St. Lawrence Market North, Public market hall in Toronto, Canada.
St. Lawrence Market North is a multi-story market building in downtown Toronto, Ontario, featuring a glass atrium, retail spaces, and municipal offices spread across several floors. Below ground, parking levels complete a structure that brings together market activity, city services, and everyday commerce in one place.
The site has served as a market since 1803, making it one of the earliest trading spots in Toronto's history. The structure standing today was built in 1968, replacing earlier buildings that had occupied the same ground over the previous century and a half.
Every Saturday, the building hosts a farmers market where local growers and makers sell fresh food and handmade goods directly to shoppers. It is one of the few places in the city where this kind of direct exchange between producers and buyers has continued for generations.
The building has several entrances and clear pathways connecting the different levels, so finding your way around is straightforward. From mid-November onward, the space gets noticeably busier as seasonal goods become available, so a weekday visit may be more comfortable during that period.
During construction work on the site, workers found nineteenth-century remains buried beneath the building, including fragments of old sewers, metal tools, and broken ceramics. These objects suggest that the ground beneath the current market holds a record of Toronto's daily life from well before the city took its modern shape.
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