Arthur Erickson's circular glass landmark, funded partly by the family it's named for

Roy Thomson Hall

Pierre Trudeau chaired the fundraising committee. The Thomson family put up $4.5 million of the $57 million cost. What resulted was one of Toronto's most recognizable pieces of modern architecture.

Roy Thomson Hall opened on September 13, 1982, after construction that began in 1978 on the site of a former rail yard. The hall was named for media mogul Roy Thomson, whose family contributed $4.5 million toward the $57 million facility; fundraising had begun in 1977, with a committee chaired by Pierre Trudeau, William Davis, Paul Godfrey and David Crombie.

A circular glass landmark

Designed by architect Arthur Erickson with Mathers and Haldenby, the hall's circular, sloping glass exterior became one of Toronto's recognizable architectural landmarks. Violinist Itzhak Perlman acted as a special advisor to the architects on accessibility needs for disabled performers and guests. The 2,600-seat hall contains a pipe organ that cost over $650,000 and more than 20,000 hours of labour to build, and remains the home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Sources

Continue reading

Toronto City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square

David Crombie

Elected in 1972 as part of a citizen-activist reform wave, Crombie brought in a height limit that stopped a…

Sugar Beach

Opened in 2010 on the East Bayfront, Sugar Beach brought pink umbrellas and imported sand to a stretch of…

Lawrence Park

Developed starting in 1909 as a deliberately upscale garden suburb, Lawrence Park's original restrictive…

The Toronto Telegram

The Telegram ran as one of Toronto's major daily newspapers from 1876 until its abrupt 1971 closure, a…

Browse all Toronto Guide topics → Browse the slang dictionary → Read the history of Toronto slang →