Nathan Phillips Square

Our city government guide covers what happens inside Toronto City Hall. The square in front of it has its own story — one of the most genuinely competitive architecture contests Canada has ever run.

A worldwide design competition (1958)

Toronto launched an international design competition in 1958 for a new City Hall and public square, drawing more than 500 submissions from architects around the world — a remarkable response for a mid-sized Canadian city at the time. Finnish architect Viljo Revell won, with landscape architect Richard Strong shaping the square itself. Construction ran from 1961 to 1965, and the square takes its name from Nathan Phillips, Toronto's mayor from 1955 to 1962, who championed the project.

The Freedom Arches

Three concrete arches span the square's reflecting pool — originally built as a purely structural and lighting feature, they were formally dedicated as the Freedom Arches in 1989, honouring people who fought to win or defend freedom. A fragment of the Berlin Wall sits at the base of the central arch, placed there not long after the wall itself came down.

Canada's largest city square

At 4.85 hectares, Nathan Phillips Square is the largest civic square in the country, drawing an estimated 1.5 million visitors a year for everything from the winter skating rink covered in our government guide to protests, concerts and the Cavalcade of Lights tree lighting. A major PLANT Architect-led revitalization, won through another international competition in 2007, modernized the square while preserving Revell's original design intent.

Sources

• Wikipedia — Nathan Phillips Square
• The Cultural Landscape Foundation — Nathan Phillips Square
• Toronto Journey 416 — Toronto City Hall