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Our sister site UrbanToronto.ca recently toured the TD Centre in Toronto amid a complex renewal initiative.
By 2017, the Toronto-Dominion Centre will have stood in the heart of the Financial District for 50 years. The matte-black painted steel I-beams and floor-to-ceiling windows are signature characteristics of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s interpretation of International Style architecture. The city hadn’t seen anything like it at the time. Torontonians were accustomed to the ornamentation of nearby bank buildings like Commerce Court North, which had been the tallest building in the Commonwealth. There was also no mistaking their imposing presence on the skyline. Postcard images from the Toronto Island show the original two towers soaring well above the city’s collection of stone, brick and concrete buildings. The view today is much different, with the emerging Southcore district increasingly blocking most of Mies’ work, but the TD Centre’s contribution to the architectural fabric of Toronto plays as important a role now as it did then, and a dramatic renewal initiative currently underway looks to reinvigorate the property by updating its appearance and environmental performance.
You can find the rest of this story on our sister site, UrbanToronto.ca.
