Hudson's Bay Queen Street

Hudson's Bay Queen Street (formerly the Simpson's Department Store) is a building complex on the southwest corner of Yonge Street and Queen Street West in Downtown Toronto. It operated as the flagship store of the Simpsons department store chain from 1895–1991. The building became the area flagship store of its successor The Bay in 1991 (rebranded to Hudson's Bay in 2013), and was retrofitted to house the first Saks Fifth Avenue in Canada in 2016. It is also the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company, which owns both chains.[3]

Hudson's Bay Queen Street
Simpson's Department Store (1908)
Former names
  • Simpson's Department Store[1]
  • The Bay Queen Street
General information
Architectural styleRomanesque Revival
Location176 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5C 2L7
Coordinates43°39′07″N 79°22′46″W
Current tenants
Construction started1895
OwnerCadillac Fairview[2] (leased to Hudson's Bay Company through at least 2039)
Design and construction
ArchitectBurke and Horwood

Hudson's Bay Company sold the complex to Cadillac Fairview in 2014, and maintains a leaseback agreement with the company through at least 2039. It is now considered part of the CF-owned Toronto Eaton Centre, although a skybridge had already been connecting the adjacent properties for convenience since the 1970s.

History

1895–1991: Simpsons

The 1896 sandstone building located on Queen Street slightly west of Yonge Street was built by Toronto firm of Burke and Horwood for Simpson's Department Store in the Romanesque Revival style with Chicago School influences.[4] The fireproof steel frame structure replaced the original 6-storey store that burned in 1895 just three-months after opening.[5] The Simpson's structure is strikingly similar to the Confederation Life Building located just east of Yonge, but less ornamental. The store was built to replace the original Simpson's dry goods business at 184 Yonge Street [6] and was located directly across from rival retailer's Eaton's Annex.

The store's interior featured an open atrium that extended from the ground to the sixth floor. In addition to other departments, the basement featured a coffee shop and discount division. In 1954, it was connected to the Queen subway station and later to the PATH network.

In the early 20th Century, a Dominion supermarket (City Hall Market) occupied the northeast corner of the ground floor. It closed in the 1960s.

The store outgrew the capacity of the structure by 1900, leading to the first of several expansions. Burke and Horwood returned with additions in 1907 and 1923.[7] The largest expansion came in 1929 with Chapman and Oxley's nine-floor Art Deco addition (facing Bay and Richmond) capped by the Arcadian Court.[8] When construction completed, the store occupied two full city blocks.

In 1969, John B. Parkin's Simpson Tower was added to the complex at the corner of Queen Street West and Bay Street to house Simpson's offices.

Unlike Eaton's, the store survived the remaking of the neighbourhood and retained the original look. A glass-enclosed bridge was added in the late 1970s to allow customers to access the Toronto Eaton Centre without braving the elements or traffic.

Today's Special, a children's television series that aired on TVOntario and in the United States on Nickelodeon during the 1980s, utilized the location for several scenes.

1991–present: Hudson's Bay
The Bay Queen Street north facade

In 1991, the Simpson's name was replaced with the banner The Bay (amended to the current "Hudson's Bay" in 2013).

The Bay Queen Street continues the Simpson's tradition of Christmas-themed display windows facing Queen Street West west of the main Queen Street entrance.

The complex connects to the nearby Bay Adelaide Centre and shared underground parking complex.

In January 2014, HBC announced it had sold the property to Cadillac Fairview through a sale-and-leaseback arrangement, with HBC leasing the property for at least the following 25 years (with options for a further 50 years). Under the deal, the store is for the first time considered an official part of the Cadillac Fairview-owned Toronto Eaton Centre, and part of the site will be remodelled as a store of fellow HBC chain Saks Fifth Avenue, to open in 2016.[2]

In 2016, a grocery store, Saks Food Hall, was added run by Pusateri's in the basement.

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See also

References
  1. "Simpson's Department Store". Architectural Index for Ontario. Toronto Public Library. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
  2. "HBC sells flagship Toronto store, will open Saks location". 2014-01-27. Retrieved 2015-06-28.
  3. "Heritage Property Details". City of Toronto. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
  4. David Monteyne. "Burke, Horwood and White". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  5. "The Robert Simpson Company Limited". Hudson's Bay Company. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
  6. "Canadian Fashion Connection – St. Regis Room, Simpsons". Jonathan Walford's Blog. 4 December 2010. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
  7. "Information on Architect: Chapman & Oxley, (firm)". Architectural Index for Ontario. Toronto Public Library. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
  8. "Simpsons". The Department Store Museum. April 2011. Retrieved 2013-01-25.

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