Once Upon A City: Creating Toronto’s skyline

Architects John A. Pearson and Frank Darling designed Toronto’s first classical yet uniquely Canadian bank towers

Thestar.com
March 24, 2016
By Janice Bradbeer

John A. Pearson was at the height of his architectural career when he was commissioned to design what would be the tallest building - a veritable skyscraper - in the British Empire.

But in typical low-key, Canadian fashion, there was no fanfare when the 34-storey, 145-metre high head office of the Canadian Bank of Commerce opened its doors in 1931 at 25 King St. W. The stock market had crashed in October 1929, less than a year after work began on the iconic tower.

Pearson chose variegated Indiana limestone for the bank tower’s walls and adapted the classical Romanesque style of medieval Europe for the main floor and upper storeys. The bank’s operations were centred on the seventh floor, instead of the first, and French windows led out to a terrace overlooking the red-tiled roof on the sixth level, reported the Star’s Donald Jones. Every office on the bank’s upper floor was configured to attract outside light.

The building became one of Toronto’s major tourist attractions in the 1930s and ’40s. “On a clear day, it was said that you could see the mist rising above Niagara Falls from the top of the building,” Jones wrote.

In June 1961, the bank merged with the Imperial Bank to become the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Plans began to build an even larger head office. The building, which now stands among more modern ones, was restored and renovated.

For close to 30 years Pearson was one half of the turn-of-the-century firm Darling and Pearson, Architects, a partnership that lasted from the mid-1890s until Frank Darling’s death in 1923.

Throughout their alliance, Darling and Pearson were responsible for constructing no fewer than 11 Canadian Bank of Commerce branches in Toronto and other banks around the city and Canada. Most of the institutions were designed in the popular, neoclassical Beaux-Arts style - an expression of the form studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris - to which they added Romanesque features. Their uniquely Canadian architecture was a blend of British and North American styles, which adapted classical looks to suit specific conditions, such as climate and geography.

Examples of their artistry includes more than six buildings still in use at the University of Toronto’s downtown campus, such as Trinity College on Hoskin Ave., which mimics the Gothic Revival style of the original and was designed in 1914 and Convocation Hall, a domed rotunda encircled by classical columns, which was completed in 1907. Other structures included the Toronto General Hospital, the Royal Ontario Museum and 197 Yonge St. (a former banking building renovated in 1905).

One of the duo’s finest works was the Dominion Bank Building, which is now part of One King West. The 12-storey Beaux-Arts style “skyscraper” was completed in 1914 and at the time boasted the city’s largest vault and its most elegant banking hall.

Pearson was born in Chesterfield, England in 1867 to a family of builders. At age 21 he sought more opportunities in North America, immigrating to New York City and then to Toronto.

Darling, a Canadian, was born in Scarborough Township in 1850. He spent three years in England, where he studied under George Edmund Street and was influenced by Gothic Revival style.

Darling returned to Toronto and formed a successful architectural partnership in 1880 with S. George Curry, a Port Hope, Ont. native.

Darling and Curry were lauded for their work on the ornate Bank of Montreal building (completed 1885-1886) at the northwest corner of Front and Yonge Sts. The stone building now houses the Hockey Hall of Fame.

They also designed the first children’s hospital in North America – the Victoria Hospital for Sick Children (built between 1889 and 1891) on College Street. The E-shaped, sandstone building is now regional headquarters for Canadian Blood Services.

In the early 1890s, Darling and Curry expanded their practice and added Henry Sproatt and John A. Pearson. Sproatt had worked on the Bank of Montreal project and Darling had a hand in the Victoria Hospital for Sick Children’s creation. Curry and Sproatt left the firm in the mid-1890s and Darling and Pearson, was born.

Darling and Pearson exhibited different personalities that complemented each other but sometimes made for heated discussions between the two. Darling was considered the more artistic, whose skills lay in one-on-one conversations with clients. Pearson had a more outgoing and personable temperament.

One example of Darling’s talent for determining clients’ requirements was the creation of the Toronto General Hospital (built between 1909 and 1919) on College St. Before submitting his Gothic Revival proposal, Darling, along with a surgeon, toured leading North American hospitals in order to better understand occupants’ needs. The original building now houses the MaRs Discovery District.

When the Art Museum of Toronto (later to become the AGO) outgrew the Grange on Dundas St. W., the firm was recruited to redesign the Georgian mansion that was bequeathed to the city by Goldwin Smith. The Renaissance Revival-style structure was built next to the original house in 1916-1918.

The firm also drew inspiration from sunny Italy – in this case the Campanile di San Marco in Saint Mark’s Square in Venice - for the Canadian Pacific Railway’s North Toronto Station. The structure, with its Beaux-Arts style and 42-metre (140-foot) clock tower, was completed in 1916. It was the first building in Toronto that incorporated Tyndall limestone from Manitoba, which produced a mottled appearance. It was restored in 2003 to become the Summerhill LCBO.

The duo lent their architectural expertise throughout Canada, including the Royal Tower in Winnipeg - the country’s first tall steel framed building. Pearson, along with collaborator Jean Omer Marchand of Montreal, redesigned the Centre Block and Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Most of the original Parliament Buildings were destroyed by fire in 1916.

Although the team designed few personal residences, those projects were lavish undertakings. Darling and Pearson were commissioned in 1915 to create Parkwood Estate in Oshawa. It was owned by Col. Sam McLaughlin, who built an automotive empire that eventually became part of General Motors. The project included the house and many of the outbuildings and featured a spectacular winding staircase in the house’s main entrance capped with a glass dome.

Holwood, the 1902 mansion designed for meat-packing baron Sir Joseph Wesley Flavelle, sits south of the ROM on Queen’s Park Crescent W. It’s recognizable for its huge Corinthian portico and its rooms are now used by U of T law students and faculty.

In 1932, Pearson became the first Canadian in history to receive an Honorary Doctor of Architecture degree, conferred upon him by the University of Toronto. He died in 1940 at the age of 72.

Darling, who passed away in 1923 at age 73. He was considered one of the best architects in the British Empire and was the first Canadian granted the gold medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

The firm of Darling and Pearson, Architects has evolved over the years. It lives on today as Toronto-based Stanford Downey Architects Inc.