A Toronto office building designed by a revered architect will soon be demolished.
The 12-storey commercial building has stood at the corner of Yonge and Colborne streets for almost seven decades, though it is currently slated for demolition to make way for an ambitious new tower.
The existing office block at 55 Yonge Street features a modernist design from Peter Dickinson (1925–1961), a prolific British-Canadian architect known for developing a portfolio of impressive modernist structures in his brief career before his untimely passing in 1961 from stomach cancer at the young age of 35.
Dickinson designed the current office building on this site, which was completed in 1958 on what was then a rapidly developing stretch of Yonge Street following the 1954 completion of Toronto’s first subway line.
The office building has stood largely unchanged for 67 years, though its time is almost up.
Permits applying for a “complete demolition to ground level” were filed in mid-2024, specifying that all the building’s exterior foundation walls will remain in place.
The current building is proposed for teardown to make way for a new 68-storey condo tower from developer H&R REIT.
First proposed in 2021, the 55 Yonge project features a standout design from architects PARTISANS and BDP Quadrangle that would stand almost 233 metres tall.
The plan was most recently resubmitted to the City’s planning department last fall with an updated scheme that scrapped previously-proposed office space in favour of additional residential space.
2024 plan for 55 Yonge Street. Partisans/BDP Quadrangle
Renderings show off a bold addition to the city’s skyline, though this progress would come at the cost of another piece of an important architect’s dwindling portfolio of remaining structures.
55 Yonge Street is one of Dickinson’s last existing buildings following demolitions of his other notable works such as the Inn on the Park and the lost apartment towers of Regent Park.
