Shangri-La Toronto is a

luxury hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

and residential condominium building 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 Str ...

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 C ...

, Canada. It was designed by James K. M. Cheng and built by Westbank Projects Corp.; they also designed and built the

Living Shangri-La Living Shangri-La is a mixed-use skyscraper in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and is the tallest building in the city and province. The 62-storey Shangri-La tower contains a 5-star hotel and its offices on the first 15 floors, with ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. The building is 214 meters tall and is one of the fifteen tallest buildings in Toronto. The hotel component is run by Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts and has 202 guest rooms and suites. The condominium portion occupies the upper floors of the building and consists of 393 units. Excavation of the site started in 2008, and work on the parking garage began in early 2009.

History

Shangri-La Toronto is located on

University Avenue A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

and Adelaide Street, in an area just west of the

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 ...

that has seen rapid growth in recent years. The site was previously home to a number of smaller structures, most notably the historic Bishop's Block. The Bishop's Block was built in the 1830s by John Bishop, who built a series of Georgian row houses on the site. Most buildings were eventually torn down and replaced with a large parking lot. The one exception was a structure that served as one of the city's first hotels and then for many decades as a pub, the Pretzel Bell Tavern, which became a popular hangout of the

Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

. It too was abandoned for several decades, but as a heritage structure, it was not torn down. This building was disassembled for the construction of Shangri-La Toronto, but the developers had pledged to rebuild and restore the Bishop's Block as part of the project. Before excavation, the site was the subject of several months of archaeological exploration, and many artifacts from the city's early history were found. At 102 ft (31 m), Shangri-La Toronto was the second-deepest excavation for a building in Canada's history, with only

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 Stre ...

being deeper.The deepest excavation in the City of Toronto at a depth of 31m (of any u/c buildings)
/ref> This was done to create an eight-level below-grade parking garage.

References

*Gray Jeff, "Hotel-condo complex gets committee nod" ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' *Hume, Christopher. "Brief window into the past: Archeologists have 4 months to excavate a former upscale neighbourhood before another is built." Aug 06, 2007.

External links

*
Shangri-La Hotel, Toronto - official website

Hariri Pontarini Architects - Shangri-La Toronto
{{Toronto skyscrapers Residential skyscrapers in Toronto Skyscraper hotels in Canada Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts Hotel buildings completed in 2012 Condo hotels in Canada Hotels in Toronto James K. M. Cheng buildings 2012 establishments in Ontario

History

See also

References

External links