Not that I like what's being constructed here, but it's understandable that this outdated (technologically speaking, not stylistically or heritage-value-speaking) building is being felled. Medical buildings are like computers - one could technically use a 486 with Windows 95 today just as doctors and nurses can use buildings from 70 or 80 years ago - but in both cases, it makes even the simplest tasks that much more difficult. And in a field like patient care where the quality of service (keeping people alive) trumps the value of the building (again, beautiful structure, unfortunate circumstance) it becomes sort of obvious that the original WCH would not be long for this world.
Still running a 486 with Windows 95 today might not be the best example, it might be more apt to to describe trying to run that basic computer while replacing all the components one at a time. More memory. New motherboard. New graphics card. Maybe a new monitor. Software upgrades. But you're still stuck with a old box that can't handle all the demands of what goes on inside, and it's a lot simpler to buy a new off-the-shelf computer. That seems to be why most major hospital projects are greenfield newbuilds (such as HRRH, and Woodstock, St. Catharines, Peterborough, North Bay, etc., all of whose existing hospitals have or will be ripped down, some of which have historic value.) Mostly gone is the tradition of adding new wings to expand (except in the most constricted downtown sites) while creating an interesting, but not user-friendly, floor plan. So of course I get the plans for full building replacement.
That all said, it's still a shame that the original Art Deco building is going, especially as the first new building looks like a third-rate hospital wing in the suburbs or a small city (ie Woodstock's new hospital, seen from the 401, looks not unlike a jail), not a major, historic stand-alone institution. The original tower could have fit with the new plans without creating a jumble of corridors. There's lots that can be done with old buildings - administrative functions obviously, but also dry research, low-maintenance outpatient clinics (where expensive, large equipment would not be necessary) and the like. Maybe it will look better once the site is cleared and the second phase and the main entrance are built out, but I'm expecting a perhaps-decent glass podium on Grenville surrounded by grey metallic, mish-mashed slabs.
I'll be more upset if the Bond Street wing of St. Mike's is ever ripped down. The rest of it - the decrepit Shuter Wing especially, can go, however as they continue to rebuild their site on such a tight plot of land.
