While this building is called "Old Toronto City Hall" it is not the oldest city hall in Toronto. The original was erected in 1845 at what was then the center of activity in the city -- the farmer's market (now Saint Lawrence Market). In 1849 the building was destroyed in the Great Fire. The site was then slated to be used for a courthouse, but there are a few arches from the original structure still standing. That courthouse would be needed when the new city hall (now "old" city hall) was built. The Romanesque Revisal building was dogged by politics, scandal, corruption, and public inquiries. The cost ballooned from CAN$600,000.00 to CAN$2,500,000.00 and by then it was decided to combine the upcoming city hall with the courthouse on the ashes of the last city hall. But it was architect E.J. Lennox who got the last laugh for all the trouble the politicians put him through. It is said that each of the grotesques by Arthur Tennison over the main entrance represent a specific politician. You can see Lennox's own face, too -- look for the one with the handlebar moustache. The most striking decoration is the great stained glass window by Robert McCausland. It depicts the union of industry and commerce to symbolize Toronto's evolution into a bustling metropolis which took off with the industrial revolution. The clock tower is 300 feet tall, and wasn't completed until after the building had already opened for business. The bells rang for the first time on December 31, 1900. The largest of these bells, called Big Ben, weighs 11,648 pounds.

• An unmarked cornerstone was laid in 1891 by Mayor Edward Clarke.
• In 1899 a time capsule was placed in the cornerstone. It contains money, maps, city records, newspapers, and other artifacts of the late 19th century.
• The building's construction used 1,360 train cars of stone held together by 8,354 barrels of cement.
• At the time of its completion, Old City Hall was the largest municipal building in North America.
• The building rests on a massive foundation. The basement walls are more than seven-feet thick in places, and the base of the clock tower is supported by footings up to 12-feet thick.
• The grey stone is from Ontario's Credit River Valley. The red stone from New Brunswick.
• Lest there be any doubt about who built the Old City Hall, the architect carved "E.J. LENNOX ARCHITECT A.D. 1898" into all of the building's eaves.
• Alderman Hallam was removed from the Old City Hall's opening ceremony in 1899. Some say he was overcome by emotion and wept uncontrollably. Others say he was removed because he was the source of much of the scandal that plagued the building.
• 1989 - The Old City Hall was almost razed to make room for the Eaton Centre. It was saved when it was named a National Historic Site.
• September, 1999 - a new time capsule was place in the building to mark its 100th birthday.

 

Photograph courtesy of Colin Kent