Queen's Quay Terminal

Last updated
Queen's Quay Terminal
Queens Quay Terminal 2009.jpg
Queen's Quay Terminal
Former names
  • Canadian Rail and Harbour Terminals Warehouse
  • Toronto Terminal Warehouse
General information
TypeMixed-use residential and commercial
Address207 Queen's Quay West
Town or city Toronto, Ontario, Canada
GroundbreakingApril 6, 1926 [1]
Completed1927
RenovatedJune 23, 1983 [2]
CostCA$7 million [1]
Renovation costCA$60 million [3]
Owner
  • Northam Canadian Commercial Property Fund (50%)
  • Industrial Alliance Financial Group (50%)
Height43 metres (141 ft)
Dimensions
Diameter500 ft × 210 ft (152 m × 64 m) [3]
Design and construction
Architecture firmMoores & Dunford [4]
Main contractorPark-Lap Inc. [4]
Renovating team
Architect(s) Zeidler Roberts Partnership
Awards and prizes
  • 1986- Governor General's Medal for Architecture
  • 1989- OAA Architectural Excellence Award

Queen's Quay Terminal is a condominium apartment, office and retail complex in the Harbourfront neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was originally built in 1927 as a marine terminal with office, warehouse and cold-storage facilities. When shipping to Toronto declined in the 1960s and 1970s, the building was bought by the Government of Canada to be repurposed along with a section of the industrial waterfront. The Terminal Building itself was rebuilt in the 1980s with the addition of four floors of residential above the original facility, which was converted into retail and office uses. The cold storage wing was demolished and its plant building became The Power Plant gallery and Harbourfront Centre Theatre.

Contents

History

Image of Terminal Warehouse from the north in 1929 Terminal Warehouse 1929.jpg
Image of Terminal Warehouse from the north in 1929

The building was originally a cold storage warehouse facility, known as the Toronto Terminal Warehouse. It was built by Moores & Dunford of New York City. The first sod was turned in April 1926 [1] and it opened in February 1927. The building was accessible to both CN and CP rail lines and Great Lakes steamships. [5] It was the first poured concrete building in Canada [3] and one of the largest buildings in the country. [6] It had over 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2) of floor space. [7] The main storage building was 420 by 200 feet (128 m × 61 m) and the cold-storage wing was 140 by 220 feet (43 m × 67 m), both eight stories in height. [8] The floors were designed overly strong to hold 800 pounds (360 kg) per square foot. The ice, heating, and power plants were in a separate building to the west. The building had a state-of-the-art ice plant, ventilation and sprinkler system, and rail sidings right into the building to eliminate trucking. [6] The building was adorned with a neon "Terminal Warehouse" sign and each wing ("Dry Storage", "Cold Storage" and "Ice Plant") also had a rooftop neon sign.

The CA$7 million ($121 million in 2023 dollars) [9] structure was built on a 14.5 acres (5.9 ha) site. [8] The site was a former water lot land-filled by the Toronto Harbour Commission and was sold at $55,000 per acre. [10] It was supported by 10,000 wooden piles driven 10 metres (33 ft) through landfill to the bedrock of Toronto Harbour. [6] 500 workers were employed in its construction. [11] One worker, Duncan Murray, died during construction from a fall at the site. [12]

The building was used for offices, cold storage, bonded storage and light manufacturing. Among its tenants was the Minister of Customs & Excise, the Canadian Doughnut Company Ltd., Elizabeth Arden and Black and Decker. Its use as a marine terminal declined in the 1960s as container facilities opened in the east part of the harbour. [6] Also, although the St. Lawrence Seaway had opened in 1959, shipping to Toronto declined as container shipping ports in Montreal and Halifax took over as ports of entry for international shipments to Canada. According to the renovation architect Eberhard Zeidler, the building had fallen into disrepair, its roof and concrete in poor condition. [3] Its clock tower had not worked in several years due to a rusted clock face. [2]

View of freighters at dock and terminal building, 1936 Freighters unloading at Terminal Warehouse dock.jpg
View of freighters at dock and terminal building, 1936

In 1972, the Government of Canada created the Harbourfront Corporation to repurpose 86 acres (35 ha) [13] of industrial harbourfront lands west of York Street for cultural, recreation, parkland and residential uses. In 1973, it purchased the Terminal Warehouse property for CA$9.725 million from the Pittson Co. of New York City. [13] Metro Toronto's Parks Commissioner Tommy Thompson called for the demolition of the building, calling it a "monstrosity on the waterfront". [13]

The southwest cold storage wing was demolished. [14] The area is now Canada Square between Queen's Quay Terminal and the Harbourfront Centre Theatre. The terminal's plant building was converted to house The Power Plant gallery and Harbourfront Centre Theatre. [15] The neighbouring Direct Winters Building, built by early owners of Terminal Warehouse, became the main complex for Harbourfront's recreational activities. It is now known as Harbourfront Centre. [6] A rail siding along the south facade of the building was converted to a public promenade that is also the location of the docks for sight-seeing boat cruises of Toronto Harbour.

The remaining building was converted to a residential, office and retail complex in 1983. [3] The CA$60 million [3] building rebuild was developed by Olympia and York who negotiated a 99-year lease with the government. [16] The renovations by Zeidler Roberts [17] added four floors to the original eight-floor structure, for a total of 750,000 square feet (70,000 m2) of space with 72 condominium apartments. [18]

The renovation recoated the exterior with new concrete and new glass and added new Art Deco-styled entrances for the office and residential tenants. [19] A feature of the renovation of the interior were several new atriums including the Arcade at the south-east corner, which reaches the full height of the building. [3] The residential section has a garden with a bridge and a swimming pool on the roof. The roof itself has a green patina metal cladding that is similar to the roofs of the nearby Toronto Union Station and Royal York Hotel. [20]

The renovation added the CA$3.9 million, 450-seat, Premiere Dance Theatre, which is rented by Harbourfront for CA$1 per year. [15] The stage has a sprung wood floor to be less harsh on dancers. In 2008, the Premiere Dance Theatre was renovated and reopened as the Fleck Dance Theatre. [15] although the concept design was by Zeidler

The renovation was awarded a Governor General's Medal for Architecture in 1986 and awarded the Ontario Association of Architects' Architectural Excellence Award in 1989. [21] The New York Times mentioned it as an example of successful revitalization efforts in Toronto during the 1980s. [22]

The property was purchased by Brookfield Properties in October 1997 for CA$40 million. [23] Brookfield renovated the retail floors in 2017. The building is now owned by Northam Canadian Commercial Property Fund and Industrial Alliance Financial Group and managed by Northam Realty Advisors Limited. [24]

Facilities and tenants

Atrium Queen's Quay Terminal Atrium 2023.jpg
Atrium

The facility has 494,901 square feet (45,977.8 m2) of retail and office space on eight floors. [24] Yahoo! Canada, Anheuser-Busch InBev's Canadian unit Labatt and PortsToronto have offices in the building. The first floor has a grocery store, some shops and several restaurants. The second floor has offices and the Pearl Harbourfront Restaurant. The third floor is home to the Fleck Dance Theatre. The Terminal formerly was the site of the Museum of Inuit Art.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harbourfront, Toronto</span> Neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Harbourfront is a neighbourhood on the northern shore of Lake Ontario within the downtown core of the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Part of the Toronto waterfront, Harbourfront extends from Bathurst Street in the west, along Queens Quay, with its ill-defined eastern boundary being either Yonge Street or York Street. Its northern boundary is the Gardiner Expressway. Much of the district was former water lots filled in during the early 1900s to create a larger harbour district. After shipping patterns changed and the use of the Toronto harbour declined, the area was converted from industrial uses to a mixed-use district that is mostly residential and leisure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronto waterfront</span> Shore of Lake Ontario in Toronto, Canada

The Toronto waterfront is the lakeshore of Lake Ontario in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It spans 46 kilometres between the mouth of Etobicoke Creek in the west and the Rouge River in the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronto Harbour</span> Bay on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Toronto Harbour or Toronto Bay is a natural bay on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Today, the harbour is used primarily for recreational boating, including personal vessels and pleasure boats providing scenic or party cruises. Ferries travel from docks on the mainland to the Islands, and cargo ships deliver aggregates and raw sugar to industries located in the harbour. Historically, the harbour has been used for military vessels, passenger traffic and cargo traffic. Waterfront uses include residential, recreational, cultural, commercial and industrial sites.

Eberhard Heinrich Zeidler, was a German-Canadian architect. He designed iconic structures and landmarks in Canada and internationally, most notably in Toronto. These included Ontario Place, the Toronto Eaton Centre and the North York Performing Arts Centre, as well as redevelopments of Queen's Quay Terminal and the Gladstone Hotel. His firm also designed Canada Place in Vancouver for Expo 86.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queens Quay (Toronto)</span> Street in the Harbourfront neighbourhood of Toronto, Canada

Queens Quay is a prominent street in the Harbourfront neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The street was originally commercial in nature due to the many working piers along the waterfront; parts of it have been extensively rebuilt in since the 1970s with parks, condominiums, retail, as well as institutional and cultural development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada Malting Silos</span>

Canada Malting Silos is one of two remaining silos in Toronto's Harbourfront in Ontario, Canada. Located at the foot of Bathurst Street at Bathurst Quay, the silos were built in 1928 to store malt for the Canada Malting Company. It was an important work of industrial architecture, as grain elevators had long been built out of wood, and thus were at great danger of fire. The concrete malting towers were an innovation, and the stark functionalism of the prominent building was an early influence on modernist architecture. A round office was added in 1944 and glass office was built in the original construction in 1928. The main silos, 15 in all, are 120 feet high and additional storage bins built in 1944 are 150 feet high.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queens Quay station</span> Streetcar station in Toronto, Canada

Queens Quay is an underground streetcar station of the Toronto streetcar system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Along with Spadina station and Union station, it is one of three stations open overnight to support late-night streetcar routes. It is the only underground streetcar station that is not part of or connected to a Toronto subway station. It was opened in 1990 as part of the former Harbourfront LRT route. The station is now served by the 509 Harbourfront, 510 Spadina daytime routes and the 310 Spadina night route.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downtown Toronto</span> Central business district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Downtown Toronto is the main central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Street to the northwest, Lake Ontario to the south, the Don Valley to the east, and Bathurst Street to the west. It is also the home of the municipal government of Toronto and the Government of Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Lands</span> Neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Port Lands of Toronto, Ontario, Canada are an industrial and recreational neighbourhood located about 5 kilometres south-east of downtown, located on the former Don River delta and most of Ashbridge's Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronto Maritime Museum</span> Maritime museum in Ontario, Canada

The Toronto Maritime Museum or Toronto Waterfront Museum or The Pier Museum was a museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It celebrated the history of the Toronto waterfront, the history of commerce on the Great Lakes, and the role of maritime commerce in the development of the City of Toronto.

H<sub>T</sub>O Park Public beach in Toronto, Canada

HTO Park is an urban beach in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that opened in 2007. It is located west of Harbourfront Centre, on Lake Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Power Plant</span> Art gallery in Ontario, Canada

The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery is a Canadian public art gallery located at Harbourfront Centre in the heart of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Gallery is a registered Canadian charitable organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronto Harbour Commission</span>

The Toronto Harbour Commission (THC) was a joint federal-municipal government agency based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The agency managed Toronto Harbour as well as being responsible for major works along the Toronto waterfront. It built both Malton Airport and the Toronto Island Airport in 1939. The agency was founded in 1911 and operated until 1999 when the port operations were transferred to the new Toronto Port Authority (TPA), now PortsToronto.

Maple Leaf Mills Silos was one of two silo or grain elevator complexes that were built in the area between Spadina Quay and Maple Leaf Quay, on Toronto Harbour, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was one of three "monumental" silo complexes that dominated the city's waterfront.

Zeidler Architecture Inc. is a national architecture, interior design, urban design, and master planning firm with four Canadian offices located in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, and Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harbourfront Centre</span> Organization in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Harbourfront Centre is a cultural organization on the waterfront of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at 235 Queens Quay West. Established as a crown corporation in 1972 by the Government of Canada to create a waterfront park, it became a non-profit organization in 1991. Funding comes from corporate sponsors, government grants, individual donors and entrepreneurial activities. Harbourfront Centre has a seating capacity of 2,000.

Fulton House is a former cold storage warehouse converted into a residential building at Wolf Point, Chicago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Layton Ferry Terminal</span>

The Jack Layton Ferry Terminal is the ferry slip for Toronto Island ferries operated by the City of Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division. Three ferry routes provide transportation between mainland Toronto and Centre Island, Hanlan's Point and Ward's Island in the Toronto Islands, with levels of service to each destination differing depending on time of year. The terminal is located in the Toronto Harbour, behind the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel and adjacent to Harbour Square Park. It is south of Bay Street and Queens Quay in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harbour Square Park</span> Park in Toronto, Canada

Harbour Square Park is a park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada right on the Toronto harbour. It is next to the Harbour Square condos, the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal and the Westin Harbour Castle. It is south of Queens Quay and adjacent to the Queens Quay streetcar station. It contains a boardwalk and a permanent public art installation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overseas Passenger Terminal</span>

The Overseas Passenger Terminal (OPT), known officially as the Sydney Cove Passenger Terminal, is a public passenger terminal servicing cruise ships and ocean liners located in Circular Quay, Sydney, Australia. Whilst commercial shipping operations on and around the site date from 1792, the current primary structure and waterfront promenade date from 1958, with subsequent on-going alterations and land reclamation throughout the latter part of the 20th century. The current design retains the black steel portal frame trusses of the original 1958 structure, with major additions completed in 1988 in the Post-War International Style through the collaboration of Sydney architects Lawrence Nield and Peter Tonkin.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "First Sod is Turned on Site of $7,000,000 Terminal Warehouse". The Globe and Mail. April 7, 1926. p. 9.
  2. 1 2 Jones, Frank (March 21, 1983). "A Shabby Old Waterfront Dame is reborn a glittering princess". Toronto Star. p. A2.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Whiteson, Leon (June 22, 1983). "Old Waterfront Warehouse Gets New Lease On Life". Toronto Star. p. A23.
  4. 1 2 "Start Work At Once On Huge Warehouse". Toronto Star. March 16, 1926. p. 4.
  5. ↑ "Toronto's Mammoth Terminal Warehouse Provides Improved Facilities for Reception, Storage and Distribution of Merchandise". The Globe and Mail. December 2, 1926. p. 21.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Queen's Quay Terminal". torontoplaques.com. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
  7. ↑ "Largest Terminal Warehouse in Canada Nears Completion". The Globe and Mail. December 2, 1926. p. 21.
  8. 1 2 "Toronto Rail and Harbor Terminals Warehouse". Toronto Star. March 17, 1926. p. 2.
  9. ↑ 1688 to 1923: Geloso, Vincent, A Price Index for Canada, 1688 to 1850 (December 6, 2016). Afterwards, Canadian inflation numbers based on Statistics Canada tables 18-10-0005-01 (formerly CANSIM 326-0021) "Consumer Price Index, annual average, not seasonally adjusted". Statistics Canada. Retrieved April 17, 2021. and table 18-10-0004-13 "Consumer Price Index by product group, monthly, percentage change, not seasonally adjusted, Canada, provinces, Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit". Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  10. ↑ "Opening St. Lawrence Canal Would Solve Harbor Problems". Toronto Star. November 17, 1926. p. 30.
  11. ↑ "Fixed Assessment Asked On Warehouse". Toronto Star. p. 1.
  12. ↑ "Duncan Murray". Toronto Star. January 13, 1927. p. 36.
  13. 1 2 3 "Ottawa to go ahead with lakefront park". Toronto Star. January 3, 1973. p. 93.
  14. ↑ Stoffman, Daniel (March 21, 1983). "Hulking jewel our lakefront jewel". Toronto Star. pp. A1, A19.
  15. 1 2 3 "Premiere Dance Theatre History" (PDF) (pdf). Harbourfront Centre. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
  16. ↑ Whiteson, Leon (August 22, 1981). "Who'll End Up With Harbourfront?". Toronto Star. p. B5.
  17. ↑ "New look for an old warehouse". Toronto Star. August 22, 1981. p. B5.
  18. ↑ "Queen's Quay Terminal". SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
  19. ↑ Zeidler 1985, p. 138.
  20. ↑ Lovell, Don. "Royal Ontario Museum and Terminal Warehouse: Two Toronto Landmarks Renovation" (PDF). Bulletin (pdf). Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada: 8. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
  21. ↑ "Queen's Quay Terminal". www.acotoronto.ca. Architectural Conservancy of Toronto. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
  22. ↑ Stoffel, Jennifer (1988-07-24). "FOCUS: Toronto; Growth Foreseen Into 1990s". The New York Times.
  23. ↑ "Buying Property". Toronto Star. October 7, 1997. p. D9.
  24. 1 2 "Acquisition - Queens Quay Terminal". northamrealty.com (Press release). Northam Realty. October 4, 2018. Retrieved August 4, 2019.

Bibliography

43°38′20″N79°22′50″W / 43.63901°N 79.380641°W / 43.63901; -79.380641

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.