Rainy. Not snowy, not cold, but damp. Parking at City Hall was easy, the crowds were light - however, it was only 6 pm!
A short walk from City Hall is a Toronto Christmas tradition: watching the enchanting Christmas windows at the Hudson's Bay Company. Victorian elegance, the famous blankets in a wintry wonderland - and 17th century grandeur.
This is Canada's oldest corporation: Prince Rupert, cousin of King Charles II, acquired the Royal Charter which, in May, 1670 granted the lands of the Hudson Bay watershed to “the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson Bay.”The beautiful building, however, is a lot younger. Designed by Edmund Burke for Robert Simpson, a dry goods merchant in 1895, it promptly burned down after the opening - only to be rebuilt 10 months later.
"The architect firm Burke and Horwood resolved to make this second building the best in its class. To lessen the risk of fire the new building was built on a steel frame - the very first of its type in Canada. The rolled steel girders were fire-proofed with concrete and the columns spaced at greater intervals." See story here.
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