A fter the CN Tower, Brookfield Place is the second most distinctive piece of Toronto's skyline. It is actually several buildings connected by a shopping mall, but from a skyline perspective it is the Canada Trust Tower and its sibling the Bay Wellington tower that steal the show. Their bases are covered with pink granite, and the windows are tinted green. Both towers are designed as round buildings made up of square surfaces. Think of making a miniature round skyscraper out Legos -- lots of jagged edges. This has the artistic effect of giving the building a uniqueness among Toronto's other more sedate buildings. It has the economic effect of giving the owners 12 corner offices of some floors that they can lease at a premium. The Canada Trust Tower is 51 stories tall and owned by Brookfield Commercial Properties, OMERS Realty, and Truscan Property Corporation. This is the building with the big red icon at the top. The second tower is 47 stories tall and actually looks like a double tower from certain angles. It is owned by exclusively by Brookfield Commercial Properties. All of this might be lost on the average person on the street. That's because while the development is new, it did not completely raze the history of the area. Those buildings that survived the Great Fire of 1904 have been restored to their original 1850's grandeur and incorporated into the street-level design. Looking up you might see the renovated Bank of Montreal façade, but never see the towers looming beyond. But those towers are what makes this place unique in Canada and the rest of the world. The engineers thought it would be pretty important to preserve this landmark, too. Their notes for the towers include a mention of using a tube-in-tube structural system in order to counter the forces of both wind and earthquakes. Southern Ontario isn't known for its tremors, but better safe than sorry. Another jewel in this architectural crown is the Galleria. Like many other Gallerias in cities from Poughkeepsie to Dallas to Houston, this is an upscale shopping mall. But its design is that of a crystal cathedral of commerce. Designed by Santiago Caltrava, it is 85-feet high, 45-feet wide, and 380-feet from end to end.
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