Save Union Station - Background

Background

About the Origins of Union Station by Stephen A. Otto

There have been occasions in the City's history, though not so many as we'd like, when Toronto had a sufficient sense of itself to take bold initiatives and win handsome additions to its cityscape. Certainly, the creation of Union Station was one of those occasions. This process began in May 1904, barely two weeks after a huge fire destroyed several blocks in the downtown, when the Grand Trunk Railway (a predecessor of CN Rail) gave notice of its intent to expropriate a large area on the south side of Front Street between Yonge and York streets, much of which had been levelled by the fire.

Then, and for the preceding half century since the first train left Toronto for Aurora in 1853, railways enjoyed a surpassing importance in this country. Long before cars, transport trucks and good roads were common, they were the chief means of carrying people, goods and raw materials to and from the far corners of the land. In law they occupied a special place too, having been deemed to operate "for the benefit of Canada" and been given extraordinary powers over other classes of property. In exercising these powers the railways deferred only to the Government of Canada or to bodies established to regulate them, such as the Board of Railway Commissioners.

In 1904, Toronto's main railway station had been located since the 1870s on Front Street at the foot of Simcoe. Tracks and rail yards blanketed the city's waterfront, in places to a depth of more than a quarter mile. North-south streets like York, Bay, Yonge and Church were interrupted by rail crossings, and it was not uncommon for road traffic and pedestrians to be held up for an hour as trains were shunted back and forth. This unsatisfactory situation had its origins in the 1850s when the Grand Trunk threatened to run its trains along Queen Street if it were not allowed to build its tracks on the Esplanade then projected along the lake shore. Council caved in to the pressure, putting the railways in the driver's seat for waterfront development often during the next 140 years.

In wanting to expropriate such a large area the Grand Trunk gave rise to worries that it was up to its old tricks and would use the land to create additional freight sidings rather than to build a new station. The matter played out over the next year before the Board of RailwayCommissioners, with the CPR and Canadian Northern Railway joining the issue, the Post Office staking its claim to relocating between Yonge and Bay, and the City moving around the issues like a nimble terrier.

Key to the municipal position were:

* As the owner of the lands between Bay and York Street, the City was willing to lease but not sell them for a passenger station and adjunct yards-providing them for freight yards was out of the question.

* The widening of Front Street was a requirement if the station proposal went ahead.

* The City was willing to close public streets within the station site and expect little or no compensation-particularly if Front Street were dealt with to its satisfaction.

* The new station would be a union station open to all railways, not just the Grand Trunk.

* A minimum of $1 million would be spent on the station building, and the plans would conform to the City's bylaws.

Later, when specific designs for the new station were presented that depended on the closing of Yonge, Bay and York streets south of Front, the City took the position that the tracks through the central waterfront area must be carried on a viaduct over the main north-south streets.

The fact that the City owned a substantial portion of the lands under the proposed station was a coincidence. They were nearly all that remained in municipal ownership of the 30 acres granted in 1818 to five trustees by for Walks and Gardens south of Front Street between Berkeley and Peter streets. The City Corporation took over responsibility for the trust in 1853 and, under pressure to make the Esplanade scheme acceptable to abutting landowners, proceeded to sell off most of the lands, as it was permitted to do. Monies from the sales and ongoing rentals were put towards the purchase of parks elsewhere in the city. By 1904 the strip between Bay and York streets was almost the only part of the Walks & Gardens left in public ownership. Built over, it was leased to a variety of industrial tenants. Although reduced in size today, the Walks & Gardens trust lands are still a healthy 28 % of the Union Station site.

But it was the City's power to close Station and Lorne streets-the two public highways within the site-rather than the ownership of the abutting lands, that was the determining factor in convincing both the Board of Railway Commissioners and the railways to abandon expropriation and accept a municipal lease of the property. The railways themselves had no power to close streets, and the Board could only empower them to operate over public roads.

The Board made a final order with respect to the new Union Station in February 1905, pretty much accepting the City's position on all major points. Not until early 1906, however, were preliminary plans for the building ready for submission to City Council. They had been developed by the Grand Trunk in co-operation with the CPR under the aegis of the Toronto Terminals Railway Company, a body formed specially by the rail companies for this project. On seeing the design proposals Council found them wanting because they required the closing of some main streets. An engineering study was commissioned that recommended a viaduct to carry the tracks over the streets. It was opposed by the railways it because it would require changes to the station designs and would substantially increase the costs. While the Board of Railway Commissioners supported the study's conclusions, its authority to deal with the matter was contested in the Supreme Court by both the Grand Trunk and the CPR, and before the Privy Council by the CPR. In the end the railways' appeals all were dismissed, but the process of objection consumed nearly four years until 1911.

This delay was fortunate in terms of the present station's appearance and the way it functions, because between 1906 and 1911 the City Beautiful Movement took root in Toronto, and the architect John Lyle became closely involved with its progress. The Movement was introduced here by the Guild of Civic Art, Engineers' Club and Ontario Association of Architects. Their initiatives were seconded by City Council in 1909, when it appointed a Civic Improvement Committee. Lyle was a member of the Committee for a brief time until he resigned to become its Architect. His Beaux-Arts training in Paris, eight years' recent experience in New York, and taste for formal planning were evident in the plan produced by the Committee in 1911, which called for a new street to run from Front to Queen midway between Bay and York streets. The new Union Station was to be its southern terminus, and to face on to an important plaza on Front Street.

While the new street was ultimately not built, it remained a powerful idea during the period when the present station was being designed. And, like the smile of the Cheshire cat, it remained to influence specific projects like the Royal York Hotel, the former Toronto Star Building on King Street, Graphic Arts Building at Richmond and Sheppard and former Registry Office that was demolished for Nathan Phillips Square. Lyle's importance to the process of designing a suitable station was acknowledged when the railways' architects, Ross & Macdonald and Hugh Jones of Montreal appointed him as their local associate on the project. Their plans for the building were finished and approved in 1914. Construction began late the following year. While the station was completed within five years, in spite of wartime restrictions on materials, its opening was delayed until 1927 pending the completion of the high-level viaduct that gave access to its quays.

The last word belongs to J.R.W. Ambrose, the chief engineer for the terminal:

"As first and last impressions are largely permanent ones, it is the hope of the designers of this building that it will not only meet the exacting material demands of the traveller and allow him freedom of movement, but that it will impress the beholder with its architectural beauty in order that he may carry away with him some good opinion of the City of Toronto."

Stephen A. Otto

30 September 2002