Review of Aura Condos – Part 1: The Aura tower

Record-breaking heights

At the north west corner of Yonge & Gerrard streets, Aura Condo is the tallest residential condominium tower in Canada. When it was completed in 2014, standing 272m tall with 79 storeys, it also held the prestigious title of the tallest residential tower in North America. Since then though, it lost its “tallest North American status” when 432 Park Avenue, facing Central Park in New York city, was completed in 2016 with a height of 425m or 96 floors.

There is a bit of a controversy on exactly when the Aura Condo tower was demoted from the top of the skyscraper list: some argue that it was after One57 (formerly known as Carnegie 57) was built in New York, which was also at the end of 2014 (306m tall with 75 floors). The controversy is due to the fact that despite being a taller tower, only 75 floors is still shorter than the Toronto Aura Condo tower’s 79 floors.

The residents at Aura are still happy to know that they will keep living in the tallest residential condo in Canada until “The One” (the new condo development at the south west corner of Yonge and Bloor) takes the torch for that title when completed in roughly 2023 with a height of 306m and 85 storeys. By then, Aura will have had over 8 years of claim to being the tallest condo in Toronto and also the tallest condo in Canada.

Eye-catching architecture

With its iconic structure comprising of a very large 4-storey commercial podium base, followed by a squarish envelope, and finishing off with a sleek, curved profile, the mix of straight and curved lines gives the Aura tower a unique style. With its unusual finishings and height, it stands out in the skyline from anywhere in the outer reaches of the city, whether during the daylight hours with its strong skyline silhouette, or at night with its recognizable LED light “icicles” that create a beacon for the central core of Toronto. From the window of an airplane at night, it’s easy to see both Aura and the CN tower, as they are the two most dominant structural landmarks in Toronto from above.

For those interested in historical anecdotes, you may be surprised to hear that the original plan presented to the city consisted of two towers named College Park 3 and 4, to cap the College Park development on the block. When the proposal was rejected, the unconventional decision to have one tower on top of the other was formulated, approved, and the Aura Condo tower was then born as a single building with two separate stacked condo corporations and the two separate addresses of 386 & 388 Yonge Street.

If you’re curious to learn more about the tower and executive level suites at Aura Condos, feel free to check out our post on the matter right here. Also, we have a review of the lobby and the amenities in the building if you click right here too.