City Hall (Toronto)
| City Hall | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Basic data | |
| Place: |
Toronto , Canada
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| Construction time : | 1961-1965 |
| Status : | Completed |
| Architectural style : | Modern |
| Architect : | Viljo Revell and Associates |
| Use / legal | |
| Usage : | office building |
| Technical specifications | |
| Height : | 99.67 (East Tower) 79.55 (West Tower) m |
| Floors : | 27 (East Tower) 20 (West Tower) |
| Building material : | Structure: concrete, facade: concrete, glass |
| Building-costs: | CAD 24.6 million |
The Toronto City Hall is the town hall of the Canadian city of Toronto . The building is a landmark for the city and was designed by the Finnish architect Viljo Revell and built by the German-American engineer Hannskarl Bandel . The town hall, opened in 1965, is attributed to the modern style and replaced the function of the old town hall . City Hall is on the north side of Queen Street between Osgoode Hall and Bay Street in Nathan Phillips Square.
history
The city of Toronto was looking for a more modern city hall as early as the 1950s. In 1954 three architectural firms were selected to come up with a new design. The designs presented in November 1955 did not meet with a good response. Frank Lloyd Wright described them as very “sterile” and Walter Gropius even described them as “quite poor”. The idea of a new city hall, estimated at 18 million dollars, initially failed in a referendum in December 1955. Under the direction of the then Toronto mayor Nathan Phillips , an international competition with the conditions of the International Association of Architects was called for this project in 1956 . This caused controversy that the work should have been advertised across Canada. A five-member jury of architecture experts headed by the Canadian Eric Arthur had to make a pre-selection from over 500 designs. In the end, eight designs remained, of which on September 3, 1958 the design by the Finn Revell was awarded the contract. His design thus prevailed over those by Eero Saarinen and John Andrews, for example . Construction began in 1961. The inauguration took place on September 13, 1965.
The construction costs were originally budgeted at around 18 million dollars. Over time, however, it became clear that this could not be maintained. While the construction costs in 1959 were still estimated at 24.4 million dollars, they rose slightly to around 24.6 million dollars in 1965, partly due to a cafeteria that was not yet planned at the time.
Description and architecture
The City Hall of Toronto consists of separate buildings of different heights, the cross-section of which, viewed from above, resembles two pieces of arches lying one inside the other. The east tower is 99.5 meters high (27 floors), the west tower 79.4 meters (20 floors). The higher east tower houses a viewing platform . Between the towers is the plenary hall, the shape of which is reminiscent of a saucer. This shape looks like a giant eye from the air and earned the building the nickname “The Eye of Government”. The north and completely windowless concrete outer facade of the two towers has a rib profile. After its completion, the building was controversial because its shape was sometimes perceived as futuristic by the population. Between 1997 and 1998, the architect Bruce Kuwabara made extensions to connect the two towers and to modernize the parliamentary hall. City Hall originally had a public viewing platform, which was later closed. In addition to an archive, the City Hall also has its own library .
There are three statues or monuments at the foot of the town hall. A Peace Garden memorial to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima , a statue of Winston Churchill and an abstract bronze sculpture by Henry Moore named Three-Way Piece No. 2 (The Archer) .
See also
literature
- Christopher Humme in ERA Architects: Concrete Toronto , Univ. of Chicago Press 2007, ISBN 978-1552451939 , pages 70 ff.
- Toronto City Hall . in: Bauwelt , 1965, issue 34/35, pp. 970–972.
- Ernst Zietzschmann: New City Hall in Toronto in: Bauen + Wohnen = Construction + habitation = Building + home: international magazine , 20/1966, issue 8, pp. 287–293. ( here online )
Web links
- toronto.ca: City Hall (engl.)
- Blinkenlights Stereoscope at Toronto City Hall
- Entry in the international architecture database Skyscrapers.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Toronto City Hall , p. 970
- ↑ emporis.com City Hall Toronto
Coordinates: 43 ° 39 '11.9 " N , 79 ° 23' 2.4" W.