List of tallest buildings in Toronto

Many of the tallest buildings in Toronto are also the tallest in all of Canada. The tallest structure in Toronto is the CN Tower, which rises 553 metres (1,814 ft).[1] The CN Tower was the tallest free-standing structure on land from 1975 until 2007. However, it is not generally considered a high-rise building as it does not have successive floors that can be occupied. The tallest habitable building in the city is First Canadian Place, which rises 298 metres (978 ft) tall in Toronto's Financial District and was completed in 1975. It also stands as the tallest building in Canada.[2]

Central business district before in 1974 and after in 2014

View of Downtown Toronto from Port Credit, Mississauga (May 2018)

View on the central business district from the CN Tower (June 2012)

The history of skyscrapers in Toronto began in 1894 with the construction of the Beard Building, which is often regarded as the first skyscraper in the city.[3] Toronto went through its first building boom in the late 1920s and early 1930s, during which the number of high-rise buildings in the city vastly increased. After this period, there was a great lull in construction between 1932 and 1964 with only a single building above 91.5 metres (300 ft) tall being built.

The city then experienced a second, much larger building boom, which was at its peak between 1967 and 1976. This period saw the construction of Canada's three tallest buildings and 6 of its top 10 (at the time). When topped off in 1967, the TD Bank Tower was the 14th tallest building in the world. The TD Tower would soon be followed by Commerce Court West, the 14th tallest building in the world at the time of its completion in 1972. Later, Canada's current tallest building, the First Canadian Place, became the sixth tallest building in the world at the time of its completion in 1975. After the mid-1970s, the pace of the boom slowed considerably but continued onto the early 1990s, culminating with the construction of the city's and Canada's second and third tallest buildings: Scotia Plaza and the TD Canada Trust Tower.

After this boom, the city went through a third, shorter lull in construction from 1993 to 2004, in which the city added only one new building to its top 20. By 2005 however, the city's third and largest high-rise construction boom began with the completion of One King Street West and has continued unabated ever since with nearly 50 planned, under construction or recently built buildings over 152.4 metres (500 ft) tall. Of the 21 buildings in Toronto taller than 200 metres, only 7 were built prior to 2010. In 2012, The St. Regis Toronto (then known as Trump International Hotel and Tower) was completed, with a top dome height of 252 m (827 ft)[4] and an antenna height of 277 metres (908 ft), making it the fourth-tallest structure in Toronto and all of Canada. With the completion in late 2014 of Aura—which, at 78 storeys and a height of 272 m (892 ft), is the tallest residential building in Canada—the tallest building under construction is the 309-metre (1,014 ft) tall The One, also a residential building.

Natalie Alcoba of the National Post described this phenomenon as the "Manhattanization" of Toronto.[5] In one week of 2018, Toronto's city council approved 755 storeys of new development in the city's downtown core.[6] The Toronto skyline (especially the CN Tower) can be spotted by the naked eye during clear daylight skies from locations as far as Newmarket from the north, Clarington from the east, several points along the Niagara Escarpment from the west, and Fort Niagara State Park in the south across Lake Ontario in the U.S. state of New York.[7]

As of January 2020, Toronto has constructed 72 skyscrapers and has a further 31 under construction and most of those should be built by 2023.[8] Toronto also has 92 skyscrapers that are either approved or in the proposal stage.[9] Toronto currently ranks 17th in the world with most skyscrapers already completed, 3rd in North America and 1st in Canada and ranks 4th in the world and 1st in North America with the number of skyscrapers under construction.