Queen Elizabeth Way Monument

The Queen Elizabeth Way Monument, also known as the Lion Monument and as the Loring Lion, is an Art Deco monument located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 1939–1940 monument honouring Queen Elizabeth was built as a decorative marker monument for the Toronto entrance to the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) highway. Description The stone monument consists of a column with a crown at the top on top of a base. On the face of the base section is a profile of the Queen and a stone lion is placed in front of the base. The monument was designed by architect William Lyon Somerville, who also designed the Henley Bridge of the QEW. Sculptor Frances Loring was commissioned to execute the stone lion. Florence Wyle modelled the royal profiles and crown. Loring started the lion after the entry of Britain and Canada into World War II and it inspired her design: "a snarling, defiant British Lion, eight feet high." Loring personally carved the lion herself from Queenston limestone. She fired her originally commissioned carver after he made unauthorized changes and took over the carving herself in the late summer and fall of 1940. The monument cost ($ in dollars) History The monument was dedicated June 7, 1939, by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the namesake of the highway, during the 1939 royal tour of Canada.