News   Mar 28, 2024
 43     0 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 538     0 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 348     0 

Old City Hall Proposals

rdaner

Senior Member
Member Bio
Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
4,267
Reaction score
15,345
Is it time to discuss the entire district encompassing Dundas Square, the Eaton Centre, Old City Hall, NPS and Osgoode Hall as a single district that could benefit from comprehensive planning?

As I have mentioned in other posts, there was a plan in the 1990s to use the interior courtyard as a performing arts venue. Though the idea then was to insert a full opera house into the space, my initial thought was what a fantastic space to screen movies during the film festival as an initial use until 2016.

A further idea, and one that may have some people screaming, is to explore using the site where Campbell House currently sits more intensely. An advantage would be a large potential building envelope at a high profile corner with an underground connection to Osgoode Hall.


OLD CITY HALL

City to court tourists in halls of justice
Council plans to turn landmark into a visitor attraction and evict the judges when lease expires in 2016
JENNIFER LEWINGTON AND JAMES RUSK

May 29, 2008

Old City Hall is a long-time Provincial Court destination for those in trouble with the law or fighting a parking ticket.

But the city-owned historic landmark is poised for a new life as some sort of tourist destination, after council voted this week to boot out the province's largest court by 2016.

"The province should have their own court and the public should have greater access to one of the most premier heritage buildings in the country," Councillor Kyle Rae (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) said yesterday.

Earlier this week, council voted 28-6 to serve notice on the province that its current lease at Old City Hall will not be renewed past Dec. 31, 2016. Council also asked for a report in one year on potential uses, such as a museum or other high-profile public attraction.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Attorney-General Chris Bentley said the city and the Ontario Realty Corporation are working together to identify sites that would allow the province to meet its need for courthouses in the city.

With nearly eight years left on the current lease, it "affords us the opportunity to look at these issues in a long-term way," spokesman Sheamus Murphy said.

A provincially owned parking lot on Armoury Street, immediately north of the Ontario Superior Court, has long been touted as the ideal site for a new downtown courtroom. But Mr. Murphy said there are no plans to build there "at this point in time."

Mr. Rae said the province has been "babbling for 30 years" about building a new courthouse on Armoury Street.

And with 52 million visitors a year to the Eaton Centre next door, he said, it's time to think of Old City Hall, with 164,400 square feet of rentable space, as a tourist attraction.

"The only reason you go into it now is because you have a writ or you have been subpoenaed," he said.

Toronto's third city hall, built in the Romanesque Revival style by architect E.J. Lennox, opened in 1899 as a city hall and courthouse.

In 1965, with the construction of New City Hall, the Queen Street landmark was saved from demolition by activists. By 1989, it was named a national historic site. The city spent $77-million on renovations completed in 2005 to restore the exterior and the 300-foot-high clock tower. Over the next two years, the city will spend $7.2-million on interior repairs to be completed in 2012.

At this week's debate, Councillor Adam Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity Spadina) urged colleagues to protect Old City Hall as a place for the public.

"I fear either it will be turned into a mall or a condo," he said. "That seems to be the limit of our imagination in how to deal with heritage."

But Councillor Case Ootes (Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth), who opposed serving notice on the province, sees the future of the building as a gallery or a museum. "I don't think retail use would be appropriate," he said.

Not everyone cheers the end of Old City Hall as a courthouse.

With its classical architecture and cultural significance, Old City Hall was a place where new criminal lawyers cut their teeth and "made lawyers feel like lawyers," said Frank Addario, president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association.

He said the courts at Old City Hall have a number of historic and unusual features, including a trap door in the floor of the arraignment court through which prisoners are brought into the courtroom.

COURT IN MOTION

The province will need a new home for one of its busiest courthouses when its lease on Old City Hall expires at the end of 2016. Speculation on a site has centred on provincially owned land behind city hall.

OTHER COURTS

1. Osgoode Hall

{bull} Court of Appeal of Ontario{bull} Divisional Court

2. 393 University Avenue

{bull} Superior Court: civil, family,

enforcement

3. 361 University Avenue

{bull} Superior Court: criminal

4. 330 University Avenue

{bull} Superior Court: commercial

5. 180 Queen Street West

{bull} Federal Court of Appeal

{bull} Federal Court

{bull} Tax Court of Canada
 
Great news. I think this would be a much better site for the proposed Toronto Museum (or any kind of museum really) than the Malting Plant, which could be converted for some other cultural use.
 
Great news, though I certainly wouldn't support any attempt to move Campbell House. I think it's a great location, and it provides a wonderful green space for the workers in the area.
 
I propose changing the name of this thread to "Proposals for Old City Hall".

When I saw the title, I thought it was about the original (old) proposals for (new) City Hall out of which Viljo Revell's won.
 
^^^ I, too, came here hoping to find cool renderings of new city hall.

Thread does not deliver.
 
OTHER COURTS

1. Osgoode Hall

{bull} Court of Appeal of Ontario{bull} Divisional Court

2. 393 University Avenue

{bull} Superior Court: civil, family,

enforcement

3. 361 University Avenue

{bull} Superior Court: criminal

4. 330 University Avenue

{bull} Superior Court: commercial

5. 180 Queen Street West

{bull} Federal Court of Appeal

{bull} Federal Court

{bull} Tax Court of Canada

Yeah, just as I'd expect from those joints. Lotsa bull
 
This is coming to Government Management Committee in May 2011. The Courts are moving out, to the new North St Lawrence Market Bilding:

http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2011.GM3.17

This report provides the recommendations pertaining to the future use of Old City Hall (OCH). Currently the building is occupied by the Province of Ontario as Provincial Courts and by the City's Municipal Courts.

In May 2008, City Council directed that the Province of Ontario (Provincial Courts) be given notice that their lease of OCH for court uses would not be renewed beyond December 31, 2016. Subsequently, the Municipal Courts indicated that they will be moving to new facilities and vacating their space within the building by the end of 2016. Council requested staff to report to Government Management Committee on potential new uses for OCH that would facilitate public access to the building and the potential for incorporating the Toronto Museum Project (TMP) into the building.

A feasibility study to review the future uses of OCH was undertaken by CS&P Architects in 2010. Their analysis determined that the use of the OCH courtyard for the TMP will result in a solution that provides optimal space for the museum, allowing the prime space within the building to be leased to a third party as well as providing a positive revenue stream for the City. Staff also examined the potential for retaining the current major lease tenant.
 
I'm just a bit relieved after reading the article. The thread title had me worried that there was a proposal to demolish old city hall and throw up another green glass box condo! I guess I dont care what the building is used for as long as it is preserved in its current condition and configuration...
 
That stretch of Queen Street (between University and Yonge street) is scandalous. Considering that the Eaton Centre (for better or for worse) is our number tourist attraction. The spit of land under the covered bridge to the bay has seen better days and the way the Sheraton interacts with Queen blows.

The public realm of this street needs help. ASAP.
 
Could you imagine a Bloomingdales or Saks in that space? Fill the courtyard with a nice quiet outdoor patio space and park.
 
Thanks for posting that. It would be a shame to lose that courtyard space, even if it was for a museum.
 

Back
Top