9. The Colonnade - 131 Bloor Street

Imagine it’s 1963 in Toronto. The city is still largely a Victorian landscape, New City Hall is not yet complete, but some modernist apartment towers and office buildings have begun dotting the skyline. Here on Bloor, adjacent to bohemian Yorkville, the sleek Colonnade building opens -- unique because it was one of the first mixed-use developments in Toronto that blended retail, office space and residential units in one building. The idea was to create a situation where there was 24 hours of life, unlike some office tower districts that emptied out after 5 pm.

The Colonnade included this forecourt where a restaurant patio has been installed at times, as well as this unique zig-zag staircase, exceptional because it doesn’t include a central support. It’s a testament to modern building techniques, but also the notion that neighbourhoods don’t have to be for just one kind of use. The Colonnade was also one of the early transitions from Yorkville as hippie enclave to the “Mink Mile” chic strip it’s been since the art and bohemian scene moved elsewhere in the city.