My Toronto Art Deco Trip – part 3

(continuing on from part 1 and part 2 of my trip to Toronto)

I last left you on University Ave. in Toronto. At this point, according to my notes, I was supposed to proceed south on the subway. The weather was nice (if chilly) and I was feeling good, so I chose instead to walk above ground and eventually found my way to the York Mercantile Building (55 York St.).

This is a 16 storey building with strong vertical lines, setbacks at the top corners, and some beautiful spandrels. The folks in the coffee shop at street level seemed a bit surprised at me taking so many photos of the building, but it was lovely.

I also wanted a quick shot of the front of the Royal York, just south of the York Mercantile Building.

And I was walking again, off to the Design Exchange (the original Toronto Stock Exchange) at 234 Bay. I knew that there were details of this building that I wanted to capture, from the limestone frieze designed by Charles Comfort, to the stunning doors, to the shape of the building.

Just a little bit north I stopped at the imposing and impressive Bank of Nova Scotia building (44 King St. W). This massive building was another one initially designed by John M. Lyle, but built after his death. There are some beautiful bas relief panels designed by Frederick Winkler.

The Canadian Bank of Commerce building is just down the road(25 King St. W.). It’s now part of Commerce Court and is a small part of a collection of buildings, but it was once the tallest building in the Commonwealth (34 storeys). The building itself is generally more classical than Deco but it’s interesting.

At this point I was almost finished up downtown, but there are still a few more buildings to show you. I’ll get back to that in another couple of days.