Northern Light
Superstar
Preferable to a bowling alley, yes; 'best' I'm not sure about. A bit of depth can be useful in larger units (storage and bathroom(s) can go against the common hallway wall)
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- Thread starter A Torontonian Now
- Start date
Preferable to a bowling alley, yes; 'best' I'm not sure about. A bit of depth can be useful in larger units (storage and bathroom(s) can go against the common hallway wall)
afransen
Senior Member
Good for residents, bad for neighbours. The Commie Blocks have actual family sized units, as well. I think there is room for a reasonable compromise. I don't think the wide rectangular buildings are desirable, at least not as high rise.
yrt+viva=1system
Senior Member
Having friends who live in both condo units and units in these old apartments (commie style) and have visited them on a daily basis (Yonge & Wellesley area). The commie style (Towers in a Park) have far superior layouts and just feel more natural? Hard to describe, it's definitely not a shoebox compartmentalize feeling you get when you are in a condo. Layout definitely plays a factor as well and the amount of light that the unit receives. Personally I find the Tower in a Park style apartment buildings at Yonge & St. Clair (77 St. Clair Ave East) to be great and also 20 Prince Arthur, 55 Maitland, 51 Alexander, 40 Alexander etc.
Now that I think about it, the apartments along Alexander are a great example of commie style building and have good accessibility (lots of street landscaping in the surroundings etc.)
Of note: 77 St. Clair has the fastest elevators (5 of them) I've been on for a residential building, far faster than any of the new condo buildings. From a qualitative experience, they are similar to what you'd find in one of the tall office buildings on King St.; fast, air rushing between the doors, air rushing at the doors while waiting for car to arrive and quick to stop.
Now that I think about it, the apartments along Alexander are a great example of commie style building and have good accessibility (lots of street landscaping in the surroundings etc.)
Of note: 77 St. Clair has the fastest elevators (5 of them) I've been on for a residential building, far faster than any of the new condo buildings. From a qualitative experience, they are similar to what you'd find in one of the tall office buildings on King St.; fast, air rushing between the doors, air rushing at the doors while waiting for car to arrive and quick to stop.
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christiesplits
Senior Member
My aunt lived in a 3-br apartment in Thorncliffe. As a kid, it felt like the size of a Wal-Mart.
afransen
Senior Member
79 St Clair doesn't even have that big of a floorplate. Eyeballing on google earth is around 1000-1100m2.
Do we take this to mean that if we relax the floorplate from 750m2 to 1000m2 we'll see slab buildings instead of thicker point towers?
yrt+viva=1system
Senior Member
Whoops, I meant 77 St. Clair East.
evandyk
Senior Member
Isn't there a generally accepted view that the apartments we built in the '60s and '70s are better for liveability than the ones we've been building since 2000?
evandyk
Senior Member
I live in a bowling alley. It's really spacious by Toronto apartment standards, but is really lacking in natural light in the back, which is where the second bedroom and den are.
afransen
Senior Member
Is it a 750m2 floorplate building, or bowling alley for other reasons?
Undead
Senior Member
I think so.
Clearly the solution is having everyone live in slab towers
Undead
Senior Member
Progress report:
financialpost.com
"a year after they were made legal in the city, not a single project has been completed"
"Since the program was put in effect July 4, 2022, the city has received 152 building permit applications for garden suites — 32 of those applications have been granted and 27 suites are now under construction"
Garden suites in Toronto get slow uptake with none completed one year after program launch
A year after garden suites were made legal in Toronto, not a single project has been completed and only 27 are under construction. Read on.
financialpost.com
"a year after they were made legal in the city, not a single project has been completed"
"Since the program was put in effect July 4, 2022, the city has received 152 building permit applications for garden suites — 32 of those applications have been granted and 27 suites are now under construction"
evandyk
Senior Member
I'm not sure of the exact floorplate, but it's a pretty small building. We have a car elevator in our parking garage because there wasn't room for a ramp.
Northern Light
Superstar
Progress report:
Garden suites in Toronto get slow uptake with none completed one year after program launch
A year after garden suites were made legal in Toronto, not a single project has been completed and only 27 are under construction. Read on.
"a year after they were made legal in the city, not a single project has been completed"
"Since the program was put in effect July 4, 2022, the city has received 152 building permit applications for garden suites — 32 of those applications have been granted and 27 suites are now under construction"
This was to be expected, that there have been 152 applications is frankly more than I might have thought.
This was never a panacea solution by any stretch of the imagination, it was simply the relaxing of an unnecessarily rigid rule.
Most people, having spent a vast sum of money to obtain a backyard, and possibly a rear-lane garage will not be interested in sacrificing or sharing either.
evandyk
Senior Member
What's the difference between a garden suite and a laneway suite? It is just that you'd have to access the garden one from the front yard?
evandyk
Senior Member
There are some massive backyards in Toronto with plenty of room for a second house and still ample yard. In fact, when we build the laneway house, our windows will be farther from the main house than our current windows will be from the next 40 storey tower when it's built.