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The changing face of heritage: The International Style – Toronto’s Toronto-Dominion Centre

Toronto-Dominion Centre (Photo: The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Ltd.)

"The Toronto-Dominion Centre was designated by the City of Toronto in 2003."

By

Moiz Behar

Buildings and architecture

Published Date:19 May 2005

Photo: Toronto-Dominion Centre (Photo: The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Ltd.)

In the second quarter of the 20th century following the First World War, Europe saw the emergence of a significant movement in architecture. This “modern” movement initiated a radical departure from the traditional approach of designing buildings in a historical context.

The International Style – often used synonymously with modern architecture – was named for its applicability to different cultural and climatic conditions, thus representing a universal design approach and esthetic that could be valid anywhere in the world. This name was first used in conjunction with the 1932 Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition in New York City titled “The International Style: Architecture since 1922.” The Bauhaus School in Germany provided a solid foundation for the movement in the 1920s under the direction of Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe. The International Style emphasized volume instead of mass, favoured modern materials and standard modular parts for ease of fabrication and erection, and abandoned surface decoration.

Modernism reached Canada in the 1930s. It did not become firmly entrenched, however, until the 1950s. Fuelled by the post-Second World War economic boom, this movement changed the appearance and function of Canadian cities in the span of three decades.

Toronto assumed a leading role in spreading the International Style in central and eastern Canada commencing in the 1950s. Architects such as Henry Fliess, James A. Murray, Jerome Markson and planners like Macklin Hancock contributed to shaping Toronto in a new, bold and modern way. Some of the most significant architectural work done with the modernist vocabulary during the 1950s and early sixties included two leading Toronto architectural firms: Page and Steele (Peter Dickinson, lead design architect) and John B. Parkin Associates (John C. Parkin, lead design architect).

Toronto-Dominion Centre (Photo: Ron Vickers)

One of the most celebrated architects of the International Style was the German-born architect Mies van der Rohe. One of Mies’ masterpieces in North America is the TD Centre – a prominent example in Toronto of the International Style. As famed American architect Philip Johnson is reputed to have said, “The TD Centre is the biggest Mies in the world.”

Many Mies buildings took rectilinear shapes with symmetrical façades. His notable high rise buildings prior to the TD Centre include two 26-storey Lakeshore Drive apartment buildings in Chicago – designed and built between 1949 and 1951 – which are organized at right angles to each other and are composed of pure, simplified forms and dark-coloured, exposed metal members that carefully modulate the façade compositions. His famous 39-storey Seagram Building in New York City was completed in 1958. The Seagram Building transformed corporate architecture in North America. Seagram’s owners were the Montreal-based Bronfman family, who also controlled the property developers – Fairview Corporation, now known as Cadillac Fairview.

The TD Centre was commissioned by Allan Lambert, chairman of the Toronto-Dominion Bank in partnership with Fairview Corporation. To build the TD Centre, most of the city block surrounded by York, King, Bay and Wellington was assembled – the largest land assembly in Toronto until that time. As an internationally known designer of office towers, Mies van der Rohe was brought from Chicago to be the design consultant to John B. Parkin Associates and Bregman and Hamann, two architectural firms based in Toronto. The TD Centre became the last major work of Mies van der Rohe.

As originally conceived, TD Centre was comprised of: the 56-storey TD Tower located at 66 Wellington Street West and built in 1967; the 46- storey Royal Trust Tower located at 77 King Street West and built in 1969; and a one-storey Banking Pavilion. The original program for the Centre called for 288,000m2 of office space, banking space, 14,300m2 of retailing at a below-grade concourse and underground parking for 700 vehicles. Several buildings have been added to the complex.

The TD Centre is an exemplary manifestation of modern architecture and the International Style in Toronto and Ontario. At the time of their completion in 1969, TD Centre buildings dominated the skyline and permanently altered the Toronto cityscape. This landmark three-building complex made Modernism especially visible and acceptable in Toronto by providing very tall towers in a prominent location in the city, in a new design vocabulary, and with the involvement of one of the master architects alive at the time. Thus, this commercial banking complex fuelled both the appetite for the Modern style of architecture and the post-war construction boom in the city.

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401 Richmond Street, Toronto – an example of a green roof

Fact or fiction: Demystifying the myths around going green – Moving toward a more sustainable architecture

Sustainable: able to be maintained at a certain rate or level . . . conserving an ecological balance by avoiding a depletion of natural resources...

Tip Top Lofts, Toronto (Photo: Context Development)

Sustainability for old buildings: A developer’s perspective

Adaptive reuse provides a sound and sustainable approach to the renewal of our urban fabric, as illustrated by the conversion of three Toronto buildings to...

Casement windows of the Oval Boardroom

In praise of older windows

Façade: a word of double-edged meaning. Architecturally, it refers to the face of a building. In literature, more often than not, it connotes a front...

Fraserfield, South Glengarry

Building on our successes

The Ontario Heritage Trust’s heritage conservation easements conserve some of Ontario’s most significant heritage sites. Good stewardship of easement properties includes regular maintenance and periodic...

Barnum House

The story of Barnum House

Barnum House, on the north side of Highway 2 (Danforth Road), west of Grafton is historically significant for its association with the Barnum family. It...

$29 million restoration of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre by the Trust in 1987-89 (Photo: George Pelekis)

The R’s of conservation

An earlier generation spoke of the three R’s as “Reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic.” They were the fundamentals of education in the 19th century and considered...

Battlefield House

Battlefield House Museum and Park – A pioneer in the history of preservation

Nestled under the Niagara Escarpment and situated in a park connected to the Bruce Trail, Battlefield House Museum National Historic Site in Stoney Creek is...

The Mason-Girardot House – a Victorian Italianate house built c. 1879 in the former town of Sandwich – is one of the properties participating in Windsor’s heritage property tax relief program

Leading the way in municipal heritage planning

What’s happening in your community? With significant amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act in April 2005 and a strengthening of the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS)...

Clark-McCleary House, rear elevation

Exploring Country Heritage Park

In March 2006, the Ontario Heritage Trust acquired a cultural conservation easement on Country Heritage Park. Located in Milton, this designed heritage attraction was created...

Fulford Place

Heritage conservation at our front door

The term “porte-cochère” has continental flair, though humble origins. In French, it means “carriage door” and originally referred to a covered entryway into a courtyard...

Homewood Museum in Maitland

Heritage by numbers

Ontario’s heritage is an immense and complex jigsaw puzzle. Every individual element of heritage creates a whole . . . a sort of heritage by...

Parading into the Spencerville Mill grounds is the Glengarry Pipe Band (Photo: The Spencerville Mill Foundation)

Saving the Spencerville Mill – Preserving community heritage

The Spencerville Mill, a fine cut-stone flour and grist mill, is located on the bank of the South Nation River in the small rural village...

Today, the Ashbridge Estate is widely known in Toronto’s east end for its lush gardens. The Estate is owned and operated by the Ontario Heritage Trust. Its extensive collection of artifacts and archaeological discoveries celebrate the evolution of the Ashbridge family.

The biography of a house: If these walls could speak

Researching family history is a popular pastime for many who want to uncover their family’s unique past and discover how they contributed to Ontario’s growth...

Peterborough's Market Hall, before

Winning the battle

There are countless examples across the province of successful restorations of Ontario’s treasured heritage sites. Although the challenges are great – funding being the primary...

Peel Heritage Complex, Brampton

Our cultural heritage places: how heritage buildings adapt

Although heritage remains a year-round activity for many of us, Heritage Day is celebrated annually on the third Monday in February. This year’s theme speaks...

George Brown House

Snapshots of the past

A flash of phosphorus. A whiff of smoke. And an image is captured. Photographs have chronicled our lives for over 150 years, remaining one of...

Detail of reproduced George Brown House central hall wallpaper

Historic wallpaper: Finding what’s beneath

Wallpapers first appeared in Canada as early as the mid-17th century. These oldest papers were block-printed, hand-painted or stenciled. Pattern and colour was applied to...

Penetanguishene Centennial Museum and Archives

Small-town museums key to small-town success

For 18 years, my wife and I raised our two sons in the Town of Richmond Hill just north of Toronto. When we moved to...

Upper Canada’s first parliament buildings

Breaking news: Saving our First Parliament

It was announced on December 21, 2005 that the site of Ontario’s first parliament buildings in Toronto has been saved. The Ontario Government, in partnership...

Macdonell-Williamson House

Unearthing the past: Discoveries at Macdonell-Williamson House

Built in 1817, Macdonell-Williamson House in eastern Ontario reflects the ambitions and aspirations of retired fur trader, John Macdonell. His life was fraught with financial...

The earliest brick structure in the City of Hamilton – the Book House, located in Ancaster – was recently lost to a suspected case of arson. (Photo: Sharon Vattay, City of Hamilton)

Moving forward with heritage conservation

Thirty years ago, when the Ontario Heritage Act was new, I was a young planner with about a year’s experience working in London, England and...

This decorative cupola adorns McMartin House, a Foundation property in Perth

The healthy roof: Staying on top of heritage preservation

The following excerpt appears in Well-Preserved: The Ontario Heritage Foundationʼs Manual of Principles and Practice for Architectural Conservation (Third Revised Edition), by Mark Fram (Boston...

Mrs. Greenwood donated this property in the memory of her late husband; it will be known as the John Edward (Ted) Greenwood Sanctuary (Photo: Sylvia Barkman)

New natural heritage easement properties

John Edward (Ted) Greenwood Sanctuary On March 30, 2005, the Ontario Heritage Foundation received – from Mary Greenwood of Nakara, Australia – a 100-acre (40-...

Coldwater Grist Mill – serving the community since 1833; an active part of Doors Open Huronia since 2002

The new Ontario Heritage Act: The evolution of heritage conservation

An important shift has occurred in Ontario’s legislative framework for heritage conservation. On April 28, 2005, the Ontario Heritage Amendment Act (Bill 60) received royal...

Trent University, Peterborough

Trent University under the modernist microscope

Throughout the developed world, attention is being given to the built heritage of the modern era. Organizations such as UNESCO's World Heritage Center, the International...

The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre (Toronto). In 1987, a basement is excavated under the lobby corridor, and the grand staircase is suspended in the air.

Working with superstructures: The framework for Ontario's heritage buildings

Last issue, we discussed the importance of a solid foundation when preserving heritage structures. In this issue, we see how a buildingʼs skeleton holds everything...

Leidra Lodge

Leidra Lodge – A new conservation easement

June Ardiel has been a patron and leader in Ontario's arts community all her life. She has authored a book on the public art of...

Homewood Museum in Maitland

The Homewood collection

As you drive east along Highway 2 between Brockville and Prescott, you will find the robust Georgian Homewood Museum deeply set back from the road...

Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site

Inside Uncle Tom's Cabin

At a bend in the Sydenham River near the town of Dresden stands Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site. The museum – built on the site...

The Sharon Temple

The Sharon Temple and the heritage of faith

While most of Canada celebrates Heritage Day on the third Monday in February, Ontario celebrates Heritage Week. The theme developed for Ontario Heritage Week 200...

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