Hume: Bad buildings sucked life out of Carlton St.
July 16, 2010
Christopher Hume
STAR COLUMNIST
There was a time, in the early decades of the last century, when the leaders of this city decided it would be a good idea to move downtown uptown. The most obvious result of that short-lived campaign is the old Eaton’s College Street, a spectacular Art Deco building that to this day remains unsurpassed as an example of retail architecture. Even in its current incarnation, filled with a food court and discount clothing outlet, it retains much of its former elegance.
Originally, Eaton’s College Street was meant to be part of much larger complex that would have extended south and west to fill an entire city block. The Great Depression put an end to that and, it seems, to whatever hopes Carlton might have had of also becoming desirable. Things started well with the Toronto Hydro Building, (1933) another Art Deco beauty, and to a lesser extent, Maple Leaf Gardens (1931), but then along came the 1960s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s and, well, there went the neighbourhood. Architecture became little more than an economic exercise, a process of maximizing profits while minimizing cost. That has always been the case, of course, but at a certain point, it becomes self-defeating. Buildings grew so nasty and ugly, they sucked the life out of large areas of the city. Carlton St. suffered as much as any in Toronto. To this day, it remains scruffy, the kind of area where the monuments of yesterday only serve to highlight the dreariness of today.
The Lexington, 45 Carlton St.
Despite its fantastic location, across the road from Maple Leaf Gardens, now undergoing renovations, and steps from the subway, this is a building that could be anywhere. Generic barely begins to describe it; this is a condo slab so utterly devoid of architecture, it hurts the eye and offends the senses. Indeed, it has a sort post-apocalyptic urban feel to it that would makes it great backdrop to an end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it movie.
Standing 22 floors tall, it sits atop a two-storey base that helps a bit at ground level. But the fact is the building has aged poorly and has no obvious redeeming features. It dates from a time when form followed function and that meant one thing, utility. No relationship with the city was contemplated, let alone a contribution. Big, boxy and banal, The Lexington is one of those mistakes that stay with us seemingly forever.
Grade: C-
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