Two cannons sit outside the entrance to the Royal Canadian Military Institute in downtown Toronto. (Courtesy Royal Canadian Military Institute)

The century-old home of the Royal Canadian Military Institute in Toronto is no more.

Club members moved out earlier this summer, and demolition is underway.

The low-rise building that sits on the west side of University Avenue, just south of Dundas Street West, is to be turned into a high-rise condo project. The new structure is due to be completed in 2012.

On Wednesday, members of the institute gathered for a ceremony to open a time capsule that was placed in the cornerstone of the original 1907 building.

"It was customary in those days to put a time capsule when you're building a building," said past president Jeffery Dorfman.

The institute was built on Toronto's widest avenue. Its grand entranceway, highlighted by a pair of cannons, was a landmark in the city.

The building housed a military museum and a library of more than 15,000 books, most of which are devoted to Canadian military history. The club also played host to thousands of dignitaries over the years.

But maintaining the Edwardian building was an expensive struggle for the institute.

Facade to be maintained

"You know, when you have a 1905 Ford and it starts costing you a lot of money, you trade it in. And that's the approach we took," Dorfman said.

The new development will see the facade of the old building maintained, while the institute is relocated onto the first six floors of the new 42-storey glass and concrete condo tower.

"This is not only a sad day for the RCMI, it's a very sad day for Toronto," said former club president Charles Scott-Brown. "You have lost the last building on University Avenue from the original days."

The final act of rescuing the time capsule was a "bittersweet" moment, said Dorfman.

The capsule, when it was finally opened, didn't contain any obvious valuables.

A small hole had allowed oxygen to get in and all that remained were some brown and withered papers, along with an unreadable metal disc that might be a coin or an identification tag.

A spokesman for the institute said it will take some time to have the papers examined and the object cleaned to find out exactly what they were.

As for the new building, a 2010 time capsule will be included. But what exactly will be put in will remain a secret.