The Whitney Block is an important provincial office building located in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. It is located across the street from the Ontario Legislature, and contains the offices of the Premier of Ontario

Premier of Ontario

The Premier of Ontario is the first Minister of the Crown for the Canadian province of Ontario. The Premier is appointed as the province's head of government by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and presides over the Executive council, or Cabinet. The Executive Council Act The Premier of Ontario...

 and most cabinet ministers. The street address of Whitney Block is 99 Wellesley Street West, though the principal facade faces west towards Queen's Park Crescent and the Ontario Legislature. The building is linked to the legislature by a tunnel under the street, by a bridge to the Macdonald Block, and through there via another tunnel to the subway. The Modern Gothic structure was built in 1926 by architect F. R. Heakes

Francis R. Heakes

Francis Ryley Heakes was a Canadian architect. He studied under Kivas Tully in the mid-1880s. He was at one time Chief Architect of the Public Works Department of the Province of Ontario. Among his important commissions were the Whitney Block in downtown Toronto, the Mining Building at the...

 and the tower was added in 1932. Whitney Block is faced with Queenston limestone. The facade is ornamented by repeated sequences of quatrefoil

Quatrefoil

The word quatrefoil etymologically means "four leaves", and applies to general four-lobed shapes in various contexts.-In heraldry:In heraldic terminology, a quatrefoil is a representation of a flower with four petals, or a leaf with four leaflets . It is sometimes shown "slipped", i.e. with an...

s, and figures designed by Charles Adamson, which represent abtsract ideals like justice, as well as more ordinary pursuits such a mining and farming.

At its completion it was one of the tallest buildings in Toronto. It was originally known as the East Block, but it is now known as the Whitney Block in honour of former Premier

Premier of Ontario

The Premier of Ontario is the first Minister of the Crown for the Canadian province of Ontario. The Premier is appointed as the province's head of government by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and presides over the Executive council, or Cabinet. The Executive Council Act The Premier of Ontario...

 James P. Whitney.

While no longer used for office space, the tower remains as a distinctive feature of the building and contains one of the few operational hand cranked elevators remaining in Toronto. The building also once contained a bowling alley and a section set aside for live domestic and farm animals.

Ministries of Natural Resources, Revenue, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Government and Community Services are located at Whitney Block.

Other government buildings nearby include:

• Mowat Block
  Mowat Block
  The Mowat Block is an office building in Toronto, Ontario, home to Ontario's provincial Ministry of Education, Training, Colleges and Universities, Public Infrastructure and the Ministry of Culture...
  
  
• Macdonald Block
• Ontario Power Building
  Ontario Power Building
  The Ontario Power Building is located in Toronto. It was built in 1975 for Ontario Hydro. Located at the intersection of University Avenue and College Street, the International Style building stands at 80.0 m and 19 floors with 113,898 square metres of space....
  
  
• Hearst Block
• Frost Building
  Frost Building
  The Frost Building is a curved building on the south east side of Queen's Park Crescent in Toronto, Ontario. The building is owned by the Government of Ontario and is part of the large Queen's Park campus. The Frost Building is home to various ministries of the Ontario government, primarily the...
  
  

External links

• Ontario Parliament Virtual Tours