of rentable floor area. The mosaic above the door depicts the concourse of earth, air, fire and water, while the seven mosaics under the arch depict modern transportation and communication. All were designed by Group of Seven artist J.E.H. MacDonald and son Thoreau. The abstract coloured tiles at the roofline are based on First Nations motifs.

6.  VICTORY BUILDING 80 Richmond Street West, west of Bay Street Architects: Baldwin & Greene, 1929-37. This second tower by Baldwin & Greene (now 20 stories tall) did not get its first tenants until 1937 due to the Great Depression! Regrettably, the former black marble base of the building has been replaced with a new pink granite skin, but the spandrel panels are still wonderful.

7.  ADDITION TO FORMER SIMPSON’S Northeast corner of Richmond and Bay Streets Architects: Chapman & Oxley, 1928. In response to rumours that rival department store Eaton’s was planning a new flagship store at Yonge & College (today’s College Park), Simpson’s decided to expand their existing building at Yonge and Queen over to Bay Street. The initial plan called for a 20-storey tower at the Richmond-Bay corner, but only nine stories were ultimately built, including the Arcadian Court restaurant on the eighth and ninth floors. The top of the western addition features wonderful 1920s Deco stone motifs, while the lower two levels boast stylish metal grillwork that matches the former Simpson’s building in Montreal. The store’s shopping aisle from Yonge to Bay is the world’s longest!

TOUR END POINT: Northeast corner of Richmond and Bay Streets

TOUR START POINT: 55 York Street (Prudential House) just north of Front Street /Fairmont Royal York Hotel

1.  Former YORK MERCANTILE BUILDING (now PRUDENTIAL HOUSE office building) 55 York Street, south of Wellington Street West Architects: Kaplan & Sprachman, 1929. This warehouse building is a fine example of a Manhattan-style 1920s Deco skyscraper, with plenty of jazzy decoration around the entrance, just above the ground floor and at the roofline! Kaplan & Sprachman designed over 80 percent of Canada’s cinemas from this era.

2.  Former TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE (now DESIGN EXCHANGE) 234 Bay Street, south of King Street Architects: George & Moorhouse, with Samuel Maw, 1937. This limestone and granite building elegantly combines the Streamlined Moderne, 1920s Deco and Stripped Classical styles. Its giant carved stone frieze, front door medallions and eight interior painted murals that depict the industries listed on the Exchange were designed by noted Canadian artist Charles Comfort.

3.  BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA HEAD OFFICE 44 King Street West, northeast corner of Bay St. Original design: John M. Lyle (1928); completed by Mathers & Haldenby with Beck & Eadie (1946-51). This building was initially conceived before the Great Depression, but completed after World War II by different architects. The initial decorative scheme was to feature John Lyle’s favoured Canadian-themed motifs but this approach was abandoned once the (now-demolished) Bank of Montreal building (that incorporated Canadian decoration) was erected in the 1930s. Instead, the designers opted for symbolism going back to ancient Greece and Rome.

Map is not to scale.

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4.  Former CANADA PERMANENT BUILDING (now CIBC MELLON) 320 Bay Street, southwest corner of Adelaide Street Architects: F. Hilton Wilkes, with Mathers & Haldenby and Sproatt & Rolph, 1937. A wonderful example of the Stripped Classical style applied to a skyscraper. The bronze ground-floor elevator doors (polished to look like gold) contain figures said to be modelled on King Tut’s tomb!

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