{"id":3922,"date":"2009-01-22T09:27:25","date_gmt":"2009-01-22T14:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/2009\/01\/22\/stories-of-a-sandstone-giant\/"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:15:44","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:15:44","slug":"stories-of-a-sandstone-giant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/01\/22\/stories-of-a-sandstone-giant\/","title":{"rendered":"Stories of a sandstone giant at Old City Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/history-on-our-streets.jpg\" height=\"127\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/gencat.eloquent-systems.com\/webcat\/systems\/toronto.arch\/resource\/ser372\/ss0001\/s0372_ss0001_it0350.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3344\/3176803253_83e8086f16.jpg\" height=\"451\" width=\"500\" \/><\/a><em>Workers replacing Old City Hall&#8217;s roof pose by a gargoyle overlooking Terauly St (now Bay), 1920.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In the 1890&#8217;s, long trains loaded down with beige sandstone chugged from New Brunswick to Toronto. <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/E._J._Lennox\" title=\"E.J. Lennox\" target=\"_blank\">E.J. Lennox&#8217;s<\/a> magnificent <a href=\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/old_cityhall\/old_cityhall_tour.htm\" title=\"old city hall\" target=\"_blank\">Old City Hall<\/a>, once the second largest city hall in North America (after Philadelphia), enriched with flamboyant romanesque details, finally opened for civic business in September 1899 after ten years of construction.<\/p>\n<p>What reverence Torontonians had for the building was not shared by the harsh Canadian climate. The freeze-thaw cycle had an appetite for delicate sandstone gargoyles and finials, culminating in 1938 with a 500-pound chunk of gargoyle from the clock tower crashing through the roof of the building. A year later the weathered beasts were all removed along with other ornaments as a safety precaution. Old City Hall was becoming soot-blackened and weather-worn.<\/p>\n<p>Grassroots community uproar spared the building (just barely) from a 1960&#8217;s plan which would have left only the clock tower standing like an obelisk in a sea of austere concrete. Since that reprieve, epic restorations have been carried out. A team of 30 metal workers recently spent five years replacing the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.traditional-building.com\/Previous-Product-Reports\/3-CopperRoofing-October2008.htm\" title=\"copper from heaven\" target=\"_blank\">copper roof<\/a>, and decades of grit has been scrubbed off to reveal pristine red and beige sandstone. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/41766965@N00\/2822772918\/in\/pool-torontogargoyles\/\">New gargoyles<\/a> have been cast in durable lightweight bronze, restoring the tower&#8217;s original proportions and gazing out over a city much changed in their absence.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/gencat.eloquent-systems.com\/webcat\/systems\/toronto.arch\/resource\/ser372\/ss0001\/s0372_ss0001_it0591.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3445\/3176697653_3468db0f3b.jpg\" height=\"350\" width=\"500\" \/><\/a><em>Old city hall clock tower in 1923, clad in wooden scaffolding.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><a href=\"http:\/\/gencat.eloquent-systems.com\/webcat\/systems\/toronto.arch\/resource\/ser372\/ss0001\/s0372_ss0001_it0375.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3448\/3177642720_8b12cd3f64.jpg\" height=\"391\" width=\"500\" \/><\/a><em>The steep roof, at 75 degrees of pitch, made work a challenge. 1920.<\/em><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/gencat.eloquent-systems.com\/webcat\/systems\/toronto.arch\/resource\/ser372\/ss0001\/s0372_ss0001_it0401.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3501\/3214639574_31ba8f7503.jpg\" height=\"499\" width=\"500\" \/><\/a><em>Removing a stone finial in 1921.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/gencat.eloquent-systems.com\/webcat\/systems\/toronto.arch\/resource\/ser372\/ss0032\/s0372_ss0032_it0187.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3378\/3217197725_9e3a01973d.jpg\" height=\"391\" width=\"500\" \/><\/a><em>Slum houses, rear of 21 Elizabeth Street, 1913. Looking east to city hall. Hard to imagine now that New City hall and Nathan Phillips Square are built on what was once a <a href=\"http:\/\/gencat.eloquent-systems.com\/webcat\/systems\/toronto.arch\/resource\/\/ser372\/ss0033\/s0372_ss0033_it0160.jpg\">poor part of town<\/a> called <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Ward_(Toronto)\">The Ward<\/a>, which for many years sprawled beneath the snouts of city hall gargoyles. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>All photos are from the<\/em> <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/archives\/index.htm\" title=\"City of Toronto Archives\" target=\"_blank\">City of Toronto Archives<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Workers replacing Old City Hall&#8217;s roof pose by a gargoyle overlooking Terauly St (now Bay), 1920. In the 1890&#8217;s, long trains loaded down with beige sandstone chugged from New Brunswick to Toronto. E.J. Lennox&#8217;s magnificent Old City Hall, once the second largest city hall in North America (after Philadelphia), enriched with flamboyant romanesque details, finally<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/01\/22\/stories-of-a-sandstone-giant\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Stories of a sandstone giant at Old City Hall&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4059,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,21759,24],"tags":[76,11202,115,1286,7260,1154,2713,2941,19,5232],"class_list":["post-3922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-features","category-history","tag-history-on-our-streets","tag-metal-workers","tag-nathan-phillips-square","tag-new-brunswick","tag-new-city-hall","tag-north-america","tag-old-city-hall","tag-philadelphia","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-archives"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Stories of a sandstone giant at Old City Hall - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/01\/22\/stories-of-a-sandstone-giant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stories of a sandstone giant at Old City Hall - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Workers replacing Old City Hall&#8217;s roof pose by a gargoyle overlooking Terauly St (now Bay), 1920. In the 1890&#8217;s, long trains loaded down with beige sandstone chugged from New Brunswick to Toronto. E.J. Lennox&#8217;s magnificent Old City Hall, once the second largest city hall in North America (after Philadelphia), enriched with flamboyant romanesque details, finallyContinue reading &quot;Stories of a sandstone giant at Old City Hall&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/01\/22\/stories-of-a-sandstone-giant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-01-22T14:27:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T19:15:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/history-on-our-streets.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mathew Borrett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mathew Borrett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/01\/22\/stories-of-a-sandstone-giant\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/01\/22\/stories-of-a-sandstone-giant\/\",\"name\":\"Stories of a sandstone giant at Old City Hall - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/01\/22\/stories-of-a-sandstone-giant\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/01\/22\/stories-of-a-sandstone-giant\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/history-on-our-streets.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-01-22T14:27:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T19:15:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/86e9a1fa82aadf691d1b33264bfa5615\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/01\/22\/stories-of-a-sandstone-giant\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/01\/22\/stories-of-a-sandstone-giant\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/01\/22\/stories-of-a-sandstone-giant\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/history-on-our-streets.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/history-on-our-streets.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/01\/22\/stories-of-a-sandstone-giant\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Stories of a sandstone giant at Old City Hall\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/86e9a1fa82aadf691d1b33264bfa5615\",\"name\":\"Mathew Borrett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c2ee972a73b11eadaf0e9ffe773a039f?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c2ee972a73b11eadaf0e9ffe773a039f?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mathew Borrett\"},\"description\":\"Artist, Illustrator, archive geek. 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