Toronto Eaton Centre, Retail complex in downtown Toronto, Canada.
The Toronto Eaton Centre is a retail and office complex in downtown Toronto, Canada, that stretches across several city blocks. More than 230 stores occupy four levels beneath a continuous glass ceiling that runs the full length of the gallery.
The complex opened in 1977 on the former site of an Eaton's department store, which had grown into Canada's largest retail chain by the early 1900s. The original building gave way to this modern shopping center, which has since been expanded and renovated several times.
Hanging above the central hall is Michael Snow's 'Flight Stop', 60 Canada geese in fiberglass, wings fixed in mid-flight. Installed in 1979, the flock is a fixed reference point in the mall: shoppers arrange to meet beneath the geese, and the sculpture is often cited as one of the reasons the interior was retained through later renovations.
The mall's interior passages form part of the PATH underground pedestrian network, and two TTC Line 1 stations serve it: TMU station connects to Levels 1 and 2, Queen station to Level 1. Because the arcade is built over the former Taddle Creek on a gentle slope, the north entrance at Dundas Street sits on Level 3, one level above the south entrance at Queen Street on Level 2.
The glass-vaulted ceiling takes inspiration from Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and allows daylight to pour through the entire length of the shopping center. This design creates an open, sunlit interior that differs from the typical enclosed mall layout.
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