Thursday, January 31, 2013

The Whitney Block

This handsome building is one of the many government of Ontario buildings located on Queen's Park East and it is known as the Whitney Block. The building was designed by architect Francis Heakes and finished in 1926 although the 16 storey tower wasn't added until 1933.  The building houses many offices but the tower itself has been empty since 1968 when it was declared too dangerous for occupation due to the lack of sufficient numbers of stairways for emergency exit! 

13 comments:

Mo said...

Health and safety as crazy there as here then.

Jackie McGuinness said...

Sometimes I just shake my head!

Lowell said...

Lack of stairways and emergency exits create a real danger and many people have died from such a lack. But I don't understand why the tower couldn't be renovated to include such things and put back into use. It's a very handsome complex/structure!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful building :)

Halcyon said...

I've never noticed this before. Love that brick facade. It looks so sturdy!

Andy said...

The number of windows amaze me. Some rectangle and some are arch.

Deb said...

Handsome looking building, shame about the tower, bet the views would be great.

Jack said...

"Handsome" is the right word, RedPat. The little pediment at the top center of the main building looks a little funny, don't you think?

Randy said...

It's a shame that it's not used. Beauty going to waste.

Anonymous said...

A very handsome looking building indeed, you did well to fit it all in the frame!

Sharon said...

Oh, I can think of all kinds of spooky stories to make up about that tower. If I worked in that building I'd be wondering who might be up there all the time.

Unknown said...

Massive and grand!

William Kendall said...

You'd think they'd renovate to make use of the tower section, but governments being governments...

A very imposing building!