Toronto skyline and views
- CN Tower, harbourfront, Toronto Islands, First Canadian Place, Ice Condos, City Hall, downtown, Mississauga, Hamilton
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Toronto has the largest skyline in Canada, and in North America it is second only to New York. Since 2010 there has been a huge building boom of new skyscrapers. In contrary to most other North American cities, a large number of skyscrapers downtown are not offices or hotels, but residential buildings.
CN Tower, built in 1976, was the world's tallest freestanding structure in the world for 34 years, and still stands out on the skyline. It is, at a height of 553m to the top of the mast, still the tallest TV tower in North America, and the tallest tower in the western hemispher, second tallest tower in the world (Canton Tower in Guangzhou, China is now somewhat taller). The observation deck is a very popular attraction, it features both an indoor and an outdoor section, a glass floor and a revolving restaurant. Even higher up, at the 147th floor, you can visit the Skypod. It is also possible to take a walk on the edge and hang out from the building. Super fast glass enclosed elevators take you to the observation deck, while you take the ride up the city down below you appears smaller and smaller!
The tallest building in Canada (TV towers are not counted as buildings) is the 71-storey First Canadian Place (298m to the roof) from 1971, followed by Trump Tower from 2012 (277m to the spire) and the impressive posmodern 68-storey red granite Scotia Place from 1988. 4th tallest is the significant, postmodern TD Canada Trust Tower from 1990, designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill, with its significant spire, part of the Brookfield Place complex, that also includes a similar looking tower, a galleria and Royal Bank Plaza, a skycraper with glass windows made of gold (but they had to be replaced because of the heat)! Many of the skyscrapers that are not in the immediate business district are lined along Yonge Street; the 78-storey Aura at College Park with glass exterior and a sloping roof from 2015 is the latest one. During our visit, a 257m tall, 75-storey residential glass scarper called Number One Bloor was almost completed, right opposite our hotel (the only 11-storey Comfort hotel)! Eau de Soleil, that will be completed in 2017, looks lika a ski slope.
Unlike New York and Chicago, Toronto doesn't have many classical skyscrapers, since the building of skyscrapers begun quite late; 1931-1967 the tallest building in Canada was Commerce Court North (a white 34-storey classic art deco tower), followed by the famous Royal York Hotel (28 floors), the Old City Hall, Canada Life Bldg and St James Cathedral, 1951 the 27-storey Bank of Nova Scotia Bldg was built, in 1970 the only skyscrapers with more then 40 floors where the black TD Towers from 1967-69. In 1972 the white boxy 57-storey Commerce Court North was built, and in 1975 First Canada Place, mentioned above, that still is the tallest skyscraper in Toronto. In the 80s, Scotia Plaza was the only skyscraper built, in 1990 only the TD Canada Trust/Bay-Wellington towers (mentinoned above) were built, 2000-2010 eight buildings with at least 50 floors were built but after 2010 it has been booming! Currently (2016) Toronto is undergoing a huge building boom, the largest in North America right now; 137 highrises are under construction, of which 6 will have more then 60 floors. The tallest will be the already mentioned Number One Bloor.
22 of these skyscrapers will have 50 floors or more, thus completely changing the skyline of Toronto. And if you go just 5 years back in time, some of the tallest buildings today were not there! A 96-storey skyscraper, one 92-storey, 6 skyscrapers with more then 80 floors, 8 with more then 70 floors are proposed for the future. At least 50 skyscrapers with 50 floors or more are planned to start construction in the future, rivaling New York! Most of these are residential or mixed use.
Most skyscrapers are situated downtown, in the Financial District or along Yonge St, King St, Front St and Bay St, but there is also a growing number of skyscrapers rising in the outskirts, for example in North York and Midtown (both north of Downtown and Uptown) along Yonge St, and in the neighbouring city Mississauga, that borders the airport and has about 900 000 inhabitants so it can hardly be called a suburb. The odd, curvy Absolute Towers are the landmarks of Mississauga, and the city, that is a dull city compared to Toronto (still with a very suburban feeling and lots of grey highrise blocks), has an impressive skyline of its own. Etobicoke is another western suburb with a small skyline.
Hamilton and Brampton are large nearby cities, and Niagara Falls is only one and a half hour from Toronto by car. Hamilton is an industrial city with 520 000 inhabitants and a small skyline, the tallest one has 43 floors and the rest 20-30 floors. Niagara Falls has an impressive skyline for its size, much because of the tall hotels, and 3 observation decks.
