The modern-era agency responsible for Toronto's harbour – variously known as the Toronto Harbour Commission, the Toronto Port Authority, and Ports Toronto – has been located in the iconic Beaux-Arts style Toronto Harbour Commission Building at 60 Harbour Street since its construction in 1917.

While the building once sat directly on Lake Ontario, lakefilling undertaken by the Commission caused its headquarters to move farther and farther from the water over several decades. This constituted part of the Waterfront Plan of 1912, which aimed to transform Toronto into a major shipping port. The process effectively created land where there was none by covering disused wharves, deserted vessels, and even discarded livestock carcasses with roughly thirty feet of dredged lake dirt. In this way, Queens Quay, Bathurst Quay, the Toronto Island Airport, and the Portlands were all formed.

The American spelling of "harbor" engraved into the building's façade frieze is a legacy of the temporary popularity of certain American spelling conventions in Ontario during the early 20th century. Judging from newspaper evidence, British and American spellings of harbour were used equally in what is now Ontario between 1850 and 2000. In 1991, the Toronto Star used both spellings in the same article. After about 2005, the American spelling died out again. Note that maps and plans of York from 1788 until the incorporation of Toronto in 1834 exclusively use the Britsh "harbour" spelling.

In 2017, a company called Oxford Properties and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board co-purchased the Toronto Harbour Commission Building for $96 million. While Ports Toronto continues to operate out of the building for the time being, which also currently houses a steakhouse on its ground floor, redevelopment of 60 Harbour Street is likely. Because the building is designated under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act within the Union Station Heritage Conservation District, it will almost certainly be preserved and incorporated into any new structures.

(Research and text by Alessandro Tersigni.)

• Architect - Chapman & McGiffin  <-- More buildings by this architect.