The Canadian Broadcasting Centre

Our broadcasting history guide covers CFRB, Citytv and MuchMusic. This page is about the building that consolidated the biggest of them all — the CBC's English-language operations — under a single Toronto roof for the first time.

A $350 million building, four years in the making

Construction on the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, at 250 Front Street West, began in April 1988 and wrapped in 1992, with the building entering full service in 1993 — a $350 million project (not counting later technology upgrades) designed by celebrated American architect Philip Johnson with John Burgee Architects. At 1.72 million square feet across 13 floors, it became the main broadcast and master control centre for CBC's English-language television and radio, plus local and regional French-language production.

The Barbara Frum Atrium

The building's central public space is named the Barbara Frum Atrium, honouring the influential Canadian broadcast journalist who died in 1992, the same year construction finished. It's also home to the headquarters of the North American Broadcasters Association, making the building an international as well as a national broadcasting hub.

A short walk from Union Station

The Centre sits close enough to Union Station that CBC staff and visiting broadcasters can walk between the two — a detail that's more than trivia, given how much of Toronto's downtown media and transit infrastructure clusters within the same few blocks covered throughout this guide.

Sources

• Wikipedia — Canadian Broadcasting Centre
• The Canadian Encyclopedia — Canadian Broadcasting Centre