culture
Vintage Toronto Ads: Opening City Hall, 1965
How advertisers marked the debut of our civic landmark 50 years ago.
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- <b><i>Toronto Star</i>, September 11, 1965</b><br><br />
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- 359767
- <b><i>Toronto Star</i>, September 8, 1965.</b><br><br /> Bosley Real Estate's ad highlights how the process to build City Hall went back nearly two decades, and tips its hat to previous occupants of the site.
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- <b><i>Toronto Star</i>, September 11, 1965</b><br><br /> Shell Canada operated its head office at 505 University Avenue from 1958 until moving to Calgary in 1984. Design firm Mariani and Morris was among the contenders to build City Hall in the early 1950s.
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- 359770
- <b><i>Globe and Mail</i>, September 11, 1965</b><br><br /> The Revell-inspired sand castles resemble those built by <a href="http://torontoist.com/2014/09/meet-a-toronto-mayor-nathan-phillips/">Nathan Phillips</a> in an editorial cartoon five years earlier.
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- 359776
- <b><i>Globe and Mail</i>, September 11, 1965</b><br><br /> John B. Parkin Associates's Simpson Tower opened its doors in 1968.
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- <b><i>Globe and Mail</i>, September 10, 1965</b><br><br /> Given the firm's work on City Hall, employees of John B. Parkin Associates earned a well-deserved day off.
- 20150909parkin
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- 359772
- <b><i>Toronto Star</i>, September 11, 1965</b><br>
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- <b><i>Toronto Star</i>, September 11, 1965</b><br>
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- <b><i>Toronto Star</i>, September 11, 1965</b><br>
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- <b><i>Toronto Star</i>, September 11, 1965</b><br><br />
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- <b>The<i>Telegram</i>, September 10, 1965</b><br><br /> The <i>Tely</i>'s supplement was the largest of the newspaper sections honouring City Hall.
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- <b><i>Toronto Star</i>, September 11, 1965</b><br><br /> CFRB utilized its star newsman and commentator to cover the opening.
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- 359773
- <b><i>Toronto Star</i>, September 11, 1965</b><br>
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- 359779
- <b><i>Toronto Star</i>, September 11, 1965</b><br>
- 20150909victanny
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When a major landmark opens, everyone (apart from skinflints complaining about cost) wants to join the party. It’s an opportunity to mark a major addition to your city, display optimism for the future, or find any means to hitch your wagon to the hoopla. Advertising in this vein ranges from simple congratulations to using the event as a springboard to brag about your latest milestone.
The opening of new City Hall in September 1965 was no different. The ads in our gallery mix historical perspectives, media coverage, building sketches, and corporations eager to embrace the future our new civic space symbolized.