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Toronto's Top Attractions

Toronto's Top Attractions

Church Street

Church and Wellesley is roughly bounded by Gould Street to the south, Yonge Street to the west, Charles Street to the north, and Jarvis Street to the east, with the intersection of Church and Wellesley Streets at the centre of this area. The boundaries are not fixed, as some gay and lesbian oriented establishments can be found outside of this area. The American television series Queer as Folk was filmed in the Church and Wellesley area.

CN Tower

The CN Tower, located in downtown Toronto is a communications and tourist tower standing 553.33 metres (1,815.39 ft) tall. It surpassed the height of the Ostankino Tower while still under construction in 1975, becoming the tallest free-standing structure on land in the world. On September 12, 2007, after holding the record for 31 years, the CN tower was surpassed in height by the still-under-construction Burj Dubai. It remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Americas and the signature icon of Toronto's skyline, attracting more than two million international visitors annually. In 1995, the CN Tower was declared one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers, and also belongs to the World Federation of Great Towers.

Toronto Eaton Centre

The Toronto Eaton Centre is a large shopping mall and office complex in downtown Toronto, Ontario Canada, named after the now-defunct Eaton's department store chain that once anchored it. In terms of the number of visitors, the shopping mall is Toronto's top tourist attraction.[2] It is also the largest shopping mall in Eastern Canada and third-largest in Canada as a whole. The Eaton Centre is bounded by Yonge Street on the east, Queen Street West on the south, Dundas Street West on the north, and to the west by James Street and Trinity Square. Its interior passages also form part of Toronto's PATH underground pedestrian network, and the centre is served by two TTC stations: Dundas and Queen. The complex also contains three office buildings (at 20 Queen Street West, 250 Yonge Street and 1 Dundas Street West) and the Ryerson University Ted Rogers School of Management. Additionally, the Eaton Centre is linked to a 17-storey Marriott hotel, and to Canada's largest store, the flagship location of The Bay department store chain.

Yonge Street

Yonge Street (pronounced "young") is a major arterial street in Toronto and its northern suburbs. It was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world, and is a national historic site. Yonge Street was fundamental in the planning and layout of Toronto and Ontario, forming the basis of the concession roads in Ontario. It was also the site of Canada's first subway line. It serves as the dividing line between the east and west parts of east–west roads in Toronto and York Region. Yonge Street is home or close to many attractions in Toronto, including street and theatre performances, the Eaton Centre, Dundas Square, the Hockey Hall of Fame and–at the very start of the road–'One Yonge Street', the offices of the Toronto Star newspaper. The Yonge Line of the Toronto Subway runs under and in open cuts beside Yonge Street from south of King Street to Finch Avenue. The Viva Blue BRT line continues along Yonge from Finch to Newmarket Bus Terminal.

Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)

The Royal Ontario Museum, commonly known as the ROM, is a major museum for world culture and natural history. The ROM is the fifth largest museum in North America and contains more than six million items and over 40 galleries. It is also the largest museum in Canada. It has notable collections of dinosaurs, Near Eastern and African art, East Asian art, European history, and Canadian history. The museum is located at the corner of Bloor Street and Avenue Road, north of Queen's Park and on the east side of Philosopher's Walk in the University of Toronto. Established in 1912 by the provincial government, the Royal Ontario Museum was operated by the University of Toronto until 1968. Now an independent institution, the museum still maintains close relations with the university, often sharing expertise and resources.

Nathan Phillips Square

Nathan Phillips Square is a city square that forms the front (south) entrance to Toronto City Hall or 'New City Hall' at Queen Street West and Bay Street (its address is 100 Queen West). Nathan Phillips was mayor of Toronto from 1955 to 1962. The square opened in 1965. Like City Hall, the square was designed by Viljo Revell. The square is paved with large concrete slabs. It features an ice rink/reflecting pool at the south end, a peace garden in the middle, and "Three-Way Piece No. 2" ("The Archer") by Henry Moore at the north end in front of City Hall. An elevated concrete walkway runs along the perimeter and allows access to the podium roof of city hall; budget limitations, however, now require that the walkway be closed for much of the year. At the southwest corner of the square, on Queen Street, is Oscar Nemon's statue of Sir Winston Churchill.

HTO Park

HTO is an urban beach that opened in 2007. It is located at Harbourfront Centre, on Lake Ontario. The park was designed by Janet Rosenberg + Associates Landscape Architects, Claude Cormier Architectes Paysagistes Inc. and Hariri Pontarini Architects.

Roy Thomson Hall

Roy Thomson Hall is a concert hall located at 60  Simcoe Street in Toronto, Ontario. It is the home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Opened in 1982 and renovated in 2002, its circular architectural design exhibits a sloping and curvilinear glass exterior. It was designed by Canadian architects Arthur Erickson and Mather and Haldenby. The hall seats 3540 and features an impressive pipe organ built by Canadian organ builders Gabriel Kney of London, Ontario. Formerly known as New Massey Hall, it is named after the late Roy Thomson, first Lord Thomson of Fleet and founder of the publishing empire Thomson Corporation.

Casa Loma

Casa Loma (Spanish for House on the Hill) is the former home of financier Sir Henry Mill Pellatt and a major tourist attraction in Toronto. Sir Henry commissioned Canadian architect E.J. Lennox to design Casa Loma with construction beginning in 1911, starting with the massive stables a few hundred feet north of the main building. The stables were used as a construction site for the castle, with some of the machinery still remaining in the rooms under the stables. The house cost approximately $3.5 million and took a team of 300 workers three years to build from start to finish. Upon completion in 1914, at 98 rooms, it was the largest private residence in North America. Notable amenities included an elevator, an oven large enough to cook a steer, two vertical passages for pipe organs, central vacuum, two secret passages in Sir Henry's ground-floor office and three bowling alleys (never completed).

Toronto Zoo

The Toronto Zoo is a zoo located in the north eastern part of Toronto. It opened in 1974 as the Metropolitan Toronto Zoo and is owned by the City of Toronto; the word 'Metropolitan' was dropped from its name when the cities of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto were merged to form the present-day City of Toronto. The zoo is located near the Rouge River. It is one of the day use areas of Rouge Park, one of Canada's largest urban natural environment parks, and is open every day except Christmas day. Encompassing 287 hectares (710 acres), the Toronto Zoo is one of the largest in the world - the third largest. It is divided into six zoogeographic regions with numerous indoor pavilions and outdoor exhibits. The zoo is home to over 5,000 animals representing over 460 distinct species. The zoo is accessible from Highway 401 (2 km away), or by TTC buses from Don Mills or Kennedy station.

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