Christo­pher Hume – Toronto Star

Lined with res­i­den­tial, com­mer­cial and old indus­trial build­ings, Dav­en­port is a road of many faces. For all its var­i­ous incar­na­tions, the most desir­able stretch runs east and west from Avenue Rd.

Ave and Dav, as the area’s called, has become the cen­tre of an urban vil­lage that includes some of Toronto’s most appeal­ing streets – Tranby and Bernard to name a few. Despite the com­pact scale of the local hous­ing stock, the neigh­bour­hood is well con­nected and even bet­ter serviced.

On the other hand, many of the nice old heaps that once defined Dav­en­port have given way to unim­pres­sive mod­ernist boxes and unin­spired condo devel­op­ments. But like so many suc­cess­ful Toronto neigh­bour­hoods, this one seems to thrive regard­less. Its atmos­phere of gen­til­ity and sophis­ti­ca­tion shines through the indig­ni­ties that have been vis­ited upon the area.

Condo Critic – 238 Dav­en­port Road

This strange struc­ture, which looks out onto the street from the north side just west of Avenue Rd., offers few clues about itself.

The extra large bal­cony that occu­pies most of the front facade is the most obvi­ous fea­ture, but even it could be some sort of cor­po­rate ter­race, a place for staff and vis­i­tors to mix and mingle.

At the same time, the addi­tion of a smaller bal­cony within the larger one may indi­cate a more con­ven­tional res­i­den­tial pres­ence. The ground floor, of course, is business-oriented, which makes sense. Above the bal­cony, a row of trees pro­vides evi­dence of fur­ther domesticity.

But because the archi­tects eschewed the tra­di­tional approach of cre­at­ing iden­tity through the front facade, the build­ing can’t be under­stood in the usual way. In this case, we feel the condo was designed so inhab­i­tants can look out with­out us being able to look in. The large loggia-like space seems to extend out over the side­walk and make the build­ing impos­si­ble to ignore.

And cer­tainly, it has lit­tle to do with its neigh­bours; as far as this condo is con­cerned, they don’t exist. In that respect, it’s like every­thing else in the vicin­ity. What­ever coher­ence the 19^th cen­tury brought to the dis­trict was undone by the last century.

Still, this is a build­ing one can’t help but admire; its con­fi­dence verges on indif­fer­ence, falling just short of arro­gance. Con­ceived as a series of boxes, one stacked atop the other, it steps back from the side­walk sup­ported by a pair of columns. The box above reaches out to the prop­erty line, pro­vid­ing shel­ter to the entrance below.

In this part of town, where it’s nor­mal for build­ings of all sizes, shapes and uses to share space on the street, a project such as this is some­how able to fit in. As odd as it may seem, it works.

GRADE: B

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