Toronto's Crystal Palace

Once a beautiful part of the Toronto waterfront, it was lost to fire

In 1851, London hosted the the Great Exhibition and the centerpiece of that event was the Crystal Palace. Designed by Joseph Paxton, the structure was 564 metres long and 39 metres high. Manufactured with 60,000 panes of glass, it took only 39 weeks to build.

With the success of that exhibition, and the attention given to The Crystal Palace, it was only a matter of time before other cities in the British Empire built their own palaces.

Several cities in Ontario did so, including Ottawa, but none compared to the size and grandeur of Toronto’s Crystal Palace.

Built in 1858, it was built for the Provincial Agricultural Fair of Canada West as the main attraction of the fair. Also known as The Palace of Industry, it was located near King Street. W and Shaw Street.

The building was designed by Sir Collingwood Schreiber and Sir Sandford Fleming, the same man who came up with time zones and standardized time.

The building was 4.3 square kilometres in size, measuring 78 metres long, 29 metres wide and 17 metres tall. It took only 90 days to build, with walls made of cast iron and opaque glass that extended into the roof. Part of the roof was made of wood, covered in tin. On sunny days, the entire building seemed to glisten in the sunlight.

It could hold about 8,000 people, and featured four large entrances and beautiful cast iron columns.

After two decades though, the original Crystal Palace was in need of updating with better lighting and ventilation. The floor was also beginning to rot.

In 1878, after Toronto decided to host a permanent fair called the Toronto Industrial Exhibition (now the Canadian National Exhibition), the Crystal Palace was dismantled, pieces numbered and then rebuilt on the new site of the CNE Grounds.

The rebuilt building had 100 ventilators for proper air circulation, semi-circular windows and it became a shining pride of the fair grounds. Within the building there were also cast iron fountains, drinking fountains and an art gallery.

On Oct. 18, 1906, a fire started at the grandstand and began to spread through the grounds. The winds carried embers through the air, with some landing on the Crystal Palace. Within 45 minutes, the entire building was engulfed in flames. There were attempts to save it but it was no use. The building was destroyed.

The Horticulture Building was erected the following year on the spot that the Crystal Palace once stood.

The Crystal Palace may be long gone, but it was an important part of the early history to one of the biggest events of the year in Canada, the Canadian National Exhibition.