[PHOTO] First Canadian Place, recladding

[rfmcdonald]

First Canadian Place, the tallest skyscraper in Toronto and Canada and 11th highest in North America, saw its construction completed in 1975 after a long period of redevelopment in downtown Toronto, the construction itself being propelled by the westwards shift of economic gravity from Montreal intensified by the growth of Quebec separatism.



The building's original Carrera marble facing proved unsuitable to the Canadian winter, bits and pieces falling off and shattering on the streets below, so the building's owner started to replace damaged slabs with new ones, these latter standing out next to the pollution-stained older slabs. In the end they decided to start recladding the tower, adding white frittered glass. One of the November photos taken from the Toronto City Hall landing, this shows that the crews started from the top and are going down.