City Hall

The location at a glance

Nathan Phillips Square sits outside New City Hall at 100 Queen Street West; Old City Hall stands across Bay Street at 60 Queen Street West. Both are public, free, and open air.

The square draws more than 1.8 million visitors a year to its events. The 3D TORONTO sign stands three metres tall and is illuminated; the original went up in July 2015 for the Pan American Games and was replaced with a more durable version in September 2020.

Old City Hall was Toronto's council chamber from 1899 to 1966 and a provincial courthouse afterwards. It is now open to the public only occasionally — pop-up events, exhibits and civil ceremonies — so treat the interior as unavailable unless you have confirmed otherwise. The exterior, which is what our own frames use, is public street.

Light and timing

This is the one location on our list that is better after dark than in the middle of the day.

Old City Hall's entrance arcade is deep, and at night it is lit from inside the arches, so the stone goes warm and the couple can be placed against a glow rather than in front of a flat façade. The City Hall towers are lit too. Our own night frames from here are the strongest in the set, and they are not a fallback — they are the reason to come.

In daylight, the elevated walkway on the west side of the square gives the wide frame that carries both city halls and the downtown towers in one picture, and it is high enough that a long veil can be thrown out over the rail. The arcade holds deep shade through the day, so it works when the open square does not.

Midday on the open square is the hardest light of any location here — flat concrete, no shelter, and the sign in full sun.

Where the photographs are

Old City Hall's arcade — the sandstone columns, their carved capitals, and the great arched entry above the steps — is the frame that looks like nowhere else in the city. The steps are broad enough that a train can be spread across them and still read.

On the square side, the elevated walkway carries the wide frames: Old City Hall's clock tower one way, the curved towers and the TORONTO sign the other. The sign itself is a picture people want; it is also the busiest object on the square, which is a scheduling problem rather than a framing one.

After dark, the lit arches at Old City Hall and the illuminated towers are the two frames worth building an evening around.

Permits and access

Nathan Phillips Square is public space. A couple, a photographer and a handheld camera are members of the public using a public square, and that needs no arrangement with anyone.

Booking the Square is a different thing entirely and applies to events: the City opens permit applications only in October for the following year, and says event facilitation needs eight to twelve weeks. If a session grows past handheld — lighting stands, a crew, anything that occupies space or needs power — it stops being incidental use and the City's own permitting is the right question to ask. Old City Hall's interior is not public access on an ordinary day.

A few things to plan around

The square is programmed. More than 1.8 million people a year come for events, the rink takes over the centre in winter, and a stage or a market can occupy the space on a day that looked clear. Check what is booked before fixing a date.

The TORONTO sign has a queue in front of it most of the time. Treat it as one frame you might get, not the spine of the session.

And Old City Hall is between chapters — courts gone, long-term use still being decided — so scaffolding and hoarding are a live risk on any given month. Look at a recent photograph of the façade before committing to it.