This week's Throwback Thursday shows the dense Financial District looking a lot more empty in 2001. Taken from Bay Street between King and Adelaide, Old City Hall's clock tower is seen receiving renovations. (They didn't take the spree off, did they?!) The nondescript glass-clad building at the southeast corner of Bay and Adelaide would become the sales office for Trump Residences. 

Bay Street between King and Adelaide, November 2001, image by Edward Skira

Fast forward to March 2016, and a lot has certainly changed. On the extreme left of the photos, First Canadian Place has undergone an extensive re-cladding that has replaced the building's white Carrara marble facade with white glass. On the other side of Bay Street, the Simpson Tower is now similarly, albeit controversially, receiving a new face. The two biggest changes are just to the south, where the west tower of the Bay Adelaide Centre has been constructed. It replaced the building at the northeast corner along with the infamous concrete "stump" that had symbolized the recession of the 1990's. It did however incorporate the facade of the National Building, built in 1926 and designed by Chapman and Oxley.

Bay Street between King and Adelaide, March 2016, image by Marcus Mitanis

The 58-storey Trump Residences completes the street wall stretching from King to Adelaide. The National Club, now looking rather squeezed in between its larger neighbours, continues to serve as a sign of Bay Street's financial importance. 

We will return next week with another look at the changing face of Toronto!