The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts is a 2,071-seat theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located at the southeast corner of University Avenue and Queen Street West, across from Osgoode Hall. The land on which it is located was a gift from the Government of Ontario. It is the home of the Canadian Opera Company (COC) and the National Ballet of Canada. The building's modernist design by was created by Canadian firm Diamond and Schmitt Architects, headed by Jack Diamond. It was completed in 2006, and the interior design includes an unusual glass staircase. History In the 1980s, the Canadian Opera Company and financier Hal Jackman, president of the Ballet Opera House Corporation, had begun lobbying for a new building to replace the O'Keefe Centre (now known as Meridian Hall). This building had housed the opera company for about 40 years. The company had also previously been housed in the Royal Alexandra Theatre on King Street and the Elgin Theatre on Yonge Street. Earlier in the city's history, the Grand Opera House stood at Bay and Adelaide until it was demolished in 1927. Bay Street proposal In 1984, Ontario premier Bill Davis promised that a piece of provincially owned land at Bay Street and Wellesley Street would be the home for the new opera house. The lot was estimated to be worth some million. A design competition was won by the postmodern project of Moshe Safdie. In 1988, the project was approved and the existing stores and government offices on the site were demolished. After a new NDP provincial government under Bob Rae was elected in 1990, inheriting a large deficit because of a recession, the million project was deemed excessively costly. The province was also dealing with the unexpectedly high million cost of the SkyDome project. When the opera house corporation refused to modify the design to lower costs, the government withdrew its funding commitment two months after the election. In 1992, the province cancelled the project and the land was sold to developers. Two towers in the "Opera Place" development have been built on Bay Street, but as of June 2011, the rest of the property remains vacant. University Avenue project In 1997, the province allocated a parking lot, which previously housed offices for the Supreme Court of Ontario at Queen and University, for the project. The lot was valued at million, and the federal and provincial