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Toronto Old City Hall Proposals

Could make the upper floors of the Old City Hall into a mausoleum? Then we can use the suburban green spaces for housing for the living.

(The world's tallest mausoleum is located within the Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica in Santos, Brazil, a vertical cemetery that holds the Guinness World Record for the tallest cemetery on Earth, at 14 stories.)
 
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Richard White said:
I have had a few untimely deaths in my family, one of which made the news in 2014 as seen here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toro...gree-murder-in-andrea-white-s-death-1.2608608

That said, I drafted a will and got everything settled in advance. I wanted to make sure loose ends were tied up.
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The dispersal or scattering of funeral ashes on City land or in Lake Ontario is allowed. City permission is not required to scatter funeral ashes in Toronto parks or into water.
 
W. K. Lis said:
The dispersal or scattering of funeral ashes on City land or in Lake Ontario is allowed. City permission is not required to scatter funeral ashes in Toronto parks or into water.
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I already have a plot so not to worry!

I am the 4th person in a 4 urn plot.
 
The courtyard parking lot could make for a great patio or beer garden.

In before The Landing Group coins it "E.J.'s Landing."

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Greg's Southern Ontario on Flickr.
 
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There's a good opportunity to do something with Old City Hall's and Nathan Phillips Square's forecourts to make both feel like one and to deal with the constant muddy lawn in front of Nathan Phillips Square. Both of these spaces are chronically underused and unattractive both visually and functionally. If Queen Street were to be pedestrianized, the scope of this project could extend further. At least get rid of the slip lane off Bay Street.

Screenshot 2025-04-18 at 22.17.53.png
 
jje1000 said:
My opinion is that with any sort of repurposing of Old City Hall, there's an equally great opportunity to finally rework and stitch together the Old City Hall and Nathan Philip Square forecourts.

Bay Street between the two buildings needs to be transformed away from its current status as a car gutter, and the awful muddy lawn around New City Hall needs to go as well, fulfilling the original intent of the square's redesign and perhaps acting as a less formal space compared to the main square within the colonnade.

Finally, my personal opinion is that the area in front of Old City Hall should be entirely transformed into a large shallow staircase and plaza where people can sit, gather, and people-watch, especially considering its position between the Eaton Centre and New City Hall.

Imagine if we had our own small version of the Spanish Steps or the staircase in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art? Maybe not as dramatic and atmospheric, but the opportunity is there.

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Its 2025. You can’t build a staircase as a tourist attraction. Is there going to be some massive wheelchair ramp circling it?
 
sixrings said:
Its 2025. You can’t build a staircase as a tourist attraction. Is there going to be some massive wheelchair ramp circling it?
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The topography of Bay Street already solves that problem. The sidewalk on the north of the forecourt is already level with the top of the stairs and would be wheelchair accessible. But that's not even the real issue.

jje1000 said:
the area in front of Old City Hall should be entirely transformed into a large shallow staircase and plaza where people can sit, gather, and people-watch, especially considering its position between the Eaton Centre and New City Hall.

Imagine if we had our own small version of the Spanish Steps or the staircase in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art? Maybe not as dramatic and atmospheric, but the opportunity is there.

1742222788832-png.637384
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The Spanish Steps look nice full of people. But why would anyone want to sit in front of Old City Hall?

This is what people see sitting on the Spanish Steps:
Screenshot 2025-04-19 at 08.50.33.png


This is what people see sitting on the Old City Hall steps:
Screenshot 2025-04-19 at 08.54.47.png


The 401 Bay Street recladding is truly terrible and I can't wait until Cadillac Fairview realizes it and at least fixes the base. Maybe once Old City Hall is redeveloped, CF will see the potential of opening up the base of their buildings facing it.
 
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