Hume: Charles sustains its charm

January 30, 2010 Christopher Hume

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Though it is a bit of a mish-mash, Charles St., east of Yonge, has the messy charm of a downtown street that has been around for awhile.

A few frilly Empire houses from the 19th century can be found, along with residential slabs from the '70s as well as a brutalist heap and a post-modern attempt at urbanity.

Modernity has not always been kind to Charles, but somehow it has managed to maintain a sense of character that transcends the indignities that have been visited upon it.

To the west, Charles is University of Toronto territory, much grander and more institutional. Charles East belongs to a less elevated world.

The only unifying factor is the street itself; everything else – style and size, height and use – varies. Historians, architectural and otherwise, would love this street.

As is happening throughout the city, Charles has grown more residential in recent years. In that respect, it has come full circle. The difference, however, is that the buildings people live in now are dozens of storeys tall, not two or three.

chume@thestar.ca

Condo Critic

CASA CONDOMINIO RESIDENZA, 33 CHARLES ST. E.: Aside from its ridiculous name, this is an unusually elegant structure. Toronto has no shortage of glass towers, of course, but even before it's fully finished, this one stands out, and not just because it's 45 storeys tall, though that certainly doesn't hurt. What makes it so architecturally compelling is the utter simplicity of the design and the attention to detail.

Some might complain that the building doesn't fit in with its neighbours, but which ones? The street is already a bit of a mish-mash, so there's little to be done in that regard. On the other hand, the new condo does present a compelling case for the tower on a podium model that Toronto planners seem to love so much. This time around, the tower sits atop a large five storey glass box that comes out right to the sidewalk. Because the services have been located on the east side of the building accessible by a laneway, there's nothing to interrupt the purity of the front facade.

The tower, which has balconies that run the full length on all four sides, rises uninterrupted from top to bottom. It is capped with a flat roof-like structure that provides an emphatic sense of termination to the building. Many modern towers, of course, just seem to stop, as if the builders had run out of materials. This condo reminds us of the potential of the roof; it doesn't have to be peaked to be interesting.

GRADE: A

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Email: condocritic@thestar.ca.

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