Zoomed In View, Eh?
A while back I complained about another condo development, and that some turn-of-the-century buildings on Yonge St were obviously "Doomed!", Boy was I wrong!
So although I graciously, partially recanted when I thought there was a chance of a "Reprieve", little did I know to what extent they were going to retain the buildings.
Until I read an article about this last week in the Globe & Mail [Hey! The Globe & Mail must read my blog!]
Looks like they are doing a full scale, mega expensive preservation exercise on these "Five" properties on Yonge St.
An excerpt from the G&M article:
"While a tower will eventually go up there as well, about a third of the low-rise, 1880s retail block running south on Yonge – where typical, er, “colourful” businesses once stood – is about to undergo a metamorphosis."
[Ed note: For those not in-the-know about 1960's Yonge St. "colourful" likely refers to businesses such as body rub parlours, tattoo joints and places where ladies show their lady bits to depraved men. Uhhh...or so I've read.]
The article continues:
"That means retaining full building shells from 606 to 618 Yonge rather than just façades, and, where façadism is a necessary evil along St. Joseph, the face of a 1905 warehouse is being held up by an enormous, bridge-like structure so that it can remain in situ while the foundation for the...45-storey tower is dug directly underneath it."
"On St. Nicholas, the warehouse wall will be disassembled and trucked off-site until the tower has been erected."
Wow! Now we're gettin' somewhere......
[For more info on this, check out the Globe & Mail article at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/architecture/dave-leblanc/yonge-streets-oldsters-make-room-for-a-glitzy-neighbour/article2216042/]
2 comments:
Very nice to see that you are doing away with old habits namely the Toronto Star for your pundage material. However, the Toronto histerical board (now Heritage Toronto)should relize that not all buildings have significance. Red bricks do not mean significance in my book unless rub and tugs are in fore front of Torontonians minds. Hmmm? Maybe in some cases I suppose. I agree with many of your sediments but redevelopment of urban centres is imperative for the overall economic benefit and prosperity of the communities they serve. Infrastructure is required to serve the citizens and provide economic development that is sometimes held back or incorporated at a higher cost to meet the needs of the historical board. I don't think the Don Jail needs to be apart of the new Bridepoint Hospital as I see no relation between the two. Multi millions are being spent to perserve a place where most people want to stay out of and more money could be put to use inside the walls of the Hospital. Perhaps, the Editor and Chief of this blog should do some research on the corner of which his own condo building landed upon. Probably, it too was red brick and not significant either. Imagine paying reserve fund fees to keep a historical facade in tact with repairs needing to be approved by a Board chronies? That wouldn't be cheap if I was the condo owner. At the end of it all, what is the significance? Nothing. Please do preserve significance for landmark architecture and rip down the rest. Maple Leaf Gardens anyone? Nevermind.
Maybe, though until they can come up with something interesting at street level in these new glass towers, I'll take something like an old red-brick (though I have a soft spot for yellow brick - from lovely Lambeth and London, not The Wizard of Oz). Now if they could only leave room for a tree and a garden or two...
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