Toronto Police Headquarters is the headquarters of the Toronto Police Service, located at 40 College Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the first purpose-built police headquarters in Toronto since the formation of the city's original police force in 1835.

History

The current headquarters is on the former site of the downtown Toronto YMCA building at Bay Street and Grenville Street. The Central YMCA Building was built in 1913 and vacated in 1984 for the new YMCA building on Grosvenor Street.

Architecture

Completed in 1988 by Toronto firms Shore Tilbe Henschel Irwin & Peters and Mathers & Haldenby, the twelve floor, 50m tall building is an example of Postmodern architecture. It was built to replace the older and smaller office on Jarvis Street. The building is composed of a series of glass block and pink granite cubes, which step back as they rise along College and Grenville streets. An octagonal twelve-storey tower meets the southeast corner of Bay and Grenville streets. Natural light pours into the central area of the building through a ten-storey high atrium. A domed roof crowns the elevator lobby atop the terraced structure. Street officer nicknames for the structure can vary, depending on the individual officer's opinion of headquarters as an institution: "the Pink Palace" and "the Pink Whorehouse" are two examples. A fully stocked bar, the Executive Officers Lounge has been located on the 4th floor since 1988. Since 1989, it has been licensed by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. It is operated by the Toronto Police Senior Officers' Association, and access to the bar is limited to senior officers – those ranked inspector or above. In October 2022, the superintendent in charge of the Toronto Police Service's disciplinary tribunal pleaded guilty to driving with a blood alcohol content above the legal limit in January of that year after leaving the lounge. In June 2023, the Toronto Police Service announced that the bar's license would not be renewed and that it would be closed.

Previous Police Headquarters (1835–1988)

Toronto Police Department headquarters from 1835 to 1932: