Survivors style architecture in Toronto. An architecture found from South America Europe Asia Japan. Is something that we do not know about this building?
Heritage Value
St. Lawrence Hall was designated a national historic site in 1967 because:
- designed in the renaissance tradition, this hall was for many years Toronto's chief social and cultural center;
- it ranks among the finest of 19th-century Canadian public buildings; and
- it was a place of gatherings of the Abolitionist movement
Character-Defining Elements
Key features contributing to the heritage value of this site include:
- the location in the old centre of Toronto;
the
elaborate 15-bay facade with central frontispiece comprising a
triple-portal arched main entry of channeled masonry at ground level,
giant fluted engaged columns extending through the second and third
stories to support a decorated cornice and pediment; the building's
tripartite vertical divisions, marked by an elaborate stringcourse
separating ground from upper stories, a decorated cornice at the third
storey roofline and another at fourth storey roofline of the central
pavilion, the use of distinct window treatments for each storey
including round headed dormers and evenly spaced multi-pane display
windows to each side at ground level, the use of giant pilasters
separating the window bays along the second and third storeys;
- the
application of classically inspired detailing such as Corinthian
capitals, a decorated pediment, formal cresting and cupola with dome
supported by classical columns;
- the finely crafted masonry construction;
- surviving evidence of the original interior layout;
-
surviving original furnishings, fittings and finishes, including the
auditorium with evidence of the raked balcony at its north end and the
thrust stage at its south end;
- its continuous multi-functional use with public access.
Official History says that:
The location was previously part of the Market Square area, and had been
the site of the first permanent market buildings. A fire in 1841 caused
the northern portions of this building to be pulled down, leading to
the building of the current St. Lawrence Market in 1850 a block south at what was then Palace Street, and today known as Front Street.
Another source state that: As you can see the date of the fire is different:
A public hall flanked by shops was built in 1831 as part of a rectangle
of buildings making up York's market square. When York was incorporated
as Toronto in 1834, the hall became the City Hall for a decade until its
successor was built nearby. After the great fire of 7 April 1849 burned
down much of the town center, the area was revitalized by the
construction of St. Lawrence Hall and St. James’ Cathedral.
Designed restoration in 1859 by William Thomas
of Toronto, the hall’s architecture reflected the influence of the
Renaissance style, with its raised portico over an arcaded base, but
reinterpreted in a distinctly Victorian manner. Its richly carved
ornamentation, picturesque skyline and the eclectic incorporation of a
French mansard roof were typical of contemporary architectural tastes.
Located on the southwest corner of King and Jarvis streets,
St. Lawrence Hall was attached by a market annex to the city hall at
Front and Jarvis. The building included ground-level commercial
storefronts, second-level offices and a 2,700-square-foot assembly room
on the third floor that seated 1,000 people for concerts and speeches. A
raked balcony at the north end of the assembly room served as a
speaker's platform, and a thrust stage was located at the south end.
St. Lawrence Hall’s genesis lies in a
great force of destruction. In 1849, a major fire swept through the area
bounded by Adelaide, King, Church, and George streets, killing one and
destroying 10 vital acres at the heart of the city. The original St.
James Cathedral was ruined, as was the city’s main market at King and
Jarvis.
The damage might have been worse were it
not for heroic fire fighters who made the best of their primitive
equipment and a well-timed rain shower.
No sooner had the fire been extinguished,
the city hired architect William Thomas to design a replacement
building for the site of the wrecked market. The finished three-storey
structure, which was topped by a mansard roof and grand clock tower
cupola, opened in 1850.
Thomas’ hall became the primary entrance
to the St. Lawrence Market, which at the time was located north of Front
Street. An arched entranceway on King Street led into an indoor
shopping arcade connected to the market behind.
At the heart of the building, on the third floor, was an event space described in great detail in the 1858 Handbook of Toronto:
It was “100 feet long, 38 feet 6 inches
wide, and 36 feet hight, with a gallery at the entrance end. The ceiling
of the Hall is ornamented by flat hemispherical, enriched panelled,
domed compartments, and lyres surrounding them.”
“When the large and magnificent
chandelier is lighted up, and when the room is filled by such an
assembly that which graced Jenny Lind’s concerts, it has a brilliant and
most imposing effect. It is admirably suited for concerts, being easily
filled by the voice, and having no echo to mar the performance, and is
in fact the only place in the city for lectures and fashionable
concerts.”
As the premier event space in Toronto, a
dizzying range of prominent speakers, performers, and musicians appeared
at St. Lawrence Hall during the 19th century.
The future King Edward VII (when he was
still Prince of Wales,) Niagara Falls tightrope walker and all-round
daredevil The Great Farini, Upper Canada Rebellion leader William Lyon
Mackenzie, Canada’s first Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, writer
and abolitionist Frederick Douglass all trod the planks.
Showman and impresario P. T. Barnum
bought legendary opera singer Jenny Lind—dubbed “the Swedish
Nightingale”—to St. Lawrence Hall for three nights in 1851. Another
Barnum act, General Tom Thumb (a dwarf born Charles Sherwood Stratton,)
came for four nights in 1862.
Around 1900, the ground floor was home to a branch of the Dominion Bank
and a stove and furnce store. The arched entrance at the centre led to a
small shopping arcade.
As planned by architect Thomas, the
ground floor was leased to retailers. There were stores on either side
of the indoor shopping arcade and also facing the surrounding streets.
Early photos show gigantic signs for
businesses such as the Toronto Tea Company and Graham’s Temple of
Fashions crowding the fine, if eccentric, architectural detailing.
Much of the space on the east side of the
building was leased to the Irish Catholic Benevolent Union, which
advertised its presence with a sign for “St. Patrick’s Hall.”
In later years, likely in the 1890s, the
third-floor St. Patrick’s Hall was stripped bare for one of the earliest
basketball courts in Canada. Players had to avoid wooden roof beams to
get the ball in the iron hoops at either end of the room.
The
Irish Catholic Benevolent Union installed one of the earliest
basketball courts in Canada inside St. Lawrence Hall. The iron hoops
were removed during renovations and placed stored with the city. Image:
Toronto Fire Department.
Among the notable features of the
exterior are columns that are a close copies of those used on the
ancient Temple of Jupiter Stator in Rome. Closer to the ground, on King
Street, a number of carved men’s faces peer out from the sides of the
building, representing fictional deities of Lake Ontario, the Niagara,
and St. Lawrence rivers.
Near the roof, also facing King Street,
the figure of Britannia, an Indigenous man with bow and quiver, and the
crest of the Royal Arms of England form the City of Toronto coat of
arms. The city’s motto at the time, “Industry, Intelligence, Integrity,”
is carved below.
The building was topped with a public
clock connected to a 966-kilo bell that chimed the hour. In the 1850s,
this timekeeping device was a critically important piece of
infrastructure.
Before affordable watches, the clocks at
St. Lawrence Hall and Union Station were among the few ways of knowing
the time of day on the street with any degree of accuracy.
Scientists at the observatory at
University College send a signal to the town’s fire halls when the sun
approached its peak at 11:55 am.
St. Lawrence Hall and its clock fell
slowly out of favour in the 1900s. Bigger venues attracted major
touring performers and the centre of the city shifted west, allowing the
hall to become increasingly run-down.
Evidence of the building’s decline is
clear from archival photos. Around the 1890s, the exterior appears caked
in soot and grime, windows on the upper floors are broken, and
the stores are offering things like stoves and ranges, tents, and other
outdoor supplies.
By the 1950s, the 100-year-old building
was in trouble. It lacked historical status and was increasingly
fragile. Parts of the original structure had been ripped out and windows
carelessly punched in the interior walls.
The southeast corner was badly sinking
and the delicate stonework on the exterior was starting to crumble.
Several rooms in the building were occupied by homeless people.
The Great Hall of St. Lawrence Hall as it appeared in 1898. The room was lit by a gasolier, a gas-powered chandelier.
The building’s complex ownership
arrangement was one the main obstacles to heritage protection. The city
owned the land and the arcade corridor to the North Market, but all the
other units were the property of private companies.
When the National Ballet moved into the
upper floors in the 1950s, it started a long conversation about how to
properly restore the building.
The city dithered over whether or not to
buy St. Lawrence Hall and bring about the necessary repairs until plans
for Canada’s Centennial began to solidify in 1961. Toronto Parks
Commissioner George Bell envisioned using Centennial funds to extend St.
James Park east from the cathedral to Jarvis Street and restore St.
Lawrence Hall.
The first version of the city’s
Centennial plan was much broader. It envisioned spending $16.8 million
to construct a new repertory theatre and concert hall, rebuild the North
Market, refurbish Massey Hall, and buy the St. Lawrence Hall land.
Over the next few years, various
components of the project were ditched in an effort to keep costs down
and the arts centre idea alive.
“In this century it had degenerated into a doss house for the unemployed,” read a booklet on the history of the hall.
The fire halls would ring their bells,
allowing anyone with a stopped or slowing timepiece to synchronize it
with the rest of the city. The clocks at St. Lawrence Hall and Union
Station were configured in the same way.
However, due to the tireless advocacy of
architect and heritage activist Eric Arthur, the city, the Toronto
Chapter of the Ontario Association of Architects, and the Toronto
Construction Association banded together to fund $2 million of the
restoration cost.
“Every growing city sooner or later
reaches the point where it has to decide either to give way completely
to commercialism at the expense of cultural values or steadfastly
resist,” wrote J. I. Rempel, an and architect vice-president of the York
Pioneer and Historical Society.
In 1966, builders and restoration experts
began probing the building, stripping out debris and assessing the
scale and scope of the project.
Expert masonry, woodworking, and
plastering workers set about creating historically-accurate replacement
parts and more than a century of dirt was sandblasted off the exterior.
Arthur, the champion of the project, felt some of the exterior work was
too heavy handed.
“Age is something we want to keep,” he
said. “I look on St. Lawrence Hall as our Westminster Abbey. When they
lose a cherub, they don’t replace it. We should be satisfied to retain
the appearance of age; we don’t want newness.”
A large portion of the east wing of St. Lawrence Hall collapsed during the Centennial renovations. Image: Toronto Daily Star.
Just as work was hitting its stride,
disaster struck. On March 10, 1967, site foreman Jack McGowan noticed
mortar falling from the east wall and called for extra reinforcement.
Around 4:25, as rush hour approached, more material began to fall and
McGowan gave the order to evacuate the site.
Workmen halted traffic on King and Jarvis
streets and minutes later the entire east wing collapsed in on itself.
“The main floor just folded and everything above it fell inward,”
McGowan said.
Rescue crews combed through the rubble, but found no-one trapped or injured.
Although St. Lawrence Hall experienced a
renaissance in the late 60s and 70s, it has once again fallen into
relatively peaceful obscurity. The second floor is now City of Toronto
offices and Heritage Toronto occupies part of the third. The practice
space and office for Opera Atelier is in the attic.
The Great Hall is still available for
weddings and other events, and the one-time basketball court in St.
Patrick’s Hall is a meeting and boardroom.
Today, most people haven’t seen the Great Hall, the grand event space for which the building is named.
With a third of the hall in ruins,
the founders met to discuss the future of the project and agreed to
continue, much to the delight of the Toronto Star.
