The Dominion Public Building is a five-storey
Beaux-Arts neoclassical office building
An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...
built between 1926 and 1935 for the government of
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
at southeast corner of Front and Bay streets in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, Ontario, Canada.
The building was designed by architects
Thomas W. Fuller and
James Henry Craig and originally served as Toronto's federal
customs clearing house for the former Department of National Revenue. It remained a federal property, housing a number of administrative and support functions for the later Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (now the
Canada Revenue Agency
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA; ; ) is the revenue service of the Government of Canada, Canadian federal government, and most Provinces and territories of Canada, provincial and territorial governments. The CRA collects Taxation in Canada, taxes, ...
).
The building's north facade is curved to follow the property line along Front Street east of Bay Street. To the south is
CIBC Square, formerly the site of the
Union Station Bus Terminal which was previously the CP Express and Freight Building which itself replaced the old Grand Trunk Freight Shed after 1904.
On January 11, 2017,
Canada Lands Company announced the pending sale of the property. By March 23, 2017, Larco Investments, owner of Ottawa's Chateau Laurier, had bought the Dominion Public Building.
Larco is adding two mixed use towers and transforming the building into a podium for retail tenants.
Canada Revenue Agency
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA; ; ) is the revenue service of the Government of Canada, Canadian federal government, and most Provinces and territories of Canada, provincial and territorial governments. The CRA collects Taxation in Canada, taxes, ...
is relocating staff to other locations in the GTA (Mississauga, North York (2 locations), Scarborough (
Canada Centre Building) and Oshawa).
Site history
Prior to 1920s, the site was occupied by a series wholesale warehouses along Front from Bay to just west of Yonge. These buildings were destroyed by the
Great Toronto Fire of 1904
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. To the east were the City's seventh Customs House and the annex Customs Examination Warehouse which were built in 1876 on the site of the sixth Customs House.
By 1919, the old Customs House was demolished and the stretch along Front laid vacant.
Heritage Designation
The building was listed as Classified Federal Heritage Building in 1983. This designation stood until the building was sold. In 2015,
Public Works and Government Services Canada
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC; ),''Public Services and Procurement Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Public Works and Government Services (). formerly Public Works ...
requested that the City of Toronto's Heritage Preservation Services assess the property to determine whether it was worthy of designation as an individual property under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act. The property was listed under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act as part of the Union Station Heritage Conservation District; because the federal government is not subject to the Act, compliance on their part was voluntary. The Heritage Conservation District designation is confined to the exterior of the building. Designation under Part IV of the Act allows for the protection of cultural heritage value and heritage attributes, including interior features of the building. The City of Toronto designated the Dominion Public building under Part IV of the Act on May 10, 2017.
File:Front Street West, looking west from Yonge Street.jpg, Wholesale warehouses along Front Street,
File:Customs House, Front and Yonge streets 2.jpg, Old Customs House at corner of Front and Yonge Street
File:Toronto Harbour, 1919.jpg, Site of Dominion Public Building to the north of the ferry docks and east of Union Station
Other Dominion Public Buildings
In 1935–1936, the
Dominion Public Building in Halifax, Nova Scotia, was built by Dominion architect Eric Temple.
The Art Deco/Modern Classicism
Dominion Public Building at 457 Richmond Street in London, Ontario, was built in 1934–1935 for the Government of Canada as a Post Office by Dominion Chief Architect
Thomas W. Fuller and renovated in 2007.
The Modern Classicism Dominion Public Building at 138 Wyndham Street North in Guelph, Ontario was built to house
RCMP
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...
,
Department of Agriculture
An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...
, and post offices, and its construction contributed to the later demolition of the city's earlier post office and customs house. The building is currently in use by the
County of Wellington.
The Dominion Public Building at 45 Main Street East in Hamilton, Ontario, opened in 1935 as a post office replacing an 1880s structure. In 1991, the Hamilton facility at 45 Main Street East was renovated and expanded to become the
John Sopinka Courthouse.
The building was built by local firm
Hutton & Souter rather than by the Dominion architect.
Another building in Toronto, 330 Keele Street, also has the same name and was designed by
Craig and Madill in 1935–1936,
and is now used by
Correctional Service of Canada
The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC; ), also known as Correctional Service Canada or Corrections Canada, is the Government of Canada, Canadian federal government agency responsible for the incarceration and Rehabilitation (penology), rehabili ...
as Keele Community Correctional Centre, a halfway house.
See also
*
McLaughlin Motor Car Showroom – also designed by Hutton & Souter
References
{{coord, 43.64592, N, 79.377857, W, region:CA-ON_type:landmark, display=title
Buildings and structures in Toronto
Beaux-Arts architecture in Canada
Government buildings completed in 1935
Classified Federal Heritage Building
City of Toronto Heritage Properties