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The Market Gallery offers changing exhibitions dedicated to Toronto's history, art and culture. Located inside the South St. Lawrence Market, in Toronto's oldest neighbourhood, the main gallery occupies the 19th century city council chamber which is all that remains from the City Hall that stood on this site from1845 to 1899.
At the time of this City Hall's construction in 1844 (ten years after the City was incorporated from the Town of York), Toronto's population was around 24,000. By the end of the century, Toronto's population had grown to over 200,000, resulting in the civic offices being transferred to what is now known as Old City Hall at Bay and Queen streets. In 1902 the south market building opened, and the front centre section of the 19th century city hall which had been enclosed but boarded up, was soon forgotten. It wasn't until the 1970s with the renovations to the south market building, that the council chamber was rediscovered and put to a dignified use as a City display space.
The Market Gallery opened in 1979 as the official exhibition space and storage of the City's permanent art collection. Since its opening the Gallery has displayed over 90 exhibitions revealing the cultural, physical, and social development of Toronto through paintings, photographs, fine art, maps, documents and other items, some dating back to the 19th century.
The Market Gallery is located at:
South St. Lawrence Market
95 Front St. E.
Second Floor
Toronto, ON
M5E 1C2
Gallery hours:
Wednesday - Friday, 10 am - 4 pm
Saturday, 9 am - 4 p.m.
Contact Us:
Phone: 416-392-7604
You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Viewer to view and print the PDF files. 
Current Exhibit:
Facets of Fame: The Portraits of Toronto Photographer
Al Gilbert
Exhibition runs until September 11, 2010
News Release for this exhibit (PDF)
Educational Programs:
Visit Toronto's Historical Artifact Collection Database
Previous Exhibits
Historical exhibit frames Toronto’s oldest neighbourhood – St. Lawrence Ward
News Release for this exhibit (PDF)
Toronto Island Narratives, Past and Present
News Release for this exhibit (PDF)
Lit City: Toronto Through the Eyes of Authors and Artists
News Release for this exhibit (PDF)
Over Any Distance Imaginable: The Royal Mail from York
This exhibition, courtesy of Toronto’s First Post Office, offered insight into a tumultuous period of our history, the 1830s, and one in which letters were the only form of long-distance communication.
News Release for this exhibit (PDF)
Art & Artefact: Fine and Decorative Art from the City of Toronto's Collections
Postercard for this exhibit
News Release for this exhibit (PDF)
A Common Thread: A History of Toronto's Garment Industry
This exhibit chronicled the history of the garment industry that began more than one hundred years ago and centred around Spadina Avenue.
Postercard for this exhibit
News Release for this exhibit (PDF)
Open Water: 82nd Open Juried Art Exhibition
Fifty-four works showcased the talents of new and established artists at the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour 82nd Annual Open Juried Art Exhibition.
News release for this exhibit
Postercard for this exhibit Wall to Wall: A History of Carpeting in Toronto
Wall to Wall: A History of Carpeting in Toronto explores 19th- and early 20th-century philosophies of home comfort, decorative fashion and domestic hygiene. The exhibit charts the progression of carpet styles and weaving technologies that ultimately made textile floor coverings widely available in and affordable to middle-class households.
News release for this exhibit
Postercard for this exhibit The Spadina Expressway Affair
The Spadina Expressway Affair exhibit explored the competing interests, public demonstrations and community activism that surrounded the highway. From the late 1960s until its cancellation on June 3, 1971, Torontonians fiercely debated the impact of a highway designed to link the suburbs with downtown and surrounding communities.
News release for this exhibit
Poster for this exhibit From Scorchers to Alley Cat Scrambles; the amazing history of the bicycle in Toronto tells the story of the revolutionary changes to transportation in the city and how the bicycle contributed to improving our roads, liberating women and modernizing consumerism, tourism and professional sport. Produced in partnership with the Community Bicycle Network. View Press Release for this exhibit
At The Market Gallery until May 14, 2006
An exploration of the design conventions and decoration on Jewish cemetery monuments. View Press Release for this exhibit (PDF)
Ecological balance of the Don Valley coming to the Market Gallery
The development and restoration of the Don Valley is the focus of the next exhibit at the Market Gallery on display from October 2, 2004 to January 30, 2005. Read more and download the postcard...
People and Places of Riverdale opens at the Market Gallery
People and Places of Riverdale opens at the Market Gallery on June 26 and is on exhibit until September 26, 2004.
The exhibit explores the history of the Riverdale neighbourhood from its beginnings as the land 'East of the Don', to a village of farmers, to a working class suburb of Toronto and its annexation to the city in 1884. Read more and download the postcard...
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