the Batas' personal wealth. Since its establishment, the foundation set out to find a building to house the collection, exhibit footwear, and house calceology research centres. Early proposals to build the museum near the Ontario Science Centre, or the Harbourfront neighbourhood of Toronto were suggested, but were both rejected. Bata initially made a bid to build the museum at Harbourfront, although it faced public protest. In a conciliatory gesture, the Metropolitan Toronto council proposed the foundation drop the name Bata from the name of the museum, although Sonja Bata refused and abandoned plans to build the museum at Harbourfront. The collection was first publicly displayed in Toronto in 1992 at the Colonnade retail complex. The foundation contracted Moriyama & Teshima Architects to design a museum to house the collection, which was opened to the public on 6 May 1995. The cost to construct the building was not disclosed by the Bata family or the foundation, although estimates reported to be C$8 million to C$12 million. In January 2006, a pair of jewel-encrusted Indian majori slippers used by Sikandar Jah, along with a gold anklet, and toe ring were stolen from the museum. In 2006, the slippers were valued at approximately C$160,000, whereas the gold anklet was valued at C$45,000, and the toe ring at C$11,000. The stolen items were recovered several weeks later by the museum. Building The museum is located in a at the southwest corner of St. George Street and Bloor Street West, near the northwest corner of the University of Toronto's St. George campus. Prior to the museum occupying the site, a gas station was situated on the property. St. George station is the closest Toronto subway station from the building. The three-storey Deconstructivist-styled rectangular building was designed by Moriyama & Teshima Architects, with Raymond Moriyama as the project's lead. Moriyama was inspired to shape the building like the boxes used to store and protect the Batas' footwear collection when he viewed them in 1978. The three-storey building's roof is tilted, designed to appear as a lid sitting slightly askew atop a shoe box. The building utilizes most of the property's area, due to local zoning by-laws restricting the height of the building to . The building exterior is made out of smooth, angle canted limestone quarried from Lyons, France; and glass walls that protrude from the building's limestone facade, that serve as the entrance. The building's