Beard Building
The Beard Building was a seven-storey, 25.38 m (83.3 ft) Richardsonian Romanesque highrise in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that is considered to be Toronto's first skyscraper.[1] Designed by E. J. Lennox and completed in 1894, initial plans were for a nine-storey, iron-framed structure, but a more traditional wood-brick combination with seven storeys was settled upon.[3] The Beard Building consisted of a bank at street level, a commercial and office tower, and a hotel. A branch of The Bank of Commerce occupied the building's main space on its ground floor.[1] Above that, the hotel never opened because of the design of the building.[1][4] However, the space above the ground floor was leased to businesses as office space.[1] The building was named after George T. Beard, the original landowner of the site.[3] The Beard Building was demolished in 1935[5][3] and was replaced by a gas station a few years later.[1] References
Further reading
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