Bay Street is a major thoroughfare in
Downtown Toronto
Downtown Toronto is the main central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Stre ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada. It is the centre of
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
's
Financial District
A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...
and is often used by
metonymy
Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept.
Etymology
The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...
to refer to
Canada's financial services industry since succeeding
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
's
St. James Street in that role in the 1970s.
Bay Street begins at
Queens Quay (
Toronto Harbour
Toronto Harbour or Toronto Bay is a bay on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a natural harbour, protected from Lake Ontario waves by the Toronto Islands. Today, the harbour is used primarily for recreational b ...
) in the south and ends at Davenport Road in the north. The original section of Bay Street ran only as far north as
Queen Street West
Queen Street is a major east-west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in the west to Victoria Park Avenue in the east. Queen Street was the cartographic baseline for the original east-w ...
and just south of Front Street where the Grand Trunk rail lines entered into
Union Station
A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
. Sections north of Queen Street were renamed Bay Street as several other streets were consolidated and several gaps filled in to create a new thoroughfare in the 1920s. The largest of these streets, Terauley Street, ran from Queen Street West to College Street. At these two points, there is a curve in Bay Street. North of College past Grenville Street to Breadalbane Street was St. Vincent Street, which was later bypassed with new alignment to the west leading to a stub now called St. Vincent Lane from Grosvenor Street to Grenville Street.
History
![Watercolour of Doel's Homestead and Brewery, northwest corner of Bay and Adelaide streets](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Watercolour_of_Doel%27s_Homestead_and_Brewery%2C_northwest_corner_of_Bay_and_Adelaide_streets.jpg)
The street was originally known as Bear Street because of frequent bear sightings in the early history of Toronto. It was renamed Bay Street in 1797 from the fact that it connected Lot Street (present-day
Queen Street West
Queen Street is a major east-west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in the west to Victoria Park Avenue in the east. Queen Street was the cartographic baseline for the original east-w ...
) to a bay at the
Toronto Harbour
Toronto Harbour or Toronto Bay is a bay on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a natural harbour, protected from Lake Ontario waves by the Toronto Islands. Today, the harbour is used primarily for recreational b ...
. In the 19th century the intersection of Bay and
King Street was home to Toronto's major newspapers: the
Mail Building, the
old Toronto Star Building
The Old Toronto Star Building was an Art Deco office tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was located at 80 King Street West and was the headquarters of the ''Toronto Star'' newspaper from 1929 until 1970. The building was demolished ...
, and the
William H. Wright Building
The William H. Wright Building was a six-storey office building located at 140 King Street West in Toronto, Ontario, at the corner of King and York streets. Designed by the firm Mathers and Haldenby and built between 1937 and 1938, it was one of ...
(old ''Globe and Mail'' headquarters) were all located near the intersection.
Until 1922, the section of Bay running north from Queen Street and ending at
College Street was known as Terauley Street (named after the Terauley estate of
John Simcoe Macaulay
Colonel The Hon. John Simcoe Macaulay (13 October 1791 – 20 December 1855) was a businessman and political figure in Upper Canada. In 1845, before retiring to England, he donated the land on which the Church of the Holy Trinity (Toronto) w ...
near Bay and Queen Streets). Several discontinuous streets existed north of College Street to
Davenport Road
Davenport Road is an east–west arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is believed to follow an old native trail along the foot of the scarp of the old shoreline of glacial Lake Iroquois.
It currently runs from Yonge Street in the eas ...
- St. Vincent Street, Chapel Street, North Street, Ketchum Avenue. By-Law 9316 joined these streets together as far north as Scollard Street in 1922. Finally, By-Law 9884, enacted on January 28, 1924, changed the name of Ketchum Avenue to Bay Street, extending it to Davenport Road. There is a short street called Terauley Lane running west of Bay from Grenville Street to Grosvenor Street.
Finance district
![August 2012 Bay and King Bank Towers Toronto Looking Up (7695092848) (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/August_2012_Bay_and_King_Bank_Towers_Toronto_Looking_Up_%287695092848%29_%28cropped%29.jpg)
"Bay Street" is frequently used as a metonym to refer to Toronto's Financial District and the Canadian financial sector as a whole, similar to
Wall Street
Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
in the United States. "Bay Street banker", as in the phrase "cold as a Bay Street banker's heart", was a term of opprobrium especially among Prairie farmers who feared that Toronto-based financial interests were hurting them. Within the legal profession, the term Bay Street is also used colloquially to refer to the large, full-service business law firms of Toronto.
The intersection of Bay and
King Street is often seen as the centre of Canadian banking and finance. Four of Canada's five major banks have office towers at the intersection — the
Bank of Montreal
The Bank of Montreal (BMO; french: Banque de Montréal, link=no) is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company.
The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank; while its head office remains in ...
at
First Canadian Place
First Canadian Place (originally First Bank Building) is a skyscraper in the Financial District of Toronto, Ontario, at the northwest corner of King and Bay streets, and serves as the global operational headquarters of the Bank of Montreal. At ...
,
Scotiabank
The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...
at
Scotia Plaza
Scotia Plaza is a commercial skyscraper in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is in the financial district of the downtown core bordered by Yonge Street on the east, King Street West on the south, Bay Street on the west, and Adelaide Stree ...
, the
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC; french: Banque canadienne impériale de commerce) is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered at CIBC Square in the Financial District of Toronto, Ontario. ...
(CIBC) at
Commerce Court
Commerce Court is an office building complex on King and Bay Streets in the financial district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The four-building complex is a mix of Art Deco, International, and early Modernism architectural styles. The office co ...
, and
Toronto-Dominion Bank
Toronto-Dominion Bank (french: links=no, Banque Toronto-Dominion), doing business as TD Bank Group (french: links=no, Groupe Banque TD), is a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquarte ...
at the
Toronto-Dominion Centre
The Toronto-Dominion Centre, or TD Centre, is an office complex in the Financial District, Toronto, Financial District of downtown Toronto owned by Cadillac Fairview. It serves as the global headquarters for its anchor tenant, the Toronto-Dominio ...
— and the fifth, the
Royal Bank at
Royal Bank Plaza
Royal Bank Plaza is a skyscraper in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that serves as the "corporate headquarters" for the Royal Bank of Canada. The building shares with the Fairmont Royal York Hotel the block in Toronto's financial district bordered by ...
, is one block south. Historically, Bay and King was known as the "MINT Corner" from Montreal, Imperial, Nova Scotia, and Toronto, but since 1961 the
Imperial Bank has been part of CIBC and the Bank of Nova Scotia has rebranded itself, so this nickname is no longer widely used. The core cluster of towers has crept north with the addition of the 50-storey
Bay Adelaide Centre
The Bay Adelaide Centre is an office complex in the Financial District of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The first phase, a 51-storey skyscraper known as Bay Adelaide West, was completed in July 2009. The second phase, the 44-storey Bay Adelaide Eas ...
and
The Adelaide Hotel Toronto
The St. Regis Toronto is a mixed-use skyscraper located in the downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was built by Markham-based Talon International Development Inc., which is owned by Canadian businessmen Val Levitan and Alex Shnaider. ...
.
Points of interest
![Bay St near Cumberland Terrace 2022](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Bay_St_near_Cumberland_Terrace_2022.jpg)
The
Union Station
A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
rail, subway, and bus hub partly fronts on Bay at Front, toward the south end of the central business district. The intersection of Bay and Bloor is the location of the
Toronto Transit Commission
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...
's
Bay subway station, toward the north end of the central business district. From its 1931 opening until its 2021 decommissioning, intercity bus service was also provided at the
Toronto Coach Terminal
The Toronto Coach Terminal is a decommissioned bus station for intercity bus services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was the central intercity bus station in Toronto until mid-2021, when it was replaced by the Union Station Bus Termin ...
on Bay slightly north of Dundas.
Significant
condominium
A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...
development on Bay, north of the financial district, boomed during the 1990s and construction continues on large, 40-plus storey condominiums and multi-use buildings today. The area is defined by Dundas Street to the south and Bloor/Yorkville to the north and crosses through Toronto's
Discovery District
The Discovery District is one of the commercial districts in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has a high concentration of hospitals and research institutions, particularly those related to biotechnology. The district is roughly bounded by Blo ...
. Another prominent intersection is the one nearest
Yorkville at Bay and
Bloor, the centre of an expensive shopping district known as
Mink Mile
Mink Mile is an upscale shopping district in the neighbourhood of Yorkville in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, along Bloor Street between Yonge Street and Avenue Road.
History
In the 21st century, mid-market retailers have begun to locate along the M ...
.
The area attracts many who work in the financial district and those who work in the Discovery District, nearby hospitals and schools (Toronto Metropolitan University and the University of Toronto). More than 67 per cent (or 10,380) of residents in this area are in the working ages of 25-64, significantly higher than the City of Toronto's average of 58%.
[Gender and Age](_blank)
/ref>
Notable buildings include:
* St. Basil's Church (Toronto)
* Toronto Coach Terminal
The Toronto Coach Terminal is a decommissioned bus station for intercity bus services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was the central intercity bus station in Toronto until mid-2021, when it was replaced by the Union Station Bus Termin ...
* Residences of College Park
* 777 Bay
* Murano
Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about north of Venice and measures about across with a population of just over 5,000 (2004 figures). It is famous for its glass making. It was on ...
* Ontario Government Buildings
The Macdonald Block Complex is a set of office buildings in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that houses 12 cabinet ministers, 15 Ontario government ministries (as of 2016) and the largest concentration of Ontario public servants. Its address is 900 Ba ...
* Sutton Place Hotel
The Sutton Place Hotel was initially a 33-storey hotel and apartment building located at 955 Bay Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Designed by the architectural firm Webb Zerafa Menkès Housden and operating from 1967 to 2012, Sutton Place w ...
* Manulife Centre
The Manulife Centre is located on the southeast corner of Bay and Bloor streets, along the Mink Mile and adjacent to the southern edge of the Yorkville district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It consists of a 51-storey 800-suite luxury resident ...
* Nathan Phillips Square
Nathan Phillips Square is an urban plaza in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It forms the forecourt to Toronto City Hall, or ''New City Hall'', at the intersection of Queen Street West and Bay Street, and is named for Nathan Phillips, mayor of Toro ...
* Flagship store of Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
Public transit
Bay Street is served by the route 19 Bay, which is one of few bus routes exclusively serving Downtown Toronto. Bay Street used to be served by streetcars lines, which were gradually phased out after the north-south Yonge and University subway lines opened in 1954 and 1963 respectively. The remaining streetcar tracks between Dundas and College Streets are now used for short turns and diversions.
See also
*List of financial districts
A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...
*List of north–south roads in Toronto
The following is a list of the north–south expressways and arterial thoroughfares in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The city is organized in a grid pattern dating back to the plan laid out by Augustus Jones between 1793 and 1797. Most ...
References
External links
Bay Street Corridor neighbourhood profile
{{coord, 43.657291, N, 79.384302, W, source:frwiki_region:CA, format=dms, display=title
Economy of Canada
Financial districts in Canada
Roads in Toronto