The Old City Hall - this Romanesque Revival style structure served as Toronto’s old city hall from 1899 to 1966. It is the work of E.J. Lennox, an architect with a reputation for mischief. Apparently, because Lennox was too slow, by the time the City Hall completed its construction, Romanesque Revival architecture was already out of style and it was three times over budget, leading to an irreconcilable split between Lennox and the city authorities. The Romanesque style is known for its intricate and detailed ornamental sculptures. Lennox was an extremely demanding architect, as well as a very skilled sculptor. All He was never satisfied with the carvings done by the laborers and asked for everything to be redone. I guess this is one reason it took such a long time. The Romanesque style often adorned the pillars of the main entrances carved with grimacing faces to scare off bad spirits. When creating these Lennox had a big laugh; he carved the faces of the hated politicians who gave him a hard time as little demons making demonic faces. His very own bust was carved right in the middle as a solemn, severe overseer, glaring down onto the civil servants going daily to and from work through the entrance. From the old city hall to the new one, it is only a few minutes on foot. All along you can see little shops called “Torontopia.” These are perfect places to buy souvenirs from Toronto, with lots of cute and fun items representative of the city available for sale. From socks to toys and t-shirts, if you don’t know much about Toronto, a walk around here will basically show you all the representative icons and landmarks of the city, such as Toronto’s street cars and raccoons who love to scavenge garbage cans for food.