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Top 10 Favourite Toronto Rooms

* The Great Hall, St. Lawrence Hall
William Thomas, 1850.

* The Great Library, Osgoode Hall
Frederic W. Cumberland and William G. Storm, 1860.

* The Atrium, Osgoode Hall
Frederic W. Cumberland and William G. Storm, 1860.

* The Great Hall, Union Station
John M. Lyle, 1920.

* The Round Room, Carlu
Jacques Carlu, 1930.

* Trinity College Chapel
Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, 1955.

* TD Centre Banking Pavilion
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1964.

* The Eaton Centre Galleria
Eberhard Zeidler, 1975.

* Allen Lambert Galleria, Brookfield Place
Santiago Calatrava, 1992.

* The City Room, Four Seasons Centre
Jack Diamond and Donald Schmitt, 2006.
 
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Excellent choices, all.

I'd add:

Galleria Italia, Art Gallery of Ontario
Frank Gehry, 2008

Palm House, Allan Gardens
Robert McCallum, 1910

Central Atrium, Toronto Reference Library
Raymond Moriyama, 1977

Longhouse, Native Child & Family Services
Levitt Goodman Architects, 2010
 
I was going to add the Reference Library Atrium too.

To add:

Convocation Hall
Frank Darling, 1907

St. Lawrence Market, South Market
John William Siddall, 1899
 
The rooms mentioned thus far have among the most meritorious in my opinion as well, and I'll add one that shouldn't be forgotten:

Banking Hall, Commerce Court North
Darling and Pearson, 1931
 
The rooms mentioned thus far have among the most meritorious in my opinion as well, and I'll add one that shouldn't be forgotten:

Banking Hall, Commerce Court North
Darling and Pearson, 1931

In a similar vein:
Banking Hall and Lobby, Canada Permanent Building
Henry Sproatt, 1930

Perhaps in the top 20 as opposed to the top ten, but one of my favourite spots.
 
Knox College is the finest collegiate Gothic architecture at the U of T. The loveliest room is the Board Room. It is suffused with golden light from amber stained glass windows, has a stone fireplace and mid oak panelling. The board table is solid oak, surrounded by heavy Mission style chairs. The portraits of stern Presbyterian professors and principals in full academic regalia stare down at you. My favorite detail is that a stonemason must have been dyslexic. The centre N in the word Covenants carved on the fireplace is backwards!
 
Rotunda, Royal Ontario Museum
Chapman and Oxley, 1933

Also, perhaps they don't count among the top ten, but I think there should be some honourable mentions of various restaurants/retail stores around town that have created great rooms, often by re-purposing existing architecture (e.g. Balzac's Coffee in the Distillery).

balzacs1wp.jpg

Image from Declan O'Doherty
 
The sanctuary of Holy Blossom Temple by Chapman & Oxley 1937 (one of Toronto's first reinforced concrete buildings), combining elements of Roman basilicas with moderne detailing:

HolyBlossomTempleToronto2.jpg
 
I was very close to including these three in my list:

Galleria Italia, Art Gallery of Ontario
Frank Gehry, 2008

Longhouse, Native Child & Family Services
Levitt Goodman Architects, 2010

Rotunda, Royal Ontario Museum
Chapman and Oxley, 1933

... and many thanks for introducing this room to me:

The sanctuary of Holy Blossom Temple by Chapman & Oxley 1937

Any more favourites, boys and girls?
 
City Hall Council Chamber
Viljo Revell, 1965

Terminal 1 Departure Hall
SOM/Safdie 2004?

Multifaith Centre, University of Toronto
Moriyama & Teshima, 2006

Yorkdale Subway Station (semi-extant due to loss of Arc en Ciel)
Arthur Erickson, 1978

AoD
 
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I'm not religious at all but I don't think our cathedrals/churches get enough recognition. The art and craftsmanship is fantastic and most people that I've taken to visit these places are surprised by what they find inside.

The restoration of the art in St Paul's Basilica is pretty stunning.
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St Michael's Cathedral
St_Michaels_Cathedral_Toronto.jpg


St George's Greek Orthodox
rowanslideshow-001.jpg


St James Cathedral
5242500-md.jpg


St Mary's Church
5135760-md.jpg


Metopolitan United Church
A1-Metropolitan-United-Church.jpg
 
Indeed, our grand churches have exceptional rooms for worship. Our cathedrals deserve more recognition. None are even recognized as National Historic Sites, though they are quite historical. Perhaps we don't promote them as much because as we grew into a great metropolitan city, we didn't build even grander cathedrals with our rise in importance. Religion declined in the years of transformation to metropolis. Nonetheless, though they were built for a smaller city, we should take pride in these great spaces, promote them, and maybe even seek some design inspiration from them.
 

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