Keep Digging
What you see at the corner of Front and Simcoe Streets today, began in the early 1990s, when Cadillac Fairview hired the architectural firm of NORR Partners, specifically the promising young architect Carlos Ott, who at one time worked in the design department of Cadillac Fairview. Carlos employed his remarkable talents and created what is often referred to as a late-modernist look for his design of Simcoe Place ( He later gained international recognition for his celebrated design of the Paris Opera House).
Simcoe Place opened its doors in 1995, being the only major office tower to be built in downtown Toronto in the early to mid-90s, during a prolonged period of economic recession.
We could stop there. After all, it is a good story as far as it goes. But if you dig a bit, the story becomes fascinating. Before Canada became a country, or a Confederation of Provinces in 1867, Toronto was part of the Province of Upper Canada. When the Parliament building of Upper Canada burned to the ground in 1813, the legislature moved from place to place for the next two decades. Finally this nomadic lifestyle became unacceptable and the decision was made to build a permanent home for Parliament. The site selected was the corner of Front and Simcoe Streets in the Settlement of York, which was renamed Toronto in 1834, after the Mohawk word meaning 'meeting place.'
The buildings, which stretched north to Wellington Street and west to John Street, were designed by the architectural firm of J.G. Chewett, Cumberland & Storm. The Parliament of the Province of Upper Canada occupied the buldings from 1832 to 1841 until Upper Canada merged with Lower Canada. It was then determined that the location was unacceptable for this new political union.
Following Confederation in 1867, the buildings became the first home of the Ontario Legislature until 1893 (when Queen's Park was completed), but prior to that, a number of tenants paraded through the complex. Between 1841 and 1866, the property was used for university teaching purposes, as an insane asylum, home to Upper Canada College and finally, a military barracks. It was torn down in 1903.
See what we mean. Dig a little and the story just gets better. Today Simcoe Place is at the centre of a vibrant, changing city. History tells us that the corner of Front and Simcoe Streets has always played an important role, not only in the emergence of Toronto but also in the creation of a country.
And did we mention that the complex is named after the first Governor of the Province of Upper Canada, Lord John Graves Simcoe?