How Toronto’s Preservation Board protects local Victorian homes and other heritage buildings

THE GREEN LINE
DOCUMENTERS NOTES

How Toronto Preserves its Heritage, from Victorian Homes to a Historic Church

From heritage designations to demolition debates, Toronto’s Preservation Board works on saving the city's history, one building at a time.

Knox Church Spadina

THE KNOX PRESBYTARIAN CHURCH AT 630 SPADINA Ave.
📸: PROVIDED BY THE CITY OF TORONTO’S PRESERVATION BOARD MEETING PRESENTATION ON OCT. 17, 2024.

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TAYLOR SIMSOVIC

University of Toronto graduate and community worker living in Little Italy with four rescue pets. Passionate about tackling food insecurity and engaging communities.

Oct. 18, 2024

These city meeting notes are part of Documenters Canada. Learn more about our program here

The Toronto Preservation Board approved the designation of 28 Halton St. and Knox Presbyterian Church as heritage sites and rejected the demolition of heritage-designated workers' cottages on Mitchell Avenue.

The meeting was held online on Oct. 17, 2024. There were about 100 viewers in the livestream. 

The people in attendance were: 

  • Julia Rady, Toronto Preservation Board chair, historian from the University of Toronto
  • Koorosh Attarian, Toronto Preservation Board member, associate professor of architecture
  • Yeo-Jin (Katerina) Bong, Toronto Preservation Board member and PhD candidate in architecture, landscape, and design at the Daniel’s Faculty at the University of Toronto
  • Paul Cordingley, Toronto Preservation Board member
  • Matthew Gregor, Toronto Preservation Board member 
  • Alex Grenzebach, Toronto Preservation Board member
  • Geoff Kettel, Toronto Preservation Board member
  • Mitchell May, Toronto Preservation Board member, architect and heritage building specialist at Giaimo Architects
  • Peter Pantalone, Toronto Preservation Board member, senior associate, Urban Planner at Urban Strategies 
  • Wendy Wong, Toronto Preservation Board member, professor at York University’s department of design
  • Adam Wynne, Toronto Preservation Board member
  • Ana Martins, heritage planner, City of Toronto
  • Mathew Laing, agent of property owner for 28 Halton Street 
  • Mary MacDonald, senior manager, Heritage Preservation Services, City of Toronto
  • Patrick Brown, heritage planner, City of Toronto.
  • Erin Smith, senior manager, Heritage Planning, Urban Design, City Planning
  • Christienne Uchiyama, principal and manager - Heritage Consulting Services with LHC Heritage Planning and Archaeology. 

 

DESIGNATING 28 HALTON ST. AS A CULTURAL HERITAGE BUILDING

The presentation given by heritage planner Ana Martins recommended that "City Council state its intention to designate the property at 28 Halton St. under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for its cultural heritage value.”

The reasons for this proposal were outlined in the staff report:

  • “Constructed in c.1892, the property at 28 Halton St. contains a prominent, three-storey house-form building designed by Toronto architect Francis R. Heakes, Chief Architect of Ontario from 1896 to 1930.”
  • Many influential people in Canadian and Toronto history have been involved with this building.
  • “The property was constructed for William Levack, an international cattle dealer and an instrumental investor in the Union Stockyard Company (later known as the Ontario Stockyards).”
  • Not only does this physical building itself have historical significance but it is also linked to the Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood more largely due to its location near the changing Ossington strip.
  • Martins said that "the property contributes to a layer of built fabric reflecting the area’s significant period of growth and urbanization in the late 19th century.”
  • Late Victorian architectural styles predominated Toronto’s urban form in this period.
  • For example, at what is now Alexandra Park, a similarly significant man of Toronto’s late 19th century who had made money from the Railways had built a property in this Late Victorian style. Sir Casimir Gzowski’s property, however, had been demolished and turned into a park and social housing
  • “Since 1963, the property at 28 Halton St. has been adaptively reused as the Maynard Nursing Home, a privately-owned long-term care home.”

Mathew Laing, agent of property owner for 28 Halton St.,  showed a rendering of another proposal to build four-storey and three-storey additions to the back and sides of the building. This proposal will go to the Committee of Adjustment in November.

There were debates about the archeological processes for this site and potential future developments.

  • Adam Wynne, Toronto Preservation Board member, said that in or near what is now Trinity Bellwoods Park, an archeological excavation done in the 1930s showed that the Missisaugas of the Credit held council at the bottom of Ossington Ave, a short distance from this property. He added that there is a pressing need for an archeological assessment on the site.

What were the outcomes of these discussions?

The recommendation was adopted and the building is now designated as a heritage site. 

DESIGNATING KNOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ON 630 SPADINA AVENUE AS A HERITAGE SITE

Patrick Brown, Heritage Planner with the City of Toronto, gave a staff presentation which outlined the context of the site and proposed that it should be designated as a heritage site.

Knox Presbyterian Church is located on the west side of Spadina Avenue (630 Spadina Ave.) in the Harbord Village neighbourhood.

The staff report stated that "the property contains a 1909 neo-Gothic style church with a 1907 Sunday school wing at the rear, a 1961 modernist style church hall (Fellowship Centre) and 1961 modernist-style chapel.”

Brown gave the following reasons for why the site should be designated under the Heritage Act:

  • He stated that the three different aspects of the church— the chapel, the Sunday school and the church hall— have all been important to the community for over 100 years. 
  • The combined church and Sunday school has “design value as a fine and representative example of an ecclesiastical building that displays a high degree of craftsmanship” and artistry.
  • He explained the details of the building's interior and exterior and pointed to the intricacies of the designs.
  • He also stated that the church “has value as a landmark on Spadina Avenue. Constructed in 1909, the church with its grand-scale and neogothic architecture stands out among the surrounding mix of late 19th century residences and modern institutional structures and high rises.”
  • Parishioners come from around the city as they are the oldest Presbyterian congregation in the city.

What do members of the community have to say? 

Tom Affleck, entrepreneurial leader at the Knox Church who is “responsible for the re-imagination and renewal of Knox Presbyterian Churches site and facilities" said the church's application to permit a 18 storey mid-rise tower on the South side and an eight storey low-rise tower on the North side will provide market-rate and affordable housing units. 

Affleck added that he is “very encouraged about the designation” of the building and that the board of the church has spent a lot of time and money on maintaining and restoring the main church building.

What were the outcomes of these discussions? 

The proposal was adopted and the church building is now designated as a heritage site.  

DEMOLITION OF DESIGNATED HERITAGE BUILDINGS AT 40-44 MITCHELL AVENUE  

Erin Smith, senior manager of Heritage Planning, recommended that the City Council refuse an application to demolish the pair of cottages at 40-44 Mitchell Ave. which are designated as heritage sites.

This recommendation comes in response to a development proposal to turn these buildings into new residences that would demolish and completely replace the existing heritage buildings. 

  • The properties in question, which are located on the north side of Mitchell Avenue, consist of "a pair of single-storey semi-detached workers' cottages that are rare, early surviving examples of this typology in Toronto," according to the staff report.
  • They are one of six remaining pairs of the original sixteen pairs of workers' cottages completed in 1858 by James Lukin Robinson on the former Military lands east of Garrison Creek. The pairs of workers cottages are collectively known as the Robinson Cottages or Garrison Common Cottages and are located at 40-44 and 71-75 Mitchell Ave. and 703-705, 719-721, 735-737 and 753-755 Richmond St. W.
  • The report adds that these cottages are among the first residential buildings constructed in the area and serve as "important reminders of the origins of the Niagara Street neighbourhood, where they define, support and maintain the historical character.”
  • Smith said that the cottages at 705 and 721 Richmond St. W. were cited in the application’s heritage impact assessment “as examples of where [these] cottages have been successfully rehabilitated.” 
  • Smith also stated that demolitions are not in line with the initial plans for the site with the recent heritage designation or the council guidelines for preservation.  

Christienne Uchiyama, principal and manager at LHC Heritage Planning and Archaeology, stated that LHC was “retained by owners of the property to prepare the heritage impact assessment as a part of the applications that are ongoing [...] specifically the demolition application which has been coordinated as a part of that application.” 

  • Uchiyama explained that they did “identify that demolition of the cottages would result in an adverse impact and loss of the cultural heritage value.” 
  • She added that the owners of the property determined that it would not be financially feasible to make all the necessary repairs to do a rehabilitation project, and that it made more sense for them to demolish the buildings and build new structures.  

Adam Wynne, Toronto Preservation Board member, explained that 40-44 Mitchell Ave. “have been the point of heritage related activism at least since 2017 with the Save Garrison Commons project.”

Mary MacDonald, senior manager of Heritage Preservation Services, stated that they would be happy to discuss some of the details that are missing from the applications once they are made public, but that the Heritage Planning office has reviewed the files very carefully and propose the refusal for the demolition based on their “professional opinion that it is possible to retain this building and to rehabilitate it […] and we have examples of that in the neighbourhood.”

  • MacDonald said that she hopes that "the professional advice of staff at this point [...] is considered sufficient without the board questioning whether or not our conclusion is appropriate.” 

What were the outcomes of these discussions?

This motion was adopted and staff recommendations to refuse the demolition were approved.

What’s our Documenter’s perspective? 

Similar questions over demolitions of late Victorian-era buildings have been prevalent in Kensington Market. Since 2015, developments have been underway for a Kensington Market Heritage Conservation District Plan at the municipal level. In large part, these Heritage Designation efforts have aimed to save these buildings from being demolished.

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