Lost and rebuilt Toronto
Fires, road building and redevelopment removed many of Toronto's buildings. This page gathers 26 passages from the site's articles that name a building or block that was demolished or destroyed, in order of year, with the article that holds the sources.
Buildings and blocks that were demolished or destroyed
- The buildings visitors see today were raised between 1813 and 1815 after the original fort was destroyed.From Fort York and the Battle of York in 1813
- The biography says the house was destroyed by fire in 1835 and a smaller one built later.From Origins of Toronto Street Names: Yonge, Queen, Bloor, Spadina
- Queen’s Hotel (gone) Opened as Sword’s Hotel in 1853, renamed 1862 Demolished in 1927 to make way for the Royal York.From Toronto’s Historic Hotels and the Lost Ford Hotel
- Joseph that opened in 1857 near Corktown, states that it was demolished in 1962 to make way for the Richmond Street exit from the Don Valley Parkway, and that its residents moved to Providence Villa and Hospital at St.From Corktown, Toronto: Irish Workers, Breweries, and a Free School
- The Read the Plaque record for the House of Providence states that the building, opened in 1857, was demolished in 1962 for the Richmond Street exit from the Don Valley Parkway.From Corktown, Toronto: Irish Workers, Breweries, and a Free School
- For the same building, Wikipedia says it was built in 1859 to 1860 by William Hay and his apprentice Henry Langley and that it was destroyed by fire and demolished in 1941.From Yorkville, Toronto: From Village to Downtown District
- After 1920 many large houses became too costly to run and were demolished.From Rosedale: History of a Toronto Ravine Neighbourhood
- The old station was torn down in 1931, four years after the new one opened.From Union Station, Toronto: History, Architecture, and Role
- According to the City, the house was saved from demolition in 1936, when the neighbouring row houses were torn down, and the rescue is credited to his grandson William Lyon Mackenzie King, then prime minister.From William Lyon Mackenzie: Toronto’s First Mayor and Rebel
- Between 1953 and 1967 the City approved 48 high-rise apartment buildings of 8 to 23 storeys in South Parkdale, many replacing demolished houses.From Parkdale: History of the West-End Neighbourhood
- Threatened with demolition, 1962 and 1963 Wikipedia reports that after a decade of losses the trustees of the Mulock estate put the theatre up for sale in 1962, and that it was to have been demolished for a parking lot.From Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto: History Since 1907
- Under his leadership council approved a plan for a new city hall and square, and the Ward Museum states that the Ward was largely torn down by 1965.From Jewish Toronto: History of the Community
- It was largely demolished by 1965, and City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square now stand on part of the land.From Jewish Toronto: History of the Community
- After several attempts at “slum clearance,” the Ward had been largely torn down by 1965, and the new City Hall, which opened in September 1965, and Nathan Phillips Square now occupy the land.From Immigration and Communities in Toronto’s History
- The 1968 North Market and the fight over the south building Heritage Toronto records that the North Market, on the north side of Front Street, was demolished in 1968 and replaced.From St. Lawrence Market: From the 1803 Market Block to 2025
- The reformatory closed in 1969 after a grand jury investigation, its remaining inmates went to the Vanier Centre for Women in Brampton, and the building was demolished the same year.From Liberty Village: Central Prison, Reformatory, and Factories
- A Ford Hotel did stand in downtown Toronto, but it was demolished in 1973, so no such hotel can be booked today.From Toronto’s Historic Hotels and the Lost Ford Hotel
- It had three 12-storey wings and about 750 rooms, stood beside the bus terminal, and was demolished in 1973.From Toronto’s Historic Hotels and the Lost Ford Hotel
- The Ford Hotel on Dundas Street West was demolished in 1973, according to Wikipedia’s article.From Toronto’s Historic Hotels and the Lost Ford Hotel
- The old Eaton’s store at Yonge and Queen was then demolished and the south half of the center opened in its place in 1979, along with a Cineplex cinema complex.From The Eaton Centre and Toronto’s Historic Shopping Streets
- The Cabbagetown Preservation Association records that in the 1950s local opposition blocked a Don Valley Parkway exit that would have demolished mansions on Carlton Street, and that in the 1960s residents fought plans for high-rise towers.From Cabbagetown, Toronto: Victorian Streets and Irish Roots
- The Ontario Heritage Trust says that in the 1950s more than two thirds of Elizabeth Street was destroyed to build City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square.From Chinatown in Toronto: From Elizabeth Street to Spadina
- Decline, demolition, and redevelopment The Lost Rivers page says better-off residents left after the First World War and poorer families moved into the old houses, sometimes several to a home, and that factories in the area were abandoned and demolished in the late 20th century.From Corktown, Toronto: Irish Workers, Breweries, and a Free School
- It declined in the 1970s, and many of its buildings have since been demolished for condominiums.From Etobicoke: History of the Former Municipality
- The baseball stadium and amusement park at Hanlan’s Point were demolished.From Toronto Islands: The Community and the Airport, 1900 to 1993
- The Queen Street building was torn down in the 1950s, with no exact year given.From Trinity College, Toronto: History from 1852 to Federation
Preserved instead
For the buildings that survived, see the index of historic buildings, the historic sites and the map of historic places.
By period
The 1790s · The 1830s · The 1840s · The 1850s · The 1870s · The 1880s · The 1910s · The 1920s · The 1950s · The 1970s · The 1990s · The 2020s