Canada Life Building - University Ave, Toronto

The Canada Life Building is a historic office building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fifteen-floor Beaux Arts building was built by Sproatt & Rolph and stands at 285 feet (87 m), 321 feet (97.8 m) including its weather beacon.

It is located at University and Queen Street in the city's downtown. Work on the new headquarters of the Canada Life Assurance Company began in 1929 and it opened in 1931. It was the fourth building to serve as the headquarters of Canada Life, Canada's oldest, and at the time largest, insurance company. Previously it had been housed in offices at Bay and King Street.

The Beaux Arts structure was the first of a series of planned structures along University Avenue, but the Great Depression halted these plans. When it was completed it was one of the tallest buildings in Toronto. It remains one of the largest office buildings in Toronto with windows that can be opened by its occupants.

Weather beacon

The building is perhaps best known for its weather beacon, installed on August 9, 1951. The beacon flashes green for clear weather, red for cloudy, flashing red for rain, and white for snow. Lights affixed to the support tower indicate variations in temperature.

The beacon's colour-coded translations of weather information provide onlookers with "predictions at a glance". The information is updated four times daily, seven days a week, by Environment Canada's Weather Centre at Pearson International Airport.

• Steady green = fair weather
• Steady red = cloudy skies
• White flashes = scattered flurries
• Red flashes = rain
• Lights running up = rising temperatures
• Lights running down = falling temperatures
• Steady lights = steady temperature