1916 – CPR Station, North Toronto, Toronto, Canada

The station, constructed in the Beaux Arts style, consisted of a 43-metre clock tower and a three-storey main terminal. The main terminal gallery had an 11metre ceiling with marble-clad walls and with elegant bronze suspended light fixtures. This station was the first building in the city to be constructed of Tyndall limestone from Manitoba. The tower is modelled after the Campanile di San Marco at Saint Mark’s Square in Venice. The four clock faces, each 8 feet in diameter, were illuminated at night during the station’s service life. Closed to passengers in 1930, and now a retail store.

“A spacious waiting room, 70 ft. by 50 ft., of lofty proportions, will occupy the centre portion of the structure, marked on the south elevation of the building by three large semi-circular headed windows. To east and west of the central block will be two subsidiary wings roofed at a lower level and devoted to Station facilities — that to the west to men’s and women’s waiting rooms with their respective lavatories, and that to the west to ticket offices of both companies. To the north of the waiting room will be the concourse, and beyond that again the midway, from which access will be had to the various platforms. Flanking the building, at its northwest corner, will be a clock tower also faced with cut stone. This tower will be 143 ft. high, dominating all other buildings in the neighborhood and having clock dials 8 ft. in diameter. The vestibule under the tower will lead into the concourse along the north side of the west end of the waiting room, connecting at its east end with the midway. The south and west sides of the station will have a sidewalk, so that passengers may alight either at the main entrance centrally on the south side, or to the tower vestibule. Along the west side of the station there will be a 28-ft. driveway, so that vehicles may drive up to either station entrance, and pass through under the tracks through this driveway and out on Yonge Street to the north of the station. The midway will be a passage 20 ft. wide and 150 ft. long, passing from the rear of the station to the far side of the tracks, under the latter. The elevation of the tracks makes a difference in grade of 15 ft. 6 in. between the track platforms and the station level, giving a headway in the midway of about 11 ft.

The waiting room, which is to be 38 ft. high, will be lined with marble to a height of 12 ft., above which the walls will be finished with caen stone plaster. These wall surfaces will be treated in a broad manner with large panels designed to group with the three great windows on the south side of the room. The ceiling will be of plaster, flat in section, but divided by two large beams into three main bays. The concourse, some 15 ft. high, will be lined with Taience tiles to a height of 9 ft., above which the walls and ceiling will be finished in plaster. The treatment of the ceiling will be domical, there being three domes, segmental in section, penetrated by segmental arches, and having a circular skylight in the centre of each. The midway leading out of the concourse will be treated in somewhat similar manner, but as it runs right under the tracks, its height will not be so great. The walls will be lined with Taience tiles to a height of 9 ft., and above that will be finished in plaster, as also will be the ceiling. The ceiling will be divided by segmental arches into square bays, each being treated as a plain groined vault. The floors throughout will be of marble tile.”
Engineering and Contract Record, September 15, 1915

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