The Board of Trade Building was one of the first

skyscrapers A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

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 ...

, Ontario, Canada. Completed in 1892 on the corner of Front Street East and

Yonge Street Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. Once the southernmost leg of provincial Hi ...

, the seven storey tower was home to the

Toronto Board of Trade The Toronto Region Board of Trade is the principal local business community organization in the City of Toronto. It is the largest Chamber of Commerce/board of trade in Canada and one of the largest in North America. Its primary contemporary focu ...

and 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 ...

. The building was designed by the American architectural firm of James & James of New York City, and closely resembled the appearance of the

Flour and Grain Exchange Building The Flour and Grain Exchange Building is a 19th-century office building in Boston. Located at 177 Milk Street in the Custom House District, at the edge of the Financial District near the waterfront, it is distinguished by the large black slate c ...

in Boston, Massachusetts, which had been designed two years earlier by the Boston firm of

Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge was a successful architecture firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, operating between 1886 and 1915, with extensive commissions in monumental civic, religious, and collegiate architecture in the spirit and style of Henry ...

. That Boston firm was also credited with the plans for the Montreal Board of Trade Building.CAB Archt Ed 4, (June 1891): 65 and supplement no. 6
There was considerable controversy about the award of the design contract; the Board of Trade wanted to build a skyscraper like those in New York, Chicago and Boston, and they favoured an American architect over Canadian-based ones, supposedly on the basis of experience with tall buildings. The first design by James & James of New York partially collapsed during construction. James & James were dismissed from the job and Edward A. Kent, an architect from Buffalo, N.Y., was called in to complete the building following the plans of James & James. The Board of Trade Building was soon eclipsed in height in 1894 by the

Beard Building The Beard Building was a seven-storey, Richardsonian Romanesque highrise in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that is considered to be Toronto's first skyscraper. Designed by E. J. Lennox and completed in 1894, initial plans were for a nine-storey, iron- ...

and then in 1895 by the ten-story Temple Building on

Bay Street Bay Street is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Canada's financial services industry since succeeding Montreal's St. James Stree ...

. It was demolished in 1958. The lot is now occupied by the EDS office tower.

References

External links

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C'est What: The History Around Front & Church Streets
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toronto Board Of Trade Building Skyscrapers in Toronto Demolished buildings and structures in Toronto Buildings and structures in Toronto Buildings and structures demolished in 1958 Buildings and structures completed in 1892 Chambers of commerce in Canada