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The 1937 art deco Toronto Stock Exchange trading floor in 2019, looking a bit forlorn between events.
The 1937 art deco Toronto Stock Exchange trading floor in 2019, looking a bit forlorn between events.

Design Exchange

The Design Exchange has been located in the old Toronto Stock Exchange at 234 Bay Street, designated a heritage property in 1978, since 1994.

The signage says:

Designed by Architects George and Moorehouse with associate S.H. Maw and completed in 1937, the Toronto Stock Exchange building combined streamlined moderne, art deco, and stripped classicism styles.

Its design was revered as an architectural and technological marvel, a ‘masterful expression of its time, place and function’ with ‘the most up-to-date trading floor in the world.’

In 1983, the Stock Exchange moved to its current headquarters at the corner of King and York.

In 1994, Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KMPB) incorporated the historic Trading Floor and TSE structure into the unique Toronto-Dominion Centre complex.

Here's Boris Spremo's (much better framed) shot of the trading floor in action in 1968. From the Toronto Star Photograph Archive, courtesy of Toronto Public Library.
Here’s Boris Spremo’s (much better framed) shot of the trading floor in action in 1968. From the Toronto Star Photograph Archive, courtesy of Toronto Public Library.

While the Design Exchange did have one current exhibition on (The Futurists: Young Canada Transforms Tomorrow), I was more interested in the historic building, for an odd personal reason. I could swear I was brought there on an unusual date long ago, but I wasn’t feeling any recognition of the space. It must have been a different building?

In any case, the art deco or moderne style features gladdened my heart. Look at this staircase!

The Grand Staircase
The Grand Staircase

The descriptive sign says:

The grand staircase, currently known as the Vale Inco Staircase, which leads from the ground floor lobby to the second floor Trading Floor, is a masterful example of streamlined design.

Stainless steel with lacquered birch handrail swirls upward, inviting visitors to ascend from the first floor to the second floor.

"Over the Grand Staircase hangs Canada's first fluorescent lamp, predating the introduction of fluorescent lighting in North America."
“Over the Grand Staircase hangs Canada’s first fluorescent lamp, predating the introduction of fluorescent lighting in North America.”

I’ll be glad to return to have a better look at the Charles Comfort murals (opens 7-page PDF), to which my quick cell phone snaps did no justice whatsoever, and to see the third floor exhibition hall, when it reopens.

Design Exchange is museum no. 61 in my #100museums challenge (see 100 Museums Challenge).