The Design Exchange

The building at 234 Bay Street was completed in 1937 as the second home of the Toronto Stock Exchange, in a streamlined Art Deco style, its facade featuring a sculpted frieze by Canadian artist Charles Comfort. Considered one of the most technologically advanced trading floors in the world at its 1937 opening, the building was formally designated a heritage property by the City of Toronto in 1978. The Toronto Stock Exchange itself vacated the building in 1983 for larger quarters nearby.

From trading floor to design museum

A group calling itself "The Group for the Creation of a Design Centre in Toronto" began organizing in January 1986, incorporated in 1987, and eventually became the Design Exchange, which took over the historic building in 1994 as a design museum and industry organization. The Design Exchange's dedicated public design museum component closed in 2019; the organization has continued to run design-focused public programming, including the biennial EDIT design festival, while the historic building was renovated and reopened in April 2023 primarily as an event and exhibition venue.

Sources

• Design Exchange — Official Site
• Canadian Interiors — The End of an Era: The Newly Transformed Design Exchange