Abbey Lofts Update
Thank you to all of the people who have been contacting us about the Abbey Lofts near High Park. While this project is rather delayed and the builder is working frantically to complete the conversion, there is good news.
The site is currently closed to prospective buyers, it is because the lofts are almost done. The builder is finishing them off, then should be opening the site for viewings at the beginning of February.
The builder has at least 3 units left for sale, though this may change over the next couple of weeks as the interior work is completed, according to a builder rep. Another staff member hinted to me that there might be as many as 6 units left for sale.
These are all premium lofts, starting in the high $400s. There is also a loft available from a previous purchaser who is selling their interest. It is an 1,170 square foot loft with one bedroom plus a den.
The loft has open-concept living space, with a galley-style kitchen and an island eating area. There are stairs down to a sunken living room, which leads on to a den (or extra bedroom) reached through double doors. The architects have taken care to retain as much of the original 1911 Edwardian interior as possible. There are original, exposed limestone walls, original church doors (additional new windows to be put into the doors) and a stained glass archway going into the den. The ceilings are very high and help to create a large open atrium-style space. The walkout to a 30-foot terrace itself is large enough for an ‘outside’ lifestyle. The master bedroom has good closet space and a large en suite bathroom with shower stall.
As for the units available from the builder, they were making some changes as recently as last week, so the details are not as firm. All I know is that they will range from around 1,200 square feet up to just over 1,400 and will be priced from around $499,000 up to $569,000. Parking and locker and the little details are included, of course.
For those not familiar with this project, The Abbey Lofts are located in a period neo-Gothic church situated between Roncesvalles Avenue and High Park in a high-demand community with great shopping, restaurants and nightlife, and lots of room for recreation in Toronto’s most beautiful downtown park. Public transportation, a five-minute walk to the Bloor subway line, is excellent, and there are three streetcars nearby, running along College, Dundas, and King.
Each loft is one of only 24 to be created in a neo-Gothic church that was built in the Medieval Revival style in 1911. The light-grey solid limestone walls and stone cladding of architect William George Burns’ church, built for a Methodist congregation, are unchanged in nearly a century. The 90-foot church tower, built with the same limestone quarried in St. Mary, is a square campanile with pseudo ‘battlements’ on top.
The medieval Revival style is also referred to as Tudor, as in English architecture from the early 16th century. Some aspects of the Tudor style were borrowed from late Medieval castles or palaces, which often had overlapping gables, parapets, and patterned brick or stonework. Medieval churches were often fortified places of sanctuary and the Sunnyside church has some of the features of a fortification, but with a huge arched stained glass window to let light into the vaulted structure.
The church itself has changed names and congregations several times. In 1925, the Methodists merged with other Protestant denominations, and set up the Howard Park United Church. Then in 1970, the United Church congregation left the building and it was acquired by a group of Italian evangelicals. In 2003, they in turn moved from their Howard Street Pentecostal Church to a new building in Vaughan. The church on Sunnyside Avenue, in the High Park-Bloor area, was acquired by the current developers.
For further information, or to schedule an appoinment in February, please be sure to contact the Jeffrey Team today.
P.S. If this particular loft conversion is more than your budget allows, be sure to ask us about the various other converted churches around Toronto - you might be surprised at what is out there!
