Dominion Public Building
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| Dominion Public Building | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Interactive map of the Dominion Public Building area | |
| Former names | Toronto Customs House |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Architectural style | Beaux-Arts |
| Location | 1 Front Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Current tenants | Government of Canada |
| Construction started | 1926 |
| Completed | 1935 |
| Owner | Larco Investments |
| Design and construction | |
| Architects | Thomas W. Fuller James Henry Craig |
| Type | government office building |
| Built | 1929–1935 |
| Original use | Classified Federal Heritage Building, designated September 19, 1983 |
| Architect | T.W. Fuller |
| Architectural style | Beaux-Arts design with Neo-Classical decoration |
| Owner | Public Works and Government Services Canada (before 2017) |
| Designated | May 10, 2017 |
The Dominion Public Building is a five-storey Beaux-Arts neoclassical office building built between 1926 and 1935 for the Government of Canada at southeast corner of Front and Bay streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[1]
The building was designed by architects Thomas W. Fuller and James Henry Craig and originally served as Toronto's federal customs clearing house for the former Department of National Revenue. It remained a federal property, housing a number of administrative and support functions for the later Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (now the Canada Revenue Agency).
The building's north facade is curved to follow the property line along Front Street east of Bay Street. To the south is CIBC Square, formerly the site of the Union Station Bus Terminal which was previously the CP Express and Freight Building which itself replaced the old Grand Trunk Freight Shed after 1904.
On January 11, 2017, Canada Lands Company announced the pending sale of the property.[2] By March 23, 2017, Larco Investments, owner of Ottawa's Chateau Laurier, had bought the Dominion Public Building.[3]
Larco is adding two mixed use towers and transforming the building into a podium for retail tenants.[4] Canada Revenue Agency is relocating staff to other locations in the GTA (Mississauga, North York (2 locations), Scarborough (Canada Centre Building) and Oshawa).[5]
Prior to 1920s, the site was occupied by a series wholesale warehouses along Front from Bay to just west of Yonge. These buildings were destroyed by the Great Toronto Fire of 1904. To the east were the City's seventh Customs House and the annex Customs Examination Warehouse which were built in 1876 on the site of the sixth Customs House.
By 1919, the old Customs House was demolished and the stretch along Front laid vacant.
Heritage Designation
The building was listed as Classified Federal Heritage Building in 1983.[6] This designation stood until the building was sold. In 2015, Public Works and Government Services Canada requested that the City of Toronto's Heritage Preservation Services assess the property to determine whether it was worthy of designation as an individual property under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act. The property was listed under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act as part of the Union Station Heritage Conservation District; because the federal government is not subject to the Act, compliance on their part was voluntary. The Heritage Conservation District designation is confined to the exterior of the building. Designation under Part IV of the Act allows for the protection of cultural heritage value and heritage attributes, including interior features of the building.[7] The City of Toronto designated the Dominion Public building under Part IV of the Act on May 10, 2017.[8]
Wholesale warehouses along Front Street, c. 1872
Old Customs House at corner of Front and Yonge Street
Site of Dominion Public Building to the north of the ferry docks and east of Union Station
