North Country Unfading Gray natural roofing slate supplied for Toronto’s St. Lawrence Hall (157 King Street East)

One of the oldest public buildings in Toronto, the St. Lawrence Hall was built in 1854 following the Great Fire of 1849 which destroyed a large part of Toronto’s city core. The St. Lawrence Hall was the centre for Toronto’s social life.  A meeting hall for exhibitions, public gatherings, concerts as well as speeches given by Fathers of Confederation, George Brown and John A Macdonald.  Today, the hall is a venue for art shows, conferences and weddings. St. Lawrence Hall is a classic example of Renaissance Revival style with a North Country Unfading Gray mansard slate roof, Corinthian columns and domed cupola. Before affordable watches, the clock tower at the top of the hall chimed every hour helping Torontonians keep track of the time.

By 1966, the hall was in terrible shape with chimneys collapsing, window frames rotting and roof leaking. The City of Toronto took on the restoration in 1967 and the hall was recognized as a National Historic Site.  During the restoration, the site foreman noticed mortar falling from the east wall and evacuated the building.  This section collapsed minutes later thankfully no one was injured or trapped.

In 2011, we supplied 144 squares of our North Country Unfading Gray roofing slate, 18” x 9” x ¼” with special punching 6.5” from the top as the roofing slates were installed on Battens. The roof was installed with a 4” headlap which is required on roof slopes measuring between 4:12 and 8:12. A 4” headlap also changes the pieces per square from a traditional 3” headlap (213 pieces per square) to 4” headlap (228 pieces per square).

North Country Unfading Gray is a premium roofing slate of light to medium gray, with mottled inclusions of dark gray and black.  Produced in Vermont, this slate meets or exceeds ASTM test requirements as an S-1 rated roofing slate.

For assistance with sales, or technical inquiries regarding roof design, please contact our sales office at Toll Free 1-800-975-2835.  Or visit our website under Design Support for our CSI 3-Part Roofing Slate Specification.