Metro Hall
| Metro Hall | |
|---|---|
Metro Hall as seen from Pecaut Square.
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | Postmodern |
| Location | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Completed | 1992 |
| Owner | City of Toronto |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 27 |
| Official name | Metro Hall Council Chambers |
| Designated | July 2006 |
Metro Hall is a 27-storey Postmodern office tower at the corner of Wellington and John Streets in Toronto, Canada. It looks out onto Pecaut Square. Part of the three-tower Metro Centre complex, the building was completed in 1992 to house the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto (Metro) and its employees. The building continues to be used in other capacities by the new City of Toronto following municipal amalgamation in 1998.
Following Metro's inception in 1954, its politicians and employees were scattered in more than a dozen buildings around Toronto. When the new Toronto City Hall originally opened in 1964, one of its twin towers was intended for Metro Toronto offices and the other for the City of Toronto; the two councils shared the central Council Chamber. Eventually this space proved inadequate and committee facilities and councillors' offices were relocated to 390 Bay Street, across from City Hall; Metro Council continued to meet in the City Hall council chamber.
Two proposals for a new hall exclusively for Metro use were shortlisted. The proposal by CN called for a building adjacent to the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre). The winning proposal by Marathon Realty was a cluster of three towers looking down on Roy Thomson Hall. It was built to the west of downtown in the former industrial area that saw a number of major developments around the same time.
The plan was not without controversy. The massive structure cost approximately $211 million, which many felt could be better spent. Then-North York mayor Mel Lastman harshly criticized Metro Council's decision to locate the building downtown, arguing that it would be more equitable and much cheaper to build the headquarters in the suburbs. Proponents of the plan claimed that the building would save money in the long term due to savings on rent, which by 1987 was estimated to have reached $7 million per year.
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