Toronto is the largest city in Canada, with a metropolitan area population of just over 7.1 million (2026). Eight of Toronto's tallest buildings are also the tallest in all of Canada. Toronto has one of the largest skylines in the world, with 111 completed skyscrapers taller than 150 m (492 ft) as of 2026, 34 of which have a height greater than 200 m (656 ft). It is the third largest skyline in North America, after New York City and Chicago. The city's tallest building since late 2025 has been SkyTower at Pinnacle One Yonge, which rises 351.8 metres (1,154 ft) tall. It is also the tallest building in Canada. However, the tallest free-standing structure in the city is the 553.3 m (1,815 ft) CN Tower, which was the tallest free-standing structure in the world from 1975 until 2007, and remains the most prominent landmark on Toronto's skyline.
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. Toronto went through its first building boom in the late 1920s and early 1930s, increasing the number of tall buildings in the city. Following the Great Depression, there was a great lull in high-rise construction for over 30 years. A second, larger building boom began in the 1960s, which saw the construction of many recognizable commercial skyscrapers, such as the TD Bank Tower and Commerce Court West in 1973, the aforementioned First Canadian Place, and the postmodernist skyscrapers of Scotia Plaza and TD Canada Trust Tower towards the end of the boom.
A third, much larger high-rise construction boom emerged in the mid-2000s and has continued to the present, dramatically expanding and reshaping Toronto's skyline; of the skyscrapers taller than 150 m (492 ft), only 11—less than one ninth—were built before the 21st century. Unlike the previous two booms, most of Toronto's recent high-rise development has been in residential and mixed-use buildings. The rate of construction accelerated further in the 2010s and 2020s, with the completion of Toronto's tallest mixed-use building, The St. Regis Toronto, in 2012, and its tallest fully residential building, Aura, in 2014. The boom's extent has led it to be described as an example of Manhattanization. As of 2026, there are over 15 further skyscrapers under construction, three of which being supertall skyscrapers that will overtake First Canadian Place in height. The tallest is SkyTower at Pinnacle One Yonge, which will rise to 351.8 m (1,154 ft), followed by The One at 308.6 m (1,012 ft), and Concord Sky at 300.2 m (985 ft).
While most of Toronto's skyscrapers are located in Downtown Toronto, there are significant skyscraper clusters in Yonge–Eglinton as well as in North York City Centre to the north of downtown, Scarborough City Centre to the east, and in Humber Bay to the west. Downtown, Yonge–Eglinton, and North York all sit along Yonge Street, a major arterial. Smaller clusters of high-rises, such as in Yonge-St.Clair and Islington-City Centre West, can be found across the city. In the Greater Toronto Area, large skyscraper clusters are developing in Mississauga and Vaughan. 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. __TOC__
History
1890s–1950s
Toronto's population grew rapidly in the late 19th century, reaching 181,000 in 1891. The first "skyscraper" in Toronto is often considered to be the Beard Building. The seven-storey building was constructed in 1894 to a wood-brick combination design by E. J. Lennox, one of Toronto's most prominent and sought-after architects at the time. However, the similarly tall Toronto Board of Trade Building was completed two years prior in 1892; the Board of Trade wanted to build a skyscraper like those in New York City, Chicago and Boston, and they favoured an American architect over Canadian-based ones, supposedly on the basis of experience with tall buildings. In 1895, the Temple Building would be the first building in Toronto to breach the ten-storey mark. Housing the headquarters of the Independent Order of Foresters, a friendly society and financial institution, the Romanesque Revival building also looked to Chicago's early skyscrapers for inspiration. All three of the aforementioned buildings were demolished during the 20th century. While not a high-rise building, the Toronto's city hall, now the Old City Hall, was completed in 1899, featuring a prominent 103.6 m (340 ft) clock tower. Old City Hall was designed by E. J. Lennox in the Richardsonian Romanesque style and officially opened in 1899.
The Great Fire of Toronto in 1904 destroyed a large section of downtown, but the city was quickly rebuilt. The intersection of King and Yonge streets became a site for some of Toronto's first skyscrapers. In 1906, the Trader's Bank Building was completed. At 55.4 m (182 ft) and 15 storeys, it was the tallest building in the city, in Canada, and in the British Commonwealth until the Royal Liver Building was completed in 1911. The building was innovative in its leasing arrangements; it was the first major Toronto building to introduce the New York system of leasing by the square foot.The Toronto Daily Star. 16 June 1906, p. 21 Already the height of new buildings in Toronto were met with controversy, drawing comparisons with New York City's skyline. One editorial in The Globe wrote that "if the skyscraper habit grows, as there is every indication it will... the lower end of Yonge Street and the central portion of King street will become dim sunless canyons such as one sees in the financial centre of New York."The Globe. 16 March 1912, p. 38
A 61 m (200 ft) height limit was introduced in 1907,The Toronto Daily Star. 12 November 1907, p. 1 which was short-lived, as the even taller Canadian Pacific Building was built in 1913, retaking the title as the tallest building in the Commonwealth. It served as the headquarters for the Canadian Pacific Railway, which "was enjoying its greatest period of prosperity" and wanted to incorporate its offices into a single location. Its design has been described as Edwardian and Beaux-Arts. The Traders Bank of Canada, for which the Trader's Bank Building was built, would be acquired by the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in 1912. The RBC would later build the 89 m (292 ft), 20-storey Royal Bank Building at 8 Elm Street in 1915.
After a minor slowdown during World War I, Toronto's skyline continued to grow during the 1920s, with construction accelerating at the end of the decade. The architectural style of Art Deco was popular at the time influencing the design of the 21-storey Sterling Tower, which narrowly surpassed the Royal Bank Building at 90 m (295 ft) and 20 storeys as Toronto's tallest building in 1928. It was almost matched by the Old Toronto Star Building, which was the headquarters of the Toronto Star newspaper from 1929 until 1970. Also in 1929, the largest of Canada's grand railway hotels—a series of hotels built by the Canadian Pacific Railway to encourage the use of its rail network—was completed. The Royal York was designed in the Châteauesque style and contained over 1,000 guest rooms. It was 124 m (407 ft) tall, the first building in Toronto to exceed 100 m (328 ft) in height. In 1931, the Royal York was surpassed by the 145 m (476 ft) Commerce Court North, built as the headquarters of the Canadian Bank of Commerce; it is now part of the Commerce Court complex of office buildings. In 1932, a high-rise tower portion was added to Whitney Block. a Government of Ontario office building.
High-rise development stalled in the early 1930s with the onset of the Great Depression, and later, World War II, leaving the skyline virtually unchanged for two decades. The city's growth resumed after the war, and with it, high-rise construction gradually resumed in the 1950s. These buildings stayed well below the height of Royal York and Commerce Court North, which would remain as Toronto's two tallest buildings for 36 years, from 1931 to 1967. Among the most notable of them was the Bank of Nova Scotia Building, which had been planned in 1930, but construction was delayed and shelved until it began in 1947; the building was completed in 1950. Another was the Imperial Oil Building completed in 1957 as the headquarters of Imperial Oil, Canada's largest oil company. Many residential high-rises between 10 and 15 storeys were also completed in the 1950s as part of the "urban renewal" movement, sometimes at a distance from downtown.
1960s–1990s
Toronto's skyline would change significantly beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, with the downtown core rebuilt with new, taller, skyscrapers, designed in the modern and International styles. The new neo-expressionist Toronto City Hall opened in 1965, consisting of two curved, asymmetric 20-storey towers surrounding a saucer-shaped council chamber amphitheatre. The buildings have become a symbol of the city, referenced in Toronto's city flag since 1974. The most notable landmark towers were built by the largest financial institutions in the country, Canada's "Big Five" banks. The Toronto-Dominion Bank Tower, completed in 1967, not only broke the 150 m (492 ft) limit, but the 200 m (656 ft) limit as well, coming in at a height of 223 m (731 ft) and becoming Toronto and Canada's tallest building. It would be the first building of the eventual Toronto-Dominion Centre, the headquarters of Toronto-Dominion Bank, which now consists of six towers. Designed by famed German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the towers represents the end evolution of Mies's North American period. Like the Seagram Building in New York City, which Mies also designed, the Toronto-Dominion Centre follows the theme of the darkly coloured, steel and glass edifice set in an open plaza. Built alongside the towers was an underground shopping concourse, the first component of Toronto's PATH system that currently links many of Toronto's office skyscrapers.
The Canadian Bank of Commerce, which had built Commerce Court North in 1931, merged with Imperial Bank of Canada to become the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), now another of the "Big Five" banks. The bank intended to establish a new headquarter complex, and Commerce Court West was erected in 1973, in addition to a shorter eastern high-rise and a southern mid-rise building, forming the Commerce Court complex. Commerce Court West is another International Style edifice with stainless steel and glass curtain walls; at 239 metres (784 ft), it took the title of Toronto and Canada's tallest building. The rapid increase in building height at the time found opposition in Toronto mayor David Crombie, who attempted to impose various height restrictions across downtown, including a 45-foot (13.7 m) height restriction on bylaw development.