St. Lawrence, for all its wonderful landmarks, has some of the most banal residential infill in the city. There are exceptions like the Market Square condos, but this building is one of many duds. The building across from St. Lawrence Market to the east on Front Street comes to mind as subpar residential infill. Also, if Front Street is going to be overhauled, it can't come soon enough. The iconic vista of the Gooderham Building with the downtown skyline should have those minimalist black traffic lights at the Front/Church/Wellington intersection, which are used in cities around the world (mounted on corner poles). This is the least obtrusive traffic signal; our yellow ones mounted over the roadway are among the most visually obtrusive. They are inappropriate for many historic parts of the city.
 
Last edited:
junctionist:

Indeed, though these buildings you've mentioned by and large are banal in a way that really fits in to the general fabric, almost disappears as individual buildings by themselves. This project unfortunately managed to stand out in a way that make it look it doesn't belong.

AoD
 
The ground floor is terrible, that precast really cheapens the feel of it. The brick portions look good with the black mullions and windows. Outside of that? Flop.
 
Black windows at grade level really can't be good for retail businesses. Engaging storefronts need clarity in order to be inviting to shoppers.
 
urbandreamer said:
19 May 2013: The following presentation is brought to you in part by NimbyTect, maker of all things horrible. But while celebrating Toronto's worst architect may be fun, staring at this retro 90's block got rather tiresome.

rps20130520014349.jpg



To be honest, at first I didn't see it--it sort of blends in from a distance. Checking out the details though it's clear it blends in for all the wrong reasons.
Click to expand...

This one really fell so, so far from its full potential (renderings looked promising). Another big miss was not extending the brick to the first level of the tower above the podium on the north side of the building. This would have added much better context to the neighboring buildings and match nicely with the old blocks existing roof line. Its as if they were not paying attention. Why would they do this on the east side of the building when the north side made so much more sense???
 
Urban
I don't know what depresses me more.. The Berczy, or agreeing with your assessment of it.
Thanks for ruining my weekend.
This is not good. After all these years I'm starting to like this turkey.
Where the hell is my martini shaker.......
 
Changing up the topic a bit, one thing that confuses me is the back (south) wall. It should have been bricked once they had the scaffolds there for the other walls. I'm hearing unconfirmed rumours from unnamed sources (sounds like the Rob Ford thing) that the owner of the restaurant, Finn McCool, is not permitting the developer to use the space for scaffolding. I saw garbage bins yesterday, likely his, up against the wall, sort of "I dare you to work here" sort of things.

Any theories?
 
We also visit the site almost every week and continue to be shocked that the south side is still without brick. I believe there is a municipal by-law which makes it mandatory for a builder/home owner, to be given access to their property, even when a neighbours property abuts their own. Perhaps this matter is being addressed through lawyers. We sure wish Concert would provide up dates on what is happening.

We are on the 10th floor and expect to receive our next letter sometime in July. The last date we were given was mid Oct.

Once we are all moved in and settled, we should start a Martini Club!

Enjoy your weekend and don't worry about the architecture. In the grand picture, this is a minor matter.
 
harry_fine said:
Changing up the topic a bit, one thing that confuses me is the back (south) wall. It should have been bricked once they had the scaffolds there for the other walls. I'm hearing unconfirmed rumours from unnamed sources (sounds like the Rob Ford thing) that the owner of the restaurant, Finn McCool, is not permitting the developer to use the space for scaffolding. I saw garbage bins yesterday, likely his, up against the wall, sort of "I dare you to work here" sort of things.

Any theories?
Click to expand...

There was certainly some friction during construction due to noise and obstruction and cracks appeared in the older building. However, bricking the wall will not take long nor cause too much disruption so I am sure it will be done sooner or later and quite fast too. The delay in doing it may be connected to fact that the original wall had "windows" which hare now filled in - Concert may need a permit revision.
 
DSC said:
There was certainly some friction during construction due to noise and obstruction and cracks appeared in the older building. However, bricking the wall will not take long nor cause too much disruption so I am sure it will be done sooner or later and quite fast too. The delay in doing it may be connected to fact that the original wall had "windows" which hare now filled in - Concert may need a permit revision.
Click to expand...

We purchased the unit on the top floor of that building (the Greey's Factory Building). None of the plans that we saw or the model had windows on the south side; there were "false windows" on the exterior but the interior plans have plain walls. We were surprised when they first built windows openings (and subsequently filled them in).

That could definitely explain why they don't seem to be finishing the interiors of units in that section of the building.

Any idea on how to confirm this theory?
 
Last edited:
harry_fine said:
Changing up the topic a bit, one thing that confuses me is the back (south) wall. It should have been bricked once they had the scaffolds there for the other walls. I'm hearing unconfirmed rumours from unnamed sources (sounds like the Rob Ford thing) that the owner of the restaurant, Finn McCool, is not permitting the developer to use the space for scaffolding. I saw garbage bins yesterday, likely his, up against the wall, sort of "I dare you to work here" sort of things.

Any theories?
Click to expand...

If this is true, the owner of the pub would be wise to change his tone given he's about to come across another couple hundred potential customers next door. Probably not worth ticking owners off over something so trivial given the onslaught of new venues popping up around town, including the revamped market street.

As an aside, I just noticed this wall this evening - very timely thread, folks. Thanks for the input.
 
Im just below you...Noticed the window openings built at the time....then filled in...
Leads to Wild Speculation about left foot - right foot..Stay Tuned
 

Definitely my favorite part of this building. So beautifully recreated.

Nothing like a little fresh white paint on the underside of the balconies to gussy up the place.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top