herr2ck: Crystal Cathedral

August 2025.

The Allen Lambert Galleria in Toronto is an early design by well-known contemporary architect Santiago Calatrava. I really love its simultaneously modern yet backward-looking forms, and it’s a great example of the kind of contemporary architecture that I admire. My photos are a far cry from the great ones everywhere online, but I don’t think they’re terrible, all things considered.

The Allen Lambert Galleria is located at 181 Bay Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario. It is part of the larger Brookfield Place office and retail complex, which is bordered by Wellington Street West to the north, Front Street West and the Dominion Public Building to the south, Yonge Street and the Hockey Hall of Fame to the east, and Bay Street and Royal Bank Plaza to the west.

History

Brookfield Place itself was designed by Bregman + Hamann Architects and Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill in a rather bland interpretation of the Postmodern style, and it was built between 1985 and 1992. Santiago Calatrava won a competition to design an atrium between the two skyscrapers, which became the Allen Lambert Galleria. Calatrava was a young architect at the time, as he had only begun practicing in 1981, though he had designed several significant buildings in his signature style by the time of his commission in 1987. The vaulting is similar to his timber roof of Wohlen High School in Switzerland (completed 1988). The Allen Lambert Galleria opened in 1992.

Photos

**In the coming interior photos, you will notice that the colors are off. My camera’s light balance at the time was calibrated to a gray card in neon purple lighting for an old photography class project, which I failed to reset afterwards. I only noticed this discrepancy and rectified it months later.

Left: Gothic rib vaulting. Right: Interior of Penn Station in New York (demolished). (Wikimedia)

A lot of sources make the comparison of the space to a forest. This is true, but I am honestly more reminded of both the rib vaulting of Gothic cathedrals and the unified tectonics and ornamentation of Victorian-era train stations. Calatrava’s design has a delightful visual maximalism that is characteristic of the latter, and the way each arch meets is identical to rib vaulting.

I do agree that the arches’ branching nature and their curvilinear forms are more naturalistic than the rigid, functional structures of the past. Nonetheless, I think Calatrava owes part of his design to these two methods from history.

A closer look at the canopy created by the branching columns:

Much of Calatrava’s other work is whackadoo contemporary nonsense, but in his best projects (this being one of them, along with the Oculus in New York), there is a much more rigid, logical sensibility to their expression.

Transitioning from this area immediately adjacent to the Hockey Hall of Fame, we turn facing west down the long stretch of the remaining atrium:

Slightly different aesthetics here, as the branching columns are much more naturalistic. The arches’ odd shape are known as catenary arches, which is the shape a hanging string or chain takes. Antoni Gaudi most notably used them in his unique brand of architecture.

Again, love the maximalism of all the ribs, even though they’re regularly placed.

Leaning facade facing Front Street:

Interestingly, the historic Heritage Building’s facade is located along the galleria. This Neoclassical building was designed for the Commercial Bank of the Midland District by William Thomas (presumably the father of William Tutin Thomas, a Montreal architect who designed notable buildings I’ve covered there) and completed in 1845. It was occupied by various banks and Clarkson, Gordon, and Dilworth between World War I and 1969. The facade was disassembled from its site at 13-15 Wellington Street and reassembled here.