Osgoode Hall

The six acre site at the corner of Queen Street and what is now University Avenue was acquired by the Law Society in 1828. At the time the location was on the northwest edge of the city which has since grown around the building. The orginal two and a half storey building was started in 1829 and finished in 1832 from a design by John Ewart and W. W. Baldwin. The structure was named after William Osgoode, the first Chief Justice of Upper Canada (what is now the Canadian province of Ontario).
An 1844 expansion was designed by Henry Bowyer Lane. In 1846 the Law Society entered into an agreement with the government to house the province's Superior Court at the hall. Today, the building is jointly owned by the Law Society and the government of Ontario.

From 1855 to 1857 the building was refurbished and enlarged again, according to a design by the firm Cumberland and Storm, to accomodate courts with the original 1829 building becoming the east wing. From 1880 to 1891 the building was again expanded twice in order to accomodate the law school.

Despite the expansions, the hall presents a unified design in the late Palladian style. The iron fence surrounding the lawns of Osgoode Hall have become a landmark in themselves. The building is located beside the modern Toronto City Hall.

The distinctive iron gates are narrow and restrictive; they were designed to keep livestock out of the grounds of the Hall, there being a common practice of herding cattle down Queen Street during the 19th century.

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