August 2025.
Toronto’s dual city halls are examples of two very different sensibilities in the history of architecture--the revivalism of Victorian architecture and the monumentality of Modern architecture. Personally, I think the Old City Hall achieves a better monumental effect and has a more effective relationship with the street and pedestrian, while the current city hall is an aloof, anonymous island that looks more like an office building than the seat of city government.
Toronto’s old city hall is located at 60 Queen Street West in downtown Toronto, Ontario. It is bordered by Albert Street and Bell Trinity Square to the north, Queen Street West and the Hudson’s Bay Building to the south, James Street to the east, and Bay Street and Nathan Phillips Square to the west.
History
1831 market building, which the Toronto government first occupied. (Wikimedia)
After Toronto was established as a city in 1834, the government used the assembly hall and offices of St. Lawrence Hall, which was located at King Street and Jarvis Street. It was a brick building built in 1831 for what is now St. Lawrence Market, and it was demolished in 1849. (The subsequent St. Lawrence Hall, completed in 1850, still stands today.)
1899 view of the 1850 city hall. (Wikimedia)
In 1844, the city held an architectural competition for a purpose-built city hall, which was a Federal style design that was later integrated into the current St. Lawrence Market building. It was completed in 1845 and rebuilt in 1850. However, by the 1880s, the city hall was becoming too small, despite several renovations.
Queen Street elevation of the building. (Wikimedia)
Edward Lennox was commissioned as the architect of the new city hall. It took him three years to design the Richardsonian Romanesque building, due to its role as both city hall and courthouse. Construction began in 1889 and took nearly eleven years, only concluding in 1899. It was the largest building in Toronto, the largest government building in North America, and the tallest building in Canada upon completion. The polychromatic design uses Credit River sandstone, Orangeville gray stone, and New Brunswick brownstone. Lennox was refused a plaque crediting him due to the building’s cost and construction time, so instead he directed the masons to carve “E J LENNOX ARCHITECT AD 1898” on some of the corbels. (They only appear in one of my photos and I never noticed them, so he did a good job hiding it!)
Perspective of Manning Chambers. (Archiseek)
Shortly after completion, Lennox designed an annex west of Old City Hall, known as Manning Chambers after former mayor Alexander Manning. The Beaux-Arts building was completed in 1900.
In keeping with this Beaux-Arts philosophy and the burgeoning City Beautiful movement, a large public square known as Victoria Square was proposed to be built south of Old City Hall. The square was not built, and in its place a grand street on-axis with the city hall, known as Federal Avenue, was then planned. This also remains unbuilt. Beyond Manning Chambers, the only building ever constructed for the various ill-fated expansion plans of Old City Hall was the Beaux-Arts Land Registry Office Building, which was completed in 1917 and demolished for the existing city hall.
Historic photo of the exterior before the construction of the Cenotaph. (Toronto Then and Now)
Changes a few decades into the building’s lifetime include the construction of the Cenotaph in 1925, honoring Canadians who fought and died in World War I. The original gargoyles on the clock tower were removed in 1938 due to weathering. In 1947, some grotesques and the grand staircase’s lampposts were sold at auction.
Old City Hall was bursting at the seams after World War II, and employees of certain departments had to work in other buildings. The city began the process of designing a new city hall. Old City Hall was slated for demolition in the 1960s (big surprise), as the current City Hall was being built, for the construction of the Eaton Centre. Only the Cenotaph and clock tower would have stood. However, an overwhelmingly negative public reaction led city officials to abandon these plans. It was dedicated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1984.
After the current City Hall was completed, Old City Hall was then leased by Ontario’s government and used as the province’s courthouse. The city of Toronto continued to maintain and renovate the building over the years. The Ontario courts mostly departed in 2023 with the completion of their contemporary courthouse at 10 Armoury Street, and the final eight municipal courts moved to St. Lawrence Market North in 2025. Toronto plans to eventually convert the building into a city museum, but this would require further renovation work. It may also be used by the Ontario Legislative Assembly while Queen’s Park is being renovated.
Photos
The vast majority of pictures I have of this one are details. In addition, its massive size and construction nearby made it very difficult to get more overall shots. Here is a passable shot of the south facade, which lops the top off of the tower:
As a very large-scale example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture, no penny was spared in making this an exemplar of the style. Even though the overall design is symmetrical, it has a picturesque sensibility through subtle variation in details. The tower at left is larger than the one on the right, the window sizes are all very different, and the wings at either end have different dormers and bay windows.
The Cenotaph and central module:
The masonry is polychromatic, using the classic light versus dark stone of the grander Richardsonian buildings. Certain buildings in the style were built as ornament-free slabs of rock, such as Richardson’s Marshall Field Warehouse in Chicago (now demolished), but here there is quite a lot of detail seen in the various bands of natural ornamentation and checkerboard patterns.
Looking upwards from closer…very visually striking:
Smaller eastern tower:
This one is circular and has a conical roof. Note how each floor has a different window shape and size.
One of several shots I have of the large clock tower:
The shaft is more square and only has circular buttresses on the corners. It also has tiny punched windows for much of its length.
Another view from further away:
I adore the three entrance portals and their lacy bands of ornament along the vaults:
Detail of the union between the eastern and central arch:
Note the grotesque faces on the colonnette capitals, the various patterns used on the archivolts, and the big clump of decoration in the spandrel between both arches.
The edges also have cool impost blocks with lion carvings:
A rather cluttered view of the end west wing:
Here, you can really see how steeply the roof is pitched (I think it is higher than 45 degrees, or a 12/12 pitch) and the skinny dormers that pierce it.
The other one on the east side:
Note the bay window here, as opposed to the flat wall plane on the other.
The east facade was impossible to capture due to construction. The west side is largely identical, and with both no construction and the elevated walkways of Nathan Phillips Square to help me, I got a bunch of detailed shots. Again, even my widest angle failed me, so I had to do an oblique view to get the whole thing:
The western entrance, which also has three vaults but only one set of doors:
Accidentally out-of-focus detail of the central arch:
Smaller arch to the side:
I can’t tell what this relief is meant to be due to its age…a dragon?!
Panels above the entrances reading this area’s function:
The east side says “CITY HALL” and the south side reads “MUNICIPAL BUILDING,” but the north has nothing at all.
The floors above and surrounding towers:
Now here’s something I’ve never seen before: a vaulted opening filled with a rusticated block. This adds to the “carved out of a raw hunk of stone” look that Richardsonian Romanesque architecture has.
Arcade of windows along the gable:
Detail of the tower peak--note the grotesques and corbels carved with a different face:
A closer look at a grotesque:
I’m not seeing a spout, so I don’t think these are true gargoyles, unfortunately.
The opposite tower:
Northwest corner:
I think these vaulted windows have their original framing, which is pretty unusual for a building of this vintage.
Decorative panel with the year construction began:
These dormers are very cool. I love the inset masonry star, pinnacles, and column capitals below:
Corner detail, with more vaults, corbels, and cornices:
The sculptors definitely had a field day with this one. Even the most minute of details are carved:
Every single corbel and column capital is different. I always love when Richardsonian designs do that.
See if you can spot the corbels reading “E” and “J,” part of Lennox’s hidden signature.
Detail of the double-arched window:
Another dormer above:
The “E” and “J” can also be seen here.
Identical southwest end:
It has a matching dated panel, this time closer to the building’s completion:
The clock tower rising above the other pointy features here:
Zoomed in a little bit more:
Deeply inset windows:
Another more centered view:
I do like all these photos, but looking back at it as of writing (February 2026), I think they would have been more effective if I was more thoughtful about composition and framing. Too many are at odd angles or framed poorly.
Sources:
https://www.lostrivers.ca/content/points/oldcityhall.html
https://www.lostrivers.ca/content/points/StLawrencehall.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Lawrence_Market
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_City_Hall_(Toronto)
https://www.archiseek.com/1900-manning-chambers-toronto-ontario/
https://torontothenandnow.blogspot.com/2013/09/41-torontos-old-city-hall-then-and-now.html
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