The Building of Union Station Part 1 -
/Written by Marek Lewandowski
Out of all the feats of architecture in Toronto few are as majestic and storied as Union Station. Not only does the building serve the largest commuter population in Canada, it occupies a central place in Toronto’s psyche and architectural legacy. But this wasn’t always the way.
As Toronto tried to overtake its big brother Montreal as the trade center of Canada, two Great Fires greatly impacted the way the city developed geographically and architecturally. The first Great Fire started in April of 1849 and burned down most of what at the time was the downtown core. The fire encompassed the original St.James Cathedral and the St.Lawrence Market north building.
The massive and near total destruction of the existing downtown area in essence moved the core west from Jarvis and Sherbourne toward Yonge and Bay Streets. The buildings which burned down were primarily made of wood, so in response the city changed building codes to prevent future losses of this magnitude.1
Despite measures to construct buildings out of brick and steel after the first Great Fire, the downtown core burned again half a century later. In 1904, the second Great Fire ravaged the expanding city.
Figure 1 - Front Street looking west. Destroyed by fire. Courtesy Toronto Archives
In the words of D.W. Shorter who surveyed the scene for The National Research Council:
"All was quiet in the heart of Toronto's mercantile area. Few people were on the streets as almost all the buildings in the area had been closed since 6 p.m. At 8:04 p.m., a police constable patrolling his beat in the area saw flames shooting skyward from the elevator shaft of the Currie Building, 58 Wellington St. and immediately turned in an alarm. Before the resulting conflagration was extinguished, it would destroy approximately 100 buildings, causing a property loss of $10,350,000. 2
One of the structures which fared well during the fire was the original Union Station.
Initially built in 1858 by the Grand Trunk Railway to connect Montreal and Toronto, the station was essentially three train sheds. Companies like The Northern Railway of Canada and The Great Western Railway later added their own stations along the Toronto waterfront.
As train traffic increased and Grand Trunk absorbed some smaller competitors, the volume overwhelmed the existing structure. The station was finally rebuilt and re-opened in 1873, and furthered its claim as the centre of Toronto’s mercantile engine. Designed in the Italianate/2nd Empire style by architect Thomas Seaton Scott, the station still faced the harbour highlighting the cities continued reliance on sea trade. 2
In 1884, the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway pushed the facility to the limit and the station was expanded again to include a new 7-story office building on Front Street, built of red brick and Credit Valley stone. 2 Designed in the Romanesque style by the Toronto architectural firm of Strickland & Symons the distinctive building stood beside the current Union Station until 1931 when it was torn down, four years after the new station was opened.
Figure 2 - Old Union Station defined the turn of the Century Toronto skyline. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons.
Figure 3 - Old Union Station in 1913 - A majestic building but still a struggle to keep up with rising volume. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons
In the spring 0f 1904, the future of Union Station changed forever as a large plot of land just east of the existing station burned completely. The Grand Trunk Railway stepped into the void and appropriated the site with the intention of expanding the existing buildings.
Unfortunately, the company and government couldn’t agree on many key issues including how the new tracks would flow through the station or even the design. It took until 1915 before construction began on the modern Union Station.
Eventually, they decided on the building design by the Montreal architecture firm of Ross and Macdonald, with assistance from the CPR's architect Hugh Johnes, as well as Toronto architect John M. Lyle. 4
In a formidable example of Beaux Arts railway station design, the new building was finally completed in 1927 and would come to symbalize the epitome of form and function, and cementing Toronto as the upwardly mobile capital of Canada’s economy.
Figure 4 - Modern Union Station at night. Courtesy Duncan Rawlinson
In Part 2, we will look at the architectural features of the modern Union Station. How has the building fared since its conception almost a century ago? Further, we will see what the city has planned for its latest and current renovation.
References
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_Union_Station_(Toronto)
3. http://www.toronto.ca/union_station/oldus.htm
4. http://www.toronto.ca/union_station/history.htm#constructing
http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/on-line-exhibits/fire/index.aspx