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Ugly. Looks like it was inspired by the tops of mass produced red brick highrises from the 80s.
 
Straightforward, not ugly. Only mild historicism here. No pandering, unless one considers any hint of gable to be pandering. My only complaint is that there's too little variation in the buildings' form. I'm not talking variety for its own sake, i.e. pandering, but rather (less subtle) differentiation to break down the scale of the development and perhaps to be more responsive to the conditions of the site. Otherwise, it's alright really. Actually, I kind of like it.
 
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If they put a smoke stack beside it, it would be the symbol for factory. They didn't put any elements in to break the monotony. They should have varied the setback of each unit within the building and added bay windows rather than a white surround for normal windows serving no purpose at all. The only thing they varied was the circle or square near the peak of the roof which doesn't really improve things.
 
My only complaint is that there's too little variation in the buildings' form. I'm not talking variety for its own sake, i.e. pandering, but rather (less subtle) differentiation to break down the scale of the development and perhaps to be more responsive to the conditions of the site.


They've adopted the red brick vernacular of older homes in the neighbourhood without resorting to faux. Also, the buildings on the south west corner of the development adopt the form of the adjacent former factory and warehouse buildings.

( they adapt to the warehouse that's Five-0-Seven Antiques, for instance ).

Are there images of the final phase, to the west, yet?
 
Is there an image of the buildings at the southwest corner in that set? If so, I missed it.
 
Functional but not pretty. Much better then what was there previously.

I don't know. The buildings of Don Mount Court are looking pretty damn good compared to these. It's night and day compared to the aforementioned Clewes townhouses.
 
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condovo: Only in the distance - in the second image, and the third one which looks south on Carroll towards Matilda and beyond it to Queen. I think the 'conditions of the site' they're responding to, by maintaining a four storey limit and extending the street and laneway system, are the houses on adjacent residential streets such as Hamilton Street and Donmount Court and warehouses such as the one Five-0-Seven is in. The form Montgomery Sisam came up with found favour with residents and the City - whereas the form proposed for nearbye Leslieville Lofts, for instance, didn't. I think it's a pretty good example of a medium-sized development that fits in, and I can't see any purpose in undercutting the characteristic form they've created by nuancing it with variations.
 
I just find it a little too repetitive, almost to the point of being depersonalizingly Levittownish, but otherwise I like it.
 
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Perhaps they get one of each - we haven't seen the opposite side of any of those gables so we can't tell. They all seem to get that private top floor walk-out that the gables make possible, though.
 
condovo: Only in the distance - in the second image, and the third one which looks south on Carroll towards Matilda and beyond it to Queen. I think the 'conditions of the site' they're responding to, by maintaining a four storey limit and extending the street and laneway system, are the houses on adjacent residential streets such as Hamilton Street and Donmount Court and warehouses such as the one Five-0-Seven is in. The form Montgomery Sisam came up with found favour with residents and the City - whereas the form proposed for nearbye Leslieville Lofts, for instance, didn't. I think it's a pretty good example of a medium-sized development that fits in, and I can't see any purpose in undercutting the characteristic form they've created by nuancing it with variations.

Here's a picture (during construction) to clear up the confusion on the northwestern part. I say the scale interfaces well with the 507 Antiques building:
 

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Taking Munro Street south of Gerrard was their strongest move, I think - they get added density and extend the existing grid. I enjoy the similarity of form with these houses for the same reason I admire highrise condos and office towers designed to stress collective values, though of course there's a paradoxical trend in tall buildings now to create a "sense of house" - proposals such as the Gansevoort hotel where the surface is broken down into units you can point to from the street below and identify as your very own, unique bit of real estate.
 
Another block of townhouses to be built?

I had thought that the whole southern piece (the old Don Mount Court) was going to be park, but it looks like they've set up sewage for another set of townhouses facing Hamilton and the new extension of Munro. Anyone know if this is true?
 
I had thought that the whole southern piece (the old Don Mount Court) was going to be park, but it looks like they've set up sewage for another set of townhouses facing Hamilton and the new extension of Munro. Anyone know if this is true?

Certainly looks that way to me, the street grid is going through the area.
 
Not a fan of this, especially considering how great a lot of TCHC's other new buildings are. Very cheap looking, and the cookie cutter approach really deadens the whole thing.
 

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