The Beard Building
E.J. Lennox UnBound!
The Beard Building, drawing. Circa 1890
Toronto's First Skyscraper
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Name: Beard Building, The |
Address: King Street and Jarvis Street |
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Architects: E.J. Lennox |
City/Province: Toronto, Ontario |
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Built: 1890 Demolished: 1929 |
Materials: Stone, brick |
It was Toronto's first real skyscraper. It projected out into the sky, dwarfing St. Lawrence Hall and the two-storey Georgian brick buildings that surrounded it.
Outfitted in regal Edwardian splendour, the Beard Building is E.J. Lennox's least known works. Little documented, but for a few panorama photographs and the watercolour above, the Beard is one of Toronto's least known buildings and best kept urban secrets.
The Beard was a bank at street level, a commercial and office tower and a hotel.
Foundation wall of the Beard Building, excavated. (Photo:1998)
Who was E.J. Lennox?
"Mr. E.J. Lennox, architect, was born of Irish parents, in Toronto, in the year 1855. With an education acquired at the old Grammar and Model Schools, he attended the architectural drawing classes in the old Mechanics' Institute in 1874, and carried off the first prize and diploma in a class of sixty, of which he was the youngest pupil. For the next five years he studied architecture in the office of the late William Irving. After travelling for a time, another five years were spent as a member of the firm of Lennox & McCaw. Since then, Mr. Lennox has been in business alone and has built up one of the largest practices in Canada. The high reputation for beauty of design and executive ability, which Mr. Lennox has acquired, causes him to be frequently employed as a consulting architect. Among the many buildings erected under his supervision in Toronto are Bond Street Congressional Church, Bloor Street Baptist Church, and Erskine Presbyterian Church. He is now superintending the erection of the City and County Municipal buildings of Toronto, the Freehold Loan & Savings Company building, and the new Athletic Club building. Although a young man, Mr. Lennox is already in the front rank of his profession in Canada." Source: Toronto Old and New, 1891
A brick from foundation wall of the Beard Building. (Photo:1998)
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