Tag Archives: heritage toronto
Roncy condo a pretty sweet storey
Robert Watson spot highly sought after
Omar Mosleh – Town Crier
Realtor Laurin Jeffrey says he knows a sweet place to live in Roncesvalles Village.
The Robert Watson building, a former confectionary factory located on Sorauren Avenue, houses some of the most sought-after lofts in the city, said Jeffrey, a sales rep at Century 21 Regal Realty Inc. Brokerage.
“People are always asking me if there are spaces available,” Jeffrey said. “It’s a beautiful building, it’s one of the best loft conversions in Toronto.”
The building has been converted into high-end lofts, and recently received an honourable mention from Heritage Toronto in their William Greer Architectural Conservation and Craftsmanship category.
“The jury considered this project to be a good example of adaptive reuse of a 100-year-old industrial building and its integration into a residential development project,” said the award’s jury.
The original structure at 363 Sorauren Ave., designated as a heritage site in 2008, is connected to a new six-storey building.
The former R&T Watson Co. confectionary factory, built in 1903, features two new storeys and repaired masonry, but the old block letters on the building’s facade have been left intact.
“If you look really close on the north side, you can even see an ad for Columbia Records,” Jeffrey points out.
This makes for an eclectic mix of old and new, with an industrial exterior and high-end, furnished lofts on the inside. So-called “authentic” lofts, which must be a conversion from a warehouse, factory, or other industrial building, are very rare in Toronto and in high demand, said Jeffrey.
“I wish more people would sell them, people are always asking me for them,” he said.
But it’s often the high wooden ceilings, century-old brick walls and open space concept that makes them popular, rather than their history.
“It’s unfortunate, but most don’t care that much about what it was or the history of it,” Jeffrey said. “They want that old brick beam concrete space.”
The building’s namesake, Robert Watson, was an Irish immigrant who started a confectionary factory in the late 1800s. The company was a success, and continued to grow until he moved his factory to Roncesvalles Village.
According to Jeffrey, Watson is the only historical figure in Toronto who has had two of his former properties converted into lofts. His former home at 234 St. George St. has also been converted into a few residential units.
Jeffrey said the original structure does not have a high turnover rate and he’s always looking for open spaces because the units are in such high demand. In fact, when he first laid eyes upon the building, he wanted a piece of it for himself.
“I almost bought one … It’s one of those ones, where you just know these are going to do well.”
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416−388−1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
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Hanging in the ‘hood
The Junction
Sherryll Sobie – Yourhome.ca
What makes a house (or condo) a home is not just what’s inside its four walls, but also the neighbourhood in which it resides.
In this occasional series, the Star joins local residents from across the GTA on personalized tours, as they explain why they’ve chosen to call their neighbourhoods home.
For this installment, we join Gib Goodfellow on a tour of the Junction. Goodfellow is a retired teacher, lifelong Junction resident, Heritage Toronto Walk leader and president of the West Toronto Junction Historic Society.
Dundas West at Dupont in The Junction
Boundaries: According to the City of Toronto website, the Junction stretches from the CNR/CPR rail line in the east, Runnymede Rd. in the west, Glen Scarlet Rd. (north of St. Clair) in the north, and Humberside Ave. in the south. Predominate languages are English, followed closely by Portuguese, then Chinese; Vietnamese and Spanish tie for fourth.
Getting there: Take the subway to Dundas West station then jump on the Junction 40 bus and and get off at Keele and Dundas Sts. If travelling by car, the Junction has plenty of street parking and several municipal lots.
History: One of the most distinguishing footnotes of the Junction’s history is the alcohol ban that was in effect from 1904 to 1996. The city of West Toronto Junction, as it was called, voted to go dry because of an ongoing problem with drunks, many of whom were transient workers and travellers.
The rowdies explain why the town went dry in the first place, but it begs the question: Why continue the dry spell for so long?
“Junctionites have an independent spirit and saw no reason to change it,” Goodfellow answers. “Plus, there were lots of other places just outside the town limits where you could get a drink.”
One unique example was the Wedgewood Restaurant, at Bloor and Jane (today it is Billy Bob’s Bistro). Because the building straddled both the City of West Toronto Junction and the old City of York, the Wedgewood was dry in the front, with a stocked bar in the back.
The name, Junction, refers to the intersecting of two railways, the Canadian Pacific and the Canadian National, both of which had a huge economic impact on the area.
“In the 1880s the Junction was a hub of shopping, industry and travel,” Goodfellow says. As proof of its prominent standing, the Junction was outfitted with a customs house to clear imports arriving from the U.S.
Goodfellow points to the four corners of Dundas St. W. and Keele St., where four 100-year-old buildings rise out of the ground.
“There was a bank on every corner, which speaks to the significance of the area,” he says.
But then the Junction was sucker-punched by the advent of the automobile and then the subway. The automobile decreased dependence on rail service and forever changed goods distribution. In 1969 the subway was extended from St. George, along Bloor St., to Keele St. It was just far enough south that visitors bypassed the Junction in favour of High Park and Bloor West Village.
Only in the last 10 years has the area started to experience a revival. Goodfellow says it began with cutting loose the tangle of hydro, streetcar and telephone wires that hung over the area.
“It was a mess,” he says.
Then came the Cost-Sharing Capital Project between the city and the Junction BIA (Business Improvement Area), which beautified the streetscape with trees and lighting. The Commercial Façade and Improvement Program, a matching grant offered through the city to commercial property owners, helped offset costs associated with revitalizing their storefronts.
While this was going on, artists moved in, adding a zest of originality to the neighbourhood. Says Goodfellow, “People started to realize that we are well-serviced by parks, libraries, schools, and we began to see a lot of young families.”
In the news: In 1908, the Junction became an independent city until it was annexed by the City of Toronto the following year. This year, the Junction has been celebrating its centennial with concerts and events, including free walking tours, which will be offered through the West Toronto Junction Historical Society (wtjhs.ca) at the upcoming Junction Arts Festival
Junction Arts Festival: The 16th annual street festival, which starts tomorrow and runs through to Sunday, will be a smorgasbord of music, art exhibits and installations, a kids zone, street performances, movies under the stars, a green village, and a historic city exhibit celebrating the Junction’s 100th anniversary.
Festival director Michael Menegon says about 65 per cent of the contributing artists are from the Junction.
“Historically, the Junction has always been a liberal arts community. We have a huge pool of artists to pull from,” he says. The festival will span one kilometre along Dundas St. W. between Keele St. and Quebec Ave. See junctionartsfest.com for details.
Green Space: Train travel left a legacy of trade and commerce, while the tracks grafted an indelible mark on the landscape where they were laid. After CNR and CPR discontinued service in the 1960s, the grounds were abandoned.
Fast-forward almost 50 years: The Friends of West Toronto Railpath, in conjunction with Evergreen, the city, the community Bicycle Network, resident associations, and a few key individuals, have reinvented the defunct rail lines into the West Toronto Railpath, a linear park with a recreation trail that will connect the Junction and several other neighbourhoods.
Landscape Architect Scott Torrance, in collaboration with Brown + Storey Architects, was awarded the opportunity to design the first two kilometres of the Railpath.
“What struck me when I first walked the site in 2006 was the feeling of being in the country because of all the wild native plants,” Torrance recalls.
That fall, Torrance, with the help of volunteers, collected seeds of existing plants including Virginia creeper (a fairly common variety) and sedge grass (relatively uncommon). The seedlings are currently being tended by an off-site nursery specializing in native plant propagation, and will be planted along the Railpath in the spring of 2009.
When completed, the Railpath will run 6.5 kilometres south from the Junction (beginning at Cariboo Ave., near Dupont St. and Dundas St. W.) diagonally through to King St. West and Strachan Ave. in the downtown.
Railside gardens: Maintained by an informal group of volunteers, including Junction resident Hilary Bell, the native roadside plantings on the west side of the tracks grow along Dundas St. between Glenlake Ave. and Humberside Ave.
Shopping: “I have a hard time finding fat and sugar in the neighbourhood,” Junction BIA co-ordinator Maddie Whitfield jokes. Whitfield is referring to the recent proliferation of organic and fair trade-minded food stores, restaurants and cafés.
For groceries there’s The Sweet Potato and The Beet, which also has a little café. Eateries include Rawlicious (raw, vegan food), Cool Hand Of A Girl, Agora, Rebas and Foundation, opening in September. Four Seasons Natural Foods and Health Products has been a fixture in the Junction for about 30 years.
Art scene: In addition to the Junction Arts Festival, the neighbourhood has resident artists and galleries including Urbanscape and Latitude 44. It’s also home to the Academy of Realism Art School, which 20-year resident Pat Schnurr, owner of local framing store Picture It Framed, says is “a school like no other.”
Developments: The Victoria Lofts, built by Triumphal Developments Inc. and designed by architect Paul Oberst, is a former Presbyterian Church with red brick facade and a majestic copper spire. The 123-year-old historic building has been converted into a 38-unit loft that blends modern appointments with original architectural detail (victorialofts.ca).
Davenport Village, although not technically inside the boundaries of the Junction, is in the former City of West Toronto as defined by the West Toronto Junction Historic Society. Being built by Tom Falus and his Brownstones Group of Companies, the new release of stacked townhouses are 855 to 1,145 square feet.
The Toronto Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, the worldwide, non-profit organization known for building homes for people in need, took on a project in the Junction that was a first in its 20-year history. Typically, Habitat member families consist of two or more people. In this case, the “family” was a family of one: a wheelchair-bound woman who was unable to get outside without assistance. The woman was relocated within her existing building while Habitat built her an accessible unit. She now lives independently in a barrier-free home. For more information on Habitat For Humanity Toronto see torontohabitat.ca.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416-388-1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
———————————————————————————————————————
Incoming search terms
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Merchandise Building Original Lofts
The Merchandise Building is a unique hard loft space converted from the historic Sears Merchandise building.
Just south of the Church Street Village and as part of the Ryerson University community, The Merchandise Building Lofts are one block east of the Dundas Square – Eaton Centre corridor and the Yonge subway line.
The Merchandise Lofts – located at Dundas Street East and Church Street – is one of Toronto’s largest loft conversions with over 500 suites. The development features 12-foot ceilings, exposed concrete ceilings, polished concrete or hardwood floors and massive mushroom columns. Glass-partitioned bathrooms, elevated bedrooms, granite, open-concept kitchens and huge solid maple sliding doors are some of the key features. 155 Dalhousie Street has some of the best facilities of any Toronto hard loft building, including 24-hour concierge, outdoor pool, party room, basketball court, fitness facilities, guest suites, and common terraces. The Merchandise Building showcased the demand for loft living in Toronto.
The lofts feature customer designed kitchens, polished concrete floors, solid maple barn doors and dramatic fluted columns.
The Merchandise Building community includes a spectacular urban roof garden with lap pool and barbecue terrace; recreation and relaxation facilities including a half-basketball court and a contemplative garden/sitting area; and all round retail facilities including a full-line Dominion store.
Once in a while a building comes along and changes the way people think about real estate in Toronto. This loft is one of those buildings. It’s the largest loft conversion in Toronto, taking up an entire city block right in the middle of downtown Toronto, and has over 500 luxury loft suites carved out of the old Sears warehouse. Each suite features a clever use of space, along with 12-foot ceilings, exposed concrete ceilings, concrete or hardwood floors, massive mushroom columns, elevated bedrooms, sexy glass partitioned bathrooms and huge sliding doors. Step outside your suite and get the best features a residential loft conversion could offer – 24-hour concierge, outdoor pool, party room, great fitness facilities and common terraces.
Completed in 1998, the Merchandise Building is one of the largest developments totaling 1,000,000 square feet and covers an entire city block. This building was originally the Sears Warehouse built in the 1930’s and now holds hundreds of hard lofts. One major feature is it’s location, only a few blocks from Yonge and Dundas, the Eaton Centre and Ryerson. Some of the many facilities of this building are the party rooms, outdoor pool, lap pool, partial basketball court, exercise room, billiards and two guest suites. Most units are single level deep rectangles with huge windows and great downtown views. The ceilings are atleast 12 feet and many suites feature exposed concrete, hardwood floors and massive mushroom columns. Some units have glass partitioned bathrooms, elevated bedrooms, granite countertops and huge solid maple sliding doors. Parking is underground and an added benefit is a full grocery store on ground level. Sizes start at 450 square feet and reach 2,500+ square foot 2 storey penthouses with huge terraces.
The Merchandise Building Lofts (135 & 155 Dalhousie Street) is one of the true hard lofts in Toronto that was converted into residential lofts back in year 2000. The entrance of the Merchandise Building Lofts is on Dalhousie Street, right next to the 24-hr Dominion Supermarket and Ryerson University. There is the entrance on the first floor and lobby on the fourth floor. Within the Merchandise Lofts, there are amenities that reach far beyond what one might expect from other loft projects. This true loft has views of downtown Toronto skyline and beautiful roof garden with indoor swimming pool that would impress anyone.
The Merchandise Lofts are very popular with young professionals because of its location to everything from restaurants, theatres, shopping district, business district and the new Dundas Square across from the new Virgin Record Store.
Transportation from The Merchandise Lofts is as easy as just walking out of the front door. Dundas subway station and streetcar are just within 1 min. walking distance. Gardiner and Lake Shore Blvd. West are just within a five minute drive away, providing easy access to the D.V.P. and Q.E.W.
The Merchandise Building Lofts is also great for real estate investors as it is right next to Ryerson University and just a few subway stops from George Brown College. As investors, you can have young professionals, students or young family that simply just love the convenience of living in downtown Toronto.
The Merchandise Building is a classic example of the renowned Chicago School of early 20th century industrial architecture. It is a loft conversion of a historic warehouse located in downtown Toronto on Dalhousie Street, near the campus of Ryerson University and the Toronto Eaton Centre. Built in various stages from 1910-1949 for the Simpson’s department store, and later owned by Sears Canada after Simpson’s demise, the Merchandise Building at over 1,000,000 square feet is one of the largest buildings by floor area in downtown Toronto.
The oldest part of the site is a six-story manufactory built in 1910 on Dalhousie Street for Simpson’s delivery business. Behind it on Mutual Street in 1914 the growing company added the “Robert Simpson Co Ltd Mail-Order Building”, a large distribution warehouse. Further expansion occurred in the years 1931-1949, tripling the size of the building, yet still conforming to the clean lines of the original design. The building architect was Max Dunning of the firm of Burke, Horwood and White. This noted Canadian firm’s other work in Toronto includes what is now the CityTV building on Queen Street West and the Simpsons (now Bay) flagship store at the corner of Queen Street and Yonge Street. Contrary to popular belief, Dunning and his firm were not responsible for the Tip Top Tailor Lofts – although sharing many design aspects with the Merchandise Building, it was produced in the year 1929 by the firm of Bishop & Miller.
The Robert Simspson Co. Ltd. Mail-Order Building incorporated many features, that while commonplace today, were relatively novel at the time – a steel structure, reinforced, fire-proof concrete, well-positioned emergency stairwells, and large windows for natural light. The building’s water needs were assisted by a 40,000 gallon rooftop water tower.
The complex – which eventually came to be known by the less cumbersome name of “the Mutual Street Building”, continued to serve the needs of the company until the winds of economic change forced it to close its catalogue service in the mid 1970′s and sell out to one of its old rivals, the venerable Hudson’s Bay Company, which eventually retired the Simpson’s brand in 1991. Many properties were sold to Sears Canada, including the old warehouse. When that company moved its catalogue operations to the suburbs in 1991, it became the property of the City of Toronto.
Happily at the same time the new mayor of Toronto, Barbara Hall, had relaxed zoning restrictions in certain areas of the downtown core, allowing redevelopment of under-used or empty 19th and 20th century factories and warehouses. There was a plan to convert the warehouse into public housing, but the City in the end sold the property to Crestford Developments (some say for a song). The project was one of the earliest and by far the largest warehouse loft conversions in Toronto. The ambitious plan to completely modernize the building was delayed by a general construction strike and a spectacular 3-alarm fire, started when a worker tossed a cigarette butt into one of the old freight elevator shafts, landing on a massive pile of debris dumped from all the floors to be cleared from the bottom. The huge pile burned for hours, but the building did not, testament to the original designer’s intent in 1914 to create a structure as fire-proof as possible.
Among the many modernizations was a green roof and coated windows to reduce energy loss. Other environmental upgrades included a “Tri-Sorter” recycling chute that accommodates 3 types of waste. The entire building was wired with fibre-optic cable, has a rooftop pool, patio, and dog-walking area, and all the usual amenities in a large condominium, plus some unusual ones including a 4-story interior lobby and indoor half-basketball court. The noted interior design team of Simone-Ciccone and the award winning designer Brian Gluckstein produced between them nine different primary suite layouts with over sixty variations. Notable interior features include 8 foot sliding barn doors, 12 foot ceilings with exposed duct work and support pillars with capitals, and ten foot windows. The ground floor of the building is retail, anchored by a 24-hour supermarket.
When it was finally completed in the late 1990s, the project garnered several awards including a commendation from Heritage Toronto and awards from the Greater Toronto Home Builders Association. The conversion even pleased the notoriously critical architecture writer for the Toronto Star, Christopher Hume, who gave the project an “A”. The Merchandise Building was one of the first large redevelopment projects east of Yonge Street, and has sparked other projects in the area such as the conversion of the Toronto RCMP Building into a luxury hotel, the old CBC building on Jarvis Street into condominiums and the new headquarters of the National Ballet School, and the plan of opening a hypermarket in the storied, but now vacant, Maple Leaf Gardens.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416-388-1960
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