Raise to be National Centre

Raise to be National Financial Center: The Formation of Financial District of Toronto Zhengtao Hu_1001489301 Professor: George Baird Course: URD1031 Date: December 15, 2014

Introduction Cities have always been built for reasons, Toronto had been built for finance and commerce. Proof for the most original financial identity of Toronto can be traced to the early exploration of Canada. The route, from Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay known as Toronto Passage, formed for the reason of the thriving fur trade of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region. After the passing of the Constitutional Act by British Government in 1791, John Graves Simcoe, Upper Canada’s first Lieutenant-Governor was convinced that at the foot of Toronto Passage there was a necessity to establish a major military base and commercial center, namely, Toronto. And He decided to proceed with the building of the town of York on the Toronto site in 1793 1. However by 1850, the construction of military communication had been mostly installed except the one for Yonge Street, while the commercial heart of the city was gradually developed along King Street between Bay Street and George Street 2. For decades, Montreal had been superior to Toronto in the aspect of financial status. However, in 1871, the passing of the Bank Act ended the monopoly of the Bank of Montreal 2, thus gave Toronto an opportunity to gain momentum to overtake the Montreal. In detail, for the next coming century, the financial district of Toronto had expanded considerably westward and simultaneously Yonge Street had become the prosperous commercially3. Toronto reached metropolitan status in the early decades of the twentieth century and by the end of the First World War, it was into the third phase in its central business district with centralization of financial strip in Bay Street and formation of the principal retail strip in the Yonge Street4. In 1970s, most of the systematic plans drawn up in the mid1960s for the growth of the downtown core had compromised, however, with the redevelopment of the

Richard P.Baine A.Lynn Mcmurray, Toronto: an urban study, 1970: (Toronto : Clarke, Irwin, c1970.): 19-20 2 Baine and Mcmurray : 23 2 Baine and Mcmurray :26 1

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Baine and Mcmurray :26

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Baine and Mcmurray :34

financial district excluded 5. Especially in the aftermath of a flight of capital out of Montreal and the terrorist activities of the Front de libération du Québec, the financial district in Toronto, which had already been symbolized by five major Canadian banks constructed towers in the intersection of King and Bay, eventually became the financial capital of Canada without any controversy 6 . At the meantime, the underground pedestrian system improvement makes a compensation for the remaining old and narrow streets which are completely incompatible with the newly constructed towers in the core of downtown. 7 Also, it is remarkable that during the same period, with the populations of the suburban townships expanded with the extension of Yonge University metro-line, several sub-financial and commercial centers established along with the Yonge Street, such as Downtown North York. Till to this date, Toronto region is characterized by what the eminent urbanist Peter Hall has called” de-concentrated concentration.”

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The core financial district located in down town interconnected with many other

surrounding financial and commercial districts to contribute to the prosperity of Toronto together.

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Edward Relph. Toronto : Transformations in a City and its Region (Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2014.) : 59-62

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Mark Osbaldeston ; [editor, Barry Jowett]. Unbuilt Toronto : a history of the city that might have been (Toronto : Dundurn Press, c2008.): 151

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Lindy Goodman.: Streets beneath the towers :The Development of Toronto's Downtown Underground Pedestrial Mall System(Toronto : Dept.

of Geography, York University, 1984.) :2 8

Edward Relph.: 109

The Original Financial Identity of City of Toronto Before adventurers from west stepped into the Continent of North America, a large bay known as Georgian Bay (Figure 1) of Lake Huron with its main body lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island had been utilized as a major trade route between two aboriginal American nations, Algonquian and Huron. In the aftermath of the settlement of westerners, Georgian Bay continued to serve for commerce with a vital route which linked Georgian Bay with western end of Lake Ontario, raising into a great significance in the fur trade of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region. The southern 30 miles of the new short-cut consisted of a low and fairly easy portage that ran from the mouth of what is now called Humber River, up the Humber valley to the west branch of the Holland River. This portage became known as the Toronto Carrying- Place. 9.

Before 1788, European settlement in Canada was extremely limited and always in the form of relatively alienated single family until the American Revolution, while Iroquois occupied the area of what is today Southern Ontario. The natives were in favor of making fur trades (Figure 2) with Europeans. During the same period of history, the ambition of French to build an Empire and extend its domain conflicts to the increasingly power of English. At the end of the Toronto Carrying-Place Trail portage, the symbol of the tension between French and English directly led to a trading fort establishment by one of them, the French fort, known as Fort RouillĂŠ, (Figure 3) which was commercially important for its series of trails and water routes serving Toronto Passage. The existence of Fort RouillĂŠ intercept the trade of Indians traveling towards a British fur-trading post in present-day Oswego10. In 1759, the war broke out between the English

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Baine and Mcmurray 19

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Wikipedia,< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Rouill%C3%A9>

and French, when the English army took the post at Niagara, Fort RouillĂŠ was burned immediately by French.

Almost 30 years later, Lord Dorchester, Governor General of Canada, and some other British officials completed the Toronto purchase from the Mississaugas. The purchase was mainly triggered by the increasingly strategic position of Toronto especially in the aftermath of the cession of the territory south of the Great Lake to United State. The independence of America made the region northwest of the lakes much more significant to the fur trade than ever before and the Toronto portage. 11. Later on, Simcoe, Upper Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first Lieutenant Governor insisted that the Toronto harbored the potential to be not only a commercial center but also a military base because of its easily dense stands of excellent timber, appropriate distance from US, easily defended Harbor and being as a post within Toronto Passage. And then Alexander Aitkin was assigned to plan the Toronto site, namely, the York. (Figure 4)12. Nevertheless, from the very beginning, the establishment of Toronto as a colonial outpost well protect British interests in what was then known as Upper Canada 13 and in return, to be a future commercial center for this newly born city became more and more possible. The possibility has been proved by series things happening afterwards. One of the most profound thing for the commercial and retailing development of Toronto is the opening of Saint Lawrence Market. In 1803, Peter Hunter, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada established a public market in York, which was to be open each and every single Saturday throughout the year. Since the market was literally the only place for townspeople to buy and sell what they needed, it was always crowded. Some aboriginals were given the special permits to sell their own wares, too, and would have added an exotic flare to the market, for those British settlers who had recently started to call York home (Figure 5).

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Baine and Mcmurray 19

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Historical Map of Toronto,< http://oldtorontomaps.blogspot.ca/2013/01/1793-aitken-plan-of-york-harbour.html>

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Edward Relph 1

However, the military possibility of York is not shared by Governor Dorchester. Only Yonge Street had been constructed for military communication. As a result, Toronto never became the arsenal but grew up gradually with increasingly greater commercial status.

Financial Center from Montreal to Toronto Toronto is not the only city obtaining a strategic position in North America. A glance at the map of North America clearly shows the St. Lawrence River (Figure 6) as the most deeply penetrating route into the continent, running between the mountain masses of the Canadian Shield and the Appalachians, reaching to the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mediterraneanâ&#x20AC;? of North America (the Great Lakes) and the vast interior plains14. Located at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers is Montreal (Figure 7).

The location of Montreal is extremely significant not matter from a geographical or economic viewpoint. The soil of the Montreal Basin was undoubtedly suitable for farming, showing a fact that the Montreal Plain was highly desirable for human long-term occupation. Above Montreal Island, the Ottawa River, somewhat neglected today, played an important part at the beginning of colonization. Trappers used it in their search for the rich furs of the western region, which made Montreal gain a great advantage in regional commerce15.

Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The city's growth was spurred by the opening of the Lachine Canal and Montreal was the capital of the United Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849. During this period, the first bank in Canada, the Bank of Montreal, (Figure 8). was established in Montreal and the first stock exchange, Montreal Stock Exchange, was also set up in Montreal. Growth continued and by 1860

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Jean-Claude Marsan: Montreal in evolution : historical analysis of the development of Montreal's architecture and urban environment(Montreal

: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1981.): 3 15

Jean-Claude Marsan: 6

Montreal was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural center of Canada 16.

The exceptional financial status of Montreal in 19th century eclipsed its counterpart, Toronto, regardless that Toronto witnessed a rapid increase during the same period of history. Almost 50 years after the establishment of Bank of Montreal, the Bank of Toronto (Figure 9) opened its offices with a staff of three, which began development of a provincial network of branches soon. The financial interaction between two major cities in Canada in 19th Century can be reflected by the first branch of Bank of Toronto opening in Montreal in 186017. And similarly, the Toronto Stock Exchange opened later than the Montreal Stock Exchange, which descended from the Association of Brokers, a group formed by Toronto businessmen on July 26, 185218. However, the pass of Drawback Act in 1846 in the United State, giving permission to the unrestricted shipment to Upper Canada, help Toronto gained a great opportunity to prosper its commerce. Because of the Drawback Act, the hinterland of Toronto City had been greatly enlarged at the cost of Montreal, which suffered a serious loss of North American trade for this19. By midcentury, although Toronto had consolidated its own supreme commercial center within province, it still lagged behind Montreal.

The situation began to be reversed after the implementation of Bank Act in 1871, which aimed to bring an end to the monopoly of charging national financial affairs by Bank of Montreal. From then on, Toronto gained a full momentum to develop its commerce. In 1884, compared to half century before when Toronto just began to be incorporated as a city (Figure 10), it had already grown up to one of the most important British Imperial City. The financial center dramatically expanded westwards. By the end of the 1890s, Toronto would be home to some of the tallest buildings in North America, soaring seven or eight stories

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Wikipedia,< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Montreal>

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Wikipedia,< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Toronto>

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Wikipedia ,<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Stock_Exchange>

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Baine and Mcmurray: 21

over the city. In 1899, the city hall (Figure 11) would go up (now known as "Old City Hall"), and when it was constructed, it would be the tallest building in Toronto and the largest city hall building in North America. 20In the 20th century, the business district of Toronto ,which is defined roughly by Queen Street West to the north, Yonge Street to the east, Front Street to the south, and University Avenue to the west, had undisputedly and completely surpassed that of Montreal. The majority of banking companies, corporate headquarters, high-powered legal and accounting firms, insurance companies and stockbrokers have moved into financial district.

The Underground System in Financial District The financial district of Downtown Toronto are mainly characterized by iconic buildings and its grandiose underground pedestrian system. In the 20th, the overwhelming trend to build skyscrapers swept the downtown Toronto. From 1970, several point towers like First Canadian Place, Scotia Plaza, Commerce Court, Toronto Dominion Center and Royal Bank Plaza were being built with the next two decades (Figure 12), redefining the skyline of downtown Toronto. However, the modernization of city had always been along with the public protest since the abolishment of redevelopment proposal of demolishing the Old City Hall and subsequent giving up of Spidina Highway Construction. The preservation of historical buildings directly led to the one unharmonious phenomenon that the massive construction of high rising towers was unable to be accompanied by widening the arterial. The sidewalks and main streets in downtown gradually became extremely crowded. Therefore, the underground pedestrian system (Figure 13) improvement makes a compensation for the remaining old and narrow streets which are completely incompatible with the newly constructed towers in the core of downtown.21

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Toronto now and then,< http://torontothenandnow.blogspot.ca/2010/12/16-yonge-street-arcade-then-and-now.html>

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Lindy Goodman.:2

Back to post-war period, sidewalks suffered from congestion and the booming mobile traffic inevitably caused the conflict between pedestrians and vehicles. The existing layout of the downtown failed to meet the need for intra-block routes which are expected to diverge the crowds from sidewalks. 22 This issue draws the attention of government finally, which took the plans for increasing infrastructure for pedestrian movement into serious consideration in the late 1950’s. In 1961, the opening of Place Ville Marie in Montreal greatly inspired underground pedestrian ways of vertical separation.

Another trigger for the building of underground pedestrian system is the Toronto Dominion Center, which is merged by the Bank of Toronto and the Bank Dominion. The bold ambition of the bank officials from Toronto Dominion Center makes their headquarters in the heart of financial district inevitably become the most striking iconic artificial spectacle in the whole area. Between 1961 and 1962, instead of building a head office building, Toronto Dominion Center Limiter decided to construct “a city within the city, a monument to Canada’s progress, resources, industrial and technical accomplishments and to Canadians themselves” 23 The designers finally drew the conclusion that the surrounding facilities and amenities were far from satisfying the complex they proposed and the most appropriate solution is developing service facilities underground. Almost simultaneously, Plan for Downtown Toronto was published, which focused on the vertical separation of vehicles and pedestrians through the development of a system of pedestrian routes. 24In the end, the Plan for Downtown Toronto in 1963 was adopted by City Council, followed by the continuous construction of underground pedestrian system in the next several coming decades.

The current underground pedestrian system connecting 30 office towers, City Hall, Union Station, two department stores,20 parking garages, three hotels, and the Stock Exchange 25 . The completion of

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Lindy Goodman.: 2

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Lindy Goodman.: 8

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Lindy Goodman.: 10

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Michael B. Barker

underground pedestrian system successfully reduces the traffic congestion on surface and links most of important buildings, making the whole downtown area especially the financial district work with more efficiency.

The Development of Yonge Street and Other Financial Districts The Yonge Street was originally designed for military communication. After the war between France and Great Britain in 1783, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, began to take the possibility of building a more easily defended capital and linking the capital with the upper lakes into a great consideration. The new capital was named York, the modern Toronto. And the linking plan contains two routes, which are the road legging to Georgian Bay, known as Penetanguishene Road and another road from Lake Ontario to Lake Aux Claies, namely the Yonge Street. The construction of Yonge Street officially commenced in 1794. For now, Yonge had become Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main street, serving for commerce, culture and recreation .The core of current financial center of City Toronto is located at the intersection of Yonge Street and King Street, defined by major bank headquarters. Besides the downtown area, the highrise still spine along Yonge Street. For example, the condominiums and office towers in the North York are distributed alongside Yonge Street.26 In the same period of rapid development of financial district in downtown Toronto, the intensifications of suburban downtowns distributed mainly along Yonge Street were in full swing. (Figure 14) The suburbs of Toronto witnessed an unprecedented population expansion. In the 1960s and 1970s, most of suburban downtowns desired to be incorporated as cities, which requires the plan of the construction of their own civic centres and other infrastructures to function as relatively independent cities. 27 Scarborough Town Centre, opened in 1971 next to High way 401, consisting of a shopping mall and other civic facilities, is a

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Edward Relph: 71

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Edward Relph: 73

typical example of the development of suburban financial districts. Another more prosperous suburban downtown is North York. It is located along a part of Yonge Street and developed rapidly in the early 1970s.

Although the former city hall didn't function anymore, the Downtown North York is a node of intense development which almost has nothing in difference with downtown of an independent city. 28

Conclusion The origin of financial district of downtown Toronto can be traced to the end of 18th century, when York established. Although the York town is set up as an military for against the possible invasion of United State ,it still grew rapidly into a commercial center. In the late 19th century, after the pass of Bank Act, Toronto obtained a great advantage to surpass Montreal to be the national financial center. Nowadays, the financial district in downtown Toronto had undisputedly become the heart of Canadian fin ace. Some other suburban financial in the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, function relatively independently together with the financial district downtown to contribute the whole thriving Canadian finance.

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Edward Relph: 74

Figure 1: Early map of Upper Canada including Georgian Bay. Early maps of Upper Canada included only settlements, lakes and rivers. Vital to travel, these vital waterways opened up the rest of Ontario to the south and the west, enabling explorers and traders to travel along the St. Lawrence from Quebec City to the interior routes heading west, to Georgian Bay and beyond.

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Figure 2: Fur trade in Canada For nearly 250 years, from the early 17th to the mid-19th centuries, the fur trade was a vast commercial enterprise across the wild, forested expanse of what is now Canada.

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Blog of Jody Dier ,<http://blog.getrealinontario.com/index.php/the-confluence-of-three-rivers>

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Bing image,< http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=canada+fur+trade&FORM=HDRSC2>

Figure 3: French officers stationed at Fort Rouille meet and barter with local aboriginals.

Fort RouillĂŠ or Fort Toronto was a French trading post located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that was established around 1750 but abandoned in 1759.

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Toronto Then and Now,< http://torontothenandnow.blogspot.ca/2011/09/27-memories-of-canadian-national.html>

Figure 4: Historical Map of Toronto Alexander Aitken (died 1799) was the son of a land surveyor in Berwick-upon-Tweed, England. He emigrated to Canada and was appointed a Deputy Surveyor in 1784. He prepared one of the first proposals for a town at Toronto for Lord Dorchester and later did many general surveys and maps, including the survey of the Town of York Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe.

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Historical Map of Toronto,< http://oldtorontomaps.blogspot.ca/2013/01/1793-aitken-plan-of-york-harbour.html>

Figure 5: A sketch of the original 1803 market The market complex is actually made up of two buildings - the north market (on the north side of Front Street) and the south market (on the south side of Front Street). The north market is the older one, dating back to today's anniversary in 1803. The south market began as an expansion that was completed in 1845. Originally, the north market was for local farmers, while the south market was on the harbour, and served as the "international market", with items arriving from all over the world. The actual physical buildings of both markets have changed over the years. What follows is an illustrated history of the various north and south market buildings that have come and gone over the years.

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Figure 6: Explorers and Settlers French explorers claimed the land between the Carolinas and the St. Lawrence, and Huguenots attempted to settle in South Carolina, Florida, and Nova Scotia.

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Toronto Then and Now,< http://torontothenandnow.blogspot.ca/2012/11/32-saint-lawrence-market-then-and-now.html>

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Explorer and Settlers,< http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/explorers/intro1.htm>

Figure 7: A map of Montreal Islands The city is located on the central and eastern portions of the Island of Montreal, the largest island in the Hochelaga Archipelago, at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers.

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Figure 8: Bank of Montreal, from the tower of Notre Dame Church, looking north, Montreal about 1870 In 1819, the Bank of Montreal settled into its first purpose-built headquarters, on St. James Street, which would soon become the heart of Canadian finance.

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Google Image,< http://local.fiatlux.tk/montreal/carte>

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The identity of English-speaker in Quebec in 100 objects,< http://100objects.qahn.org/content/banknote-1817>

Figure 9: Bank of Toronto In July 1856, the Bank of Toronto opened its offices at 78 Church Street, Toronto, with a staff of three and immediately began development of a provincial network of branches. In 1860, it opened its first branch outside of Ontario (then as Canada West), in Montreal, Canada East.

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Figure 10: Birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Eye View of Toronto Growth since 1879 Highlights from our earliest bird's eye view of Toronto include a visible Garrison Creek (and ravine), Union Station II, the Third Parliament Buildings (at Front and Simcoe), the early Distillery (District), and a burgeoning U of T campus amongst other things.

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Wikipedia, < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Toronto#mediaviewer/File:Bank_of_Toronto_Building_1915.JPG>

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BlogTo,< http://www.blogto.com/city/2014/09/a_birds_eye_view_of_toronto_growth_since_1879/>

Figure 11: 1898 drawing of the proposed square in front of Old City Hall (south of Queen Street) in Canadian Toronto's Old City Hall was one of the largest buildings in Toronto and the largest civic building in North America upon completion in 1899. It was the burgeoning city's third city hall. It housed Toronto's municipal government and courts for York County and Toronto, taking over from the Adelaide Street Court House. York County offices were also located in Old City Hall from 1900 to 1953.

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Wikipedia,< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_City_Hall_(Toronto)#mediaviewer/File:Proposed_Victoria_Square_Toronto.JPG>

Figure 12: The construction of the Toronto-Dominion Centre The construction of the Toronto-Dominion Centre, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, began in 1965. It is still a remarkable achievement.

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When Miesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s towers scraped the sky <http://www.thestar.com/opinion/columnists/2007/05/28/when_miess_towers_scraped_the_sky.html>

Figure 13: Downtown Underground pedestrian mall system Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s underground pedestrian system is one the best anywhere, and it is constantly being improved.

Although other cities also have underground pedestrian systems, few are as comprehensive and welldeveloped as Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s.

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Michael B. Barker: Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Underground Pedestrian System(Volume 1, Number 2, 1986)

Figure 14: Yonge Street The high-rise spine of the City of Toronto along Yonge Street. The condominiums and office towers of the linear suburban downtown of North York are in the center of the photo, and downtown Toronto and Lake Ontario are in the distance. The skyline of single-family residential areas on either side of Yonge has scarcely changed since the 1950s.

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Edward Relph.:70

Bibliography Richard P.Baine A.Lynn Mcmurray, Toronto: an urban study, 1970: Toronto : Clarke, Irwin, c1970 Edward Relph. Toronto : Transformations in a City and its Region Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2014.

Mark Osbaldeston ; [editor, Barry Jowett]. Unbuilt Toronto : a history of the city that might have been Toronto : Dundurn Press, c2008.

Lindy Goodman.: Streets beneath the towers :The Development of Toronto's Downtown Underground Pedestrial Mall System Toronto : Dept. of Geography, York University, 1984.

Jean-Claude Marsan: Montreal in evolution : historical analysis of the development of Montreal's architecture and urban environment(Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 1981.)

Michael B. Barker: Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Underground Pedestrian System

Wikipedia: < http://www.wikipedia.org/>

Historical Map of Toronto < http://oldtorontomaps.blogspot.ca/>

Toronto then and now: < http://torontothenandnow.blogspot.ca/>

When Miesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s towers scraped the sky: <http://www.thestar.com/opinion/columnists/2007/05/28/when_miess_towers_scraped_the_sky.html>

Blog of Jody Dier: <http://blog.getrealinontario.com/index.php/the-confluence-of-three-rivers>

Bing image :< http://www.bing.com/images/>

Explorer and Settlers: < http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/explorers/intro1.htm

The identity of English-speaker in Quebec in 100 objects:< http://100objects.qahn.org/content/banknote1817>

BlogTo:<http://www.blogto.com/city/2014/09/a_birds_eye_view_of_toronto_growth_since_1879/>