299 Queen Street West
| 299 Queen Street West | |
|---|---|
 299 Queen Street West, as seen from the corner of Richmond and John Street | |
 | |
| Former names | CHUM-City Building |
| Alternative names | MuchMusic World Headquarters Bell Media Queen Street, Bell Media Studios |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
| Location | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Address | 299 Queen Street West |
| Opened | 1913 |
| Owner | Bell Media |
| Designated | Aug 11, 1986[1] |
299 Queen Street West, also known as Bell Media Queen Street or Bell Media Studios, is the headquarters of the television/radio broadcast hub of
With its 1913
Overview
The building serves as the official headquarters of Bell Canada's media unit,
Aside from the CTV network programming, Toronto station
History and architecture
The site where 299 Queen resides was once occupied by Beverley House, built on what was Lot 16 in 1812 for D’Arcy (Edward) Boulton Jr.(1785-1846), son of
The current five-storey building was originally constructed as the headquarters of the
CHUM Limited & CTVglobemedia
In 1979, family owned
The building's east wall was decorated with an actual older style news truck seemingly bursting out of the building; the front tires of the truck can still be seen spinning regularly. From the time the truck was erected there, it originally bore the old "
Previously, the northwest corner of the building used to contain a
While the outside facade has been restored and remains intact, the building's interior has been modernized into one of the world's most innovative media complexes. 299 Queen Street West was designed to have no TV studios; the entire building was rigged for audio and video. The building has been engineered so that public space, working areas, offices, stairwells, and even the parking lot may all be used as optimal shoot locations. Many television shows produced by the various outlets operating out of the building over the years, such as Citytv's
The annual
299 Queen Street West served as the national broadcast headquarters for the 2007
When Bell Media (then CTVglobemedia) acquired CHUM Limited, the
Citytv Toronto officially vacated the building on September 8, 2009, relocating to a new facility at 33 Dundas Street East.
In 2008, it was announced that CHUM’s Toronto radio stations—CHUM (AM) and CHUM-FM—would move to a nearby building at 250 Richmond Street West. A new 'CHUM Dial 1050 / Radio 1045' sign was unveiled on June 15, 2009, and the relocation was completed on August 19, 2009.
2010–present
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BNN later moved into the building on December 6, 2010,
On July 30, 2013, Bell Media announced that CFRB and CKFM-FM would be moving to the adjacent building 250 Richmond Street West, (part of the Bell Media Queen Street complex) from 2 St. Clair Avenue West. This marked the end of CFRB's 49-year tenure at their 2 St. Clair Avenue West studios. The move took place on May 10, 2014.[6]
In 2016, 299 Queen West received a landmark designation from the Ontario Association of Architects.[3]
On June 20, 2024, Bell announced that BNN and CP24 would relocate from 299 Queen Street West to 9 Channel Nine Court in Agincourt, with CP24 moving on November 26, 2024, and BNN moving in the third quarter of 2025.[7]
Other Bell Media facilities in Toronto
Alongside 299 Queen Street West, other Bell Media properties are operated from other facilities in the Toronto area:
- In mid-2015 it was announced the Virgin Mobileat much store would become a new street front facility for Much Digital Studios as part of their multi-channel new media network. The facility is part of the Bell Media Queen Street complex but is not directly connected to any other building. It had previously been the expanded ChumCity Store (relocated from within the ground-floor studio at 299, when not in use for shows like Breakfast Television or Electric Circus), as well as the first location for Moses Znaimer's MZTV Museum of Television.
- Studios for Bell Media's Toronto-based radio channels including CFRB, CHUM-FM, & CKFM-FM; and Downtown Toronto studios for CHUM (AM), are currently located at 250 Richmond Street West at Richmond and Duncan streets which is adjacent and connected to 299 Queen Street West by bridge to 260 Richmond Street West.
- Several other Bell Media television channels, including CTV's flagship station, CFTO-DT; along with CP24, CTV News Channel; TSN, USA Network, CTV Wild Channel, CTV Nature Channel; as well as the master controls for the CTV and CTV 2 stations in Alberta, Southern Ontario, and Eastern and Atlantic Canada (including CHWI-DT Windsor, CFPL-DT London, CKVR-DT Barrie, CHRO-DT Ottawa, CTV 2 Atlantic, CTV 2 Alberta, CKY-DT Winnipeg, CKCO-DT Kitchener, CTV Northern Ontario, CJOH-DT Ottawa and CFCF-DT Montreal); as well as some of the technical operations for TSN Radio 1050 are operated from 9 Channel Nine Court in Agincourt. Additionally, CHUM (AM)'s studios for television syndication of its radio programs are located inside 9 Channel Nine Court.[citation needed]
References
- ^ a b City of Toronto's Heritage Property Search. Accessed online March 10, 2010.
- ^ Mark Meredith. "Beverley House". househistree.com.
- ^ a b "299 Queen West Receives Landmark Designation from OAA | UrbanToronto". urbantoronto.ca. Archived from the original on 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
- ^ Landau, Jack (28 February 2019). "Throwback Thursday: Radio to Residential | UrbanToronto". urbantoronto.ca. Archived from the original on 2 February 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ BNN Wakes Up To Opening Bell Today In Brand New Toronto Studio at CTV’s Iconic Queen Street Headquarters Archived 2011-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "CFRB to leave landmark St. Clair offices for Queen West". Toronto Star. July 30, 2013. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- ^ Takagi, Andy (2024-06-20). "CP24 leaving Queen Street, moving to Bell Media's Scarborough studios in October". Toronto Star. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
External links
