Hume: King Street condo an architectural pauper
May 1, 2010
Christopher Hume
STAR COLUMNIST
It’s spring on King St. E., the time of year when the flowering trees are in bloom and even the most wretched examples of modern architecture suddenly seem bearable. The fact this is one of the most historic neighbourhoods in downtown Toronto seems to have meant little to contemporary developers, many of whom never saw a heritage building they wouldn’t prefer as a pile of rubble. When these guys think green, it means one thing – money. But in a city terrified that no one loves it, who would dare refuse even the most primitive offers of investment?
It is a testament to our 19th-century forbearers that through it all, the city they built somehow manages to retain a sense of itself despite the worst depredations of 20th- and 21st-century development. Instinctively, it seems, they shared an understanding that every building, whether industrial, commercials or residential, represented an act of city-building, that it had to be a part of something larger than itself. Today, of course, nothing could be further from the mind of an industry unable to see beyond the boundaries of its own property lines and profit margins. The great mess we have made of things is most evident in the suburbs, both inner and outer, and the sprawl beyond.
But we have wasted no time suburbanizing the city. The awful irony is that it’s the last and greatest asset we have left. Instead of nurturing urbanity, we would rather stamp it out, all in the name of progress. In many parts of the world, including even the US which has recently emerged from a Dark Age, the illusion of progress is being seriously questioned. Canada, by contrast, clings to such out-dated notions. It seems our Dark Age has only just started.
chume@thestar.ca
Condo Critic
The Lofts on Frederick St, 180 Frederick St.: Few buildings on this once-magnificent stretch of King St. E. can claim to be as resolutely ugly as this poor beast. As a piece of architecture, it has nothing to recommend it. The very brick of which it is constructed seems pale and washed out. As an object on the streetscape, it has even less to offer. One wonders why anyone would bother to design and build something so nasty and banal.
And yet, such is the power of the 19th-century city that it can accommodate, if not rehabilitate, even a structure as lumpen and inert as this. In the context of King East, it becomes one of those mercifully invisible buildings that we pass by countless times and never notice. It’s there, but not there. Surrounded by factories and warehouses that put it to shame, it stands as an indictment of what we did to the city in the late 20th century. It will take decades to recover from the damage inflicted during those horribly misguided years. Perhaps that process has started, but it’s debatable. Certainly throughout the rest of the GTA, where it’s still 1962, the lessons have gone unlearned. It’s full steam ahead into a future that will leave our children beggars.
GRADE: D
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