Toronto Board of Trade Building

The Board of Trade Building was one of the first skyscrapers in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Completed in 1892 on the corner of Front Street East and Yonge Street, the seven storey tower was home to the Toronto Board of Trade and the Toronto Transit Commission.

The building was designed by the American architectural firm of James & James of New York City, and somewhat resembled the appearance of the Flour and Grain Exchange Building in Boston, Massachusetts, which had been designed two years earlier by the Boston firm of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge.

That Boston firm was also credited with the plans for the Montreal Board of Trade Building.

[1] There was considerable controversy about the award of the design contract; the Board of Trade wanted to build a skyscraper like those in New York, Chicago and Boston, and they favoured an American architect over Canadian-based ones, supposedly on the basis of experience with tall buildings.