Horticulture Building (Toronto) 1907 and was designed by local architect G. W. Gouinlock in the Beaux-Arts style. It is a one-storey building, in the layout of an "E", with a large glass dome at the intersection of the wings. The glass dome is the site of the main entrance facing south. The wings extend to the east and west to the north. The site was previously the location of Toronto's Crystal Palace building, an exhibition hall fashioned after the design of the Crystal Palace in London, England. Toronto's Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire on October 18, 1906, spread by sparks from a
Woodbine Building Supply fire in one of the vans. At 12:34 AM on December 25, the building was destroyed by a massive explosion; debris was found embedded in cars across the street. Investigators believe that the inexperienced arsonists failed to start a fire on their first try, and on trying again accidentally ignited flammable vapours which had built up in the building's basement. Sam Paskalis was badly burned, and spent several months in hospital in a coma; he was badly disfigured. The body of Tony Jarcevic, 22, was discovered two weeks later. The fire which followed was one of the largest in Toronto's history.