William McBrien Building (formally known as the W. C. McBrien Building) is the administrative headquarters of the

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and larges ...

. Designed by Charles B. Dolphin (1888-1969) and opened on February 7, 1958, the seven-storey building is located at 1900 Yonge Street above the Davisville subway station. The building is named for former TTC Chairman William C. McBrien who died in June 1954, shortly after the opening of the Yonge Subway. The TTC's Customer Service Centre is located on the ground floor of the building. The building is wide, long and contains of floor space. Its exterior is made of limestone quarried at

Queenston, Ontario Queenston is a compact rural community and unincorporated place north of Niagara Falls in the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is bordered by Highway 405 to the south and the Niagara River to the east; its location at the epony ...

. The main-floor lobby is lined with light brown Italian marble. The building incorporates an entrance to Davisville subway station located below street level as well as bus bays at ground level. The building design allows for expansion from its current seven storeys to ten storeys. Prior to the opening of the McBrien Building, the TTC head office was in the

old Toronto Board of Trade Building The Board of Trade Building was one of the first skyscrapers in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Completed in 1892 on the corner of Front Street East and Yonge Street, the seven storey tower was home to the Toronto Board of Trade and the Toronto Transit ...

(built 1890 and demolished 1958) located at the north-east corner of Yonge and Front streets. This was the TTC's first permanent home since April 1922. The TTC outgrew the old building with its limited floor space, and starting in 1928, the TTC had to acquire space elsewhere. Starting in 1953, functions such as purchasing, safety, research, engineering, among others were moved to the J.G. Inglis Building at the

Hillcrest Complex Hillcrest Complex is the Toronto Transit Commission's largest facility and is responsible for most of the maintenance work on the system's surface vehicles, including heavy overhauls, repairs and repainting. It is located adjacent to the intersec ...

. In 1958, the executive, legal and treasury functions moved to the McBrien Building.

Relocation

In 2015, the TTC considered relocating from the building due to on going concerns about the state of the building, and for head office staff to be in one location. Earlier plans to relocate to Yonge and York Mills had been rejected due to costs. , the TTC plans to move its headquarters out of the building in 2025 with a TTC master control centre remaining there until 2028. The move would consolidate office space and free up municipally owned property for redevelopment. The city of Toronto intends to preserve the heritage aspects of the building. Besides 1900 Yonge, the TTC leases 7 other locations to house head office staff.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:William Mcbrien Building Buildings and structures in Toronto Modernist architecture in Canada Government buildings completed in 1958 Toronto Transit Commission Headquarters in Canada 1958 establishments in Ontario