Toronto-Dominion Centre

• Location: Toronto, ON, Canada

• Architect: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

• Style: International

• Completed in: 1969

• Height: 223 m (TD Bank Tower)

The Toronto-Dominion Centre is a prominent office complex comprising six towers and a pavilion situated in the Financial District of downtown Toronto. Designed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, it serves as the global headquarters for the Toronto-Dominion Bank as well as office and retail spaces for various businesses. With its iconic presence in the city skyline, the Toronto-Dominion Centre is a key landmark in Toronto, symbolizing the city's financial prominence and architectural innovation.

"Toronto-Dominion Centre Complex"

The buildings are characterized by their matt-black painted steel frames and curtain walls with the bronze-tinted glass.

The blackness of his non-decorative design provides a distinctive perception of its own existence, particularly during the 1960s when the initial two towers were erected, they stood as the sole skyscrapers in Toronto's skyline.

"I-Beam Mullion"

The non-structural I-beam mullion, one of the characteristics of Mies van der Rohe's design, can be seen. The I-beam mullion here is steel, although the I-bean mullion is made of bronze for the Seagram Building in New York, another masterpiece by the same architect 10 years earlier.

"Pilotis"

The pilotis, columns or pillars to raise a building above a ground level, are another characteristics of Mies van der Rohe's skyscraper.

"Ground-floor lobbies with walls of travertine"

Having pilotis allows "free design of the ground plan". Here the only thing that separate between exterior and interior is a wall of glass panels.

"Single-storey Pavilion"

The Toronto-Dominion Centre also includes a single-storey banking pavilion, which is very different from conventional design of financial institutes.

"Façade of the Former Toronto Stock Exchange"

The Art Deco building located at 234 Bay St was once used by the Toronto Stock Exchange. When the 4th tower of the Toronto-Dominion Centre was built in 1991, the Art Deco building was preserved and became part of the tower.

Sometimes it is referred to an example of façadism, however, it's not only the façade that was preserved and attached to the new building like façadism, but the entire building was preserved.

References:

Toronto-Dominion Centre. Ontario Heritage Trust (n.d.). Retrieved 2023-11-18, from https://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/plaques/toronto-dominion-centre

Toronto-Dominion Centre: A Modern Masterpiece, May 2020. Heritage Toronto . Retrieved 2023-11-18, from https://www.heritagetoronto.org/explore-learn/td-centre-54th-floor/

Toronto-Dominion Centre. Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved 2023-11-18, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto-Dominion_Centre