Toronto City Hall
Title
Toronto City Hall
Publisher
Lawrence Technological University
Date Created
May 13, 2015
Alternative Title or Name
Nathan Phillips Square
Creator
Revell, Viljo
Creator2
O’Connor, Thomas (photograph)
Creator Nationality
Finnish
Work Type
Single Built Works
Date
August, 1969
Work Location
Ontario (province)
Toronto (inhabited place)
Style/Period
Modern (styles and periods)
Subject
city halls
reflecting pools
arches
Description
Exterior view of the Toronto City Hall designed by Viljo Revell and completed in 1965, with reflecting pool and arches in foreground. "Toronto City Hall is particularly memorable for two main reasons. First, the discrete disposition of its programmatic elements, namely the civic square, the podium, the council chambers and the office towers. Second, for its paradoxically spare yet flamboyant expression. The civic square, named for former mayor Nathan Phillips, has been since its opening an enormously successful public space. The site of many public events from music festivals to New Year's Eve and Canada Day celebrations to outdoor art exhibits to political rallies, it serves the function of a traditional city square. This element fulfills Eric Arthur's wish that the scheme look both forward and to the past. For while the complex's expression is resolutely Modern, even futuristic, the civic square respects traditions of public building in Toronto in being oriented south towards Lake Ontario, as well as in its generous aspect onto the old city hall by EJ. Lennox across Bay Street to the east,"--from Toronto City Hall by Marco Polo from Canadian Architect, March, 1994.
Material/Medium
concrete
Reproduction Type
jpeg
Copyright Statement
©2013 Lawrence Technological University. These images may be used for personal or educational purposes. They are not available for commercial purposes without the explicit permission of LTU.
ID Number
LTU-TO-671
- Date Added
- May 13, 2015
- Collection
- LTU Digital Images
- Item Type
- VRA Core
- Tags
- arches, city halls, pools
- Citation
- “Toronto City Hall,” LTU Digital Images, accessed May 16, 2024, https://ltuimagecollection.omeka.net/items/show/14691.