West Wing

Following the fire of 1909, the government hired popular Toronto architect Edward James Lennox (1854-1933) to re-design the west wing. Lennox had designed other well-known buildings in Toronto including Old City Hall (1899), the King Edward Hotel (1903), and Casa Loma (1911).

Lennox maintained Waite's exterior style but introduced Italian marble to the new interior. A stained-glass ceiling featuring the Ontario Coat of Arms and an extra storey created a dramatically different look from Waite’s original design. A new flat roof was constructed that implemented glass bricks called Luxfer Prisms, designed to scatter light across the stained glass.

With the addition of a fifth floor, the higher roof line made the building's appearance asymmetrical. As well, with the Credit Valley sandstone no longer available, stone from River John, Nova Scotia, was used instead causing some colour variations in the new upper stonework.