Opulent Toronto towers clad in actual gold to get slapped with giant corporate logos

A pair of Toronto's most iconic office towers, known for their shimmering gold exteriors, could soon have big corporate logos slapped onto their rooflines.

Royal Bank Plaza is far from the tallest of the pack in Toronto's Financial District, but the complex's 1976-built north tower and 1979-built south tower have become iconic landmarks at the northwest corner of Bay and Front streets, across from Union Station. 

The pair of towers are best known for being clad in literal gold, with a combined 2,500 ounces of the precious metal built into their approximately 14,000 windows, a testament to the coke-fuelled opulence of big finance in the late '70s and early '80s. If someone were to go through the trouble of melting it all down, the gold used in the tower facades would be valued at $15,577,545.50.

But that iconic exterior could look very different in the near future, with plans in the works to install enormous roof signs on the complex, joining just about every other office tower in our logo-littered skyline.

A signage variance application accepted by the City on Aug. 18 calls for the installation of four illuminated signs, including three roof-level signs atop the two office towers.

City of Toronto

The proposed signs include a large northeast-facing RBC logo on a programmable LED screen at the complex's atrium exterior, but the real kicker is the plans for south- and west-facing illuminated signs on the roofline of the south tower, and a north-facing illuminated sign atop the north tower.

RBC/Pattison ID via City of Toronto

RBC has signed on Pattison ID, a firm behind many major signage installations in Toronto, to design the new signs. 

The roof signs would measure a generous 5.94 metres by 7.71 metres, and would join other RBC logos on the skyline, most notably the RBC Centre at Simcoe and Wellington.

RBC/Pattison ID via City of Toronto

Spanish billionaire and owner of fast-fashion chain Zara, Amancio Ortega, purchased the complex from Oxford Properties and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for roughly C$1.2 billion in 2022 through his private investment holding company, Pontegadea.