Doesn’t the Toronto-Dominion Centre seem untouched by time? It opened 54 years ago. Toronto was very different then. The Toronto-Dominion Centre is considered the last word in modernity.
I will tell you about this modern masterpiece. It came from the genius of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. He was a German-American architect. Mies is pronounced Mees. Allen Lambert was CEO of the Toronto-Dominion Bank. He had the idea for this project. Lambert’s sister-in-law Phyllis recommended Mies. She was the daughter of Seagram’s chairman Samuel Bronfman. She suggested Mies as design consultant. The architects were John B. Parkin and Associates and Bregman and Hamann. Fairview Corporation was the developer.
Canadian law required a Canadian firm as lead architect. But the Toronto-Dominion Centre is all Mies. Phyllis Lambert had hired Mies. He collaborated with American architect Philip Johnson. They built the Seagram Building in New York. The Seagram Building changed Manhattan’s skyline. The Toronto-Dominion Centre would do the same for Toronto.
Most Toronto skyscrapers were mountains of stone before Mies. They had granite gargoyles and marble finials. Massive entryways made you feel like you were entering a Greek temple. Or an art deco-styled Hollywood palace. Mies believed that less was more. Modern buildings could hold their own. They would be constructed with the best materials. But without exterior decoration. They would be stripped down to their bare bones.
Its interior public spaces still have all the original furniture. And light switch covers that Mies designed. But his elevator ashtrays have been removed. Fresh-cut yellow daisies are still placed throughout the main banking hall. They are in clear glass round vases. The same flowers are up on the 54th floor. In the CEO’s office. Mies wanted his buildings to be organic. With a natural link between customers and the boss. Mies often stated God is in the detail.
One legend says that Mies lined up all the screws vertically. This was in the 54th-floor boardroom. He did it just before the Toronto-Dominion Centre’s official opening. He used a screwdriver. True or not it shows how myth can shroud legendary architects. As if they were rock stars.
The Toronto-Dominion Centre enabled breathtaking vistas. Both from afar and up close. It became the symbol of the new Toronto. Wealthy powerful and full of promise. Toronto now had the largest tallest corporate office space in Canada. It was designed by the coolest architect in the world. More than 100 buildings were demolished. This was to create this urban paradise. Including the Bank of Toronto building. It was designed in 1912. By the illustrious New York architectural firm Carrère and Hastings. They were the Mies van der Rohe of their day. The former King Street facade of the Bank of Toronto can still be seen. It is at Guildwood Park in Scarborough. A scale model is displayed in the present Toronto-Dominion Centre banking hall.
The Toronto-Dominion Centre floats on a human scale. It has a black-steel-and glass grouping of five towers. Two were added after Mies’s death. All surround a plaza. It is named Oscar Peterson Square. A grass pasture has seven full-sized bronze cows. They were designed by Canadian sculptor Joe Fafard. This marks the location of Toronto’s first theatre.
The Bank of Toronto was founded in 1855 by George Gooderham. The Dominion Bank was also founded in Toronto. In 1869 by James Austin. These two merged in February 1955. They created the Toronto-Dominion Bank. The ‘T’ in TD Ameritrade stands for Toronto. TD has 1200 branches in 16 American states. The Toronto-Dominion Centre’s footprint is more grass and open plaza than buildings. It’s an anomaly in the Financial District. All that open space on the most expensive corner in Canada. Sometimes when I wander through the cow pasture I think of being out in cattle country. In an immense chasm created by the looming Toronto-Dominion Centre. A superb substitute for a breathtaking valley. With sun reflecting off the golden Royal Bank Plaza tower. It becomes a perfect mix of old Hollywood meets modern Bay Street.