Condo Critic: King St. E. has it all - let's not ruin it now
August 15, 2009
Christopher Hume
Though endangered, King St. E. remains an example of everything that's good about Toronto. It is thoroughly urban, historical and contemporary, commercial, retail as well as residential. In short it has everything one hopes for in a city. There's even a streetcar to get us there and back.
The main cloud on the horizon is the extent of development. Though no one would suggest the city should stop growth, it would be nice if it could be done sympathetically, if development didn't depend on destruction.
Already, whole stretches of King have undergone the knife of modernity, which until recently, allowed no compromise. Now, we are more nuanced.
For example, the old bank on the northeast corner of King and Sherbourne was incorporated into the facade of the condo that now occupies the site. Another proposal would keep an exquisite 19th-century building on the southeast corner of King and Sherbourne to become the face of yet another condo.
By the time the developers are finished with the neighbourhood, what will be left of its original character? Not much, it seems. But never has the need to preserve the past been so great, for social, historic and environmental reasons.
chume@thestar.ca
Condo Critic
288 KING ST. E.: You know that something good has happened when the Toronto Community Housing Corp. builds residential towers as beautiful as this one. Located on the north side of King, a block or two west of Parliament St., it runs north all the way to Richmond St. where there is a second entrance. The new building also extends the domestic stretch of King east of Sherbourne, where until now it ended.
Though the architects have made no attempt to copy their 19th-century predecessors, they understand how a building should behave on the street. What this means is that the new structure comes out to the property line and that the bulk of the building is broken down into several main elements; at the bottom, a two-storey glass looks out to the sidewalk on both facades. Presumably, they will eventually house retail uses. Above, a three-floor glass box occupies the frontage, surrounded by the rest of the 11-storey tower.
The materials are contemporary, but there's an attention to detail that keeps the project from feeling generic and anonymous. This may be social housing, but it doesn't fit the image that term implies. Instead, it looks as though someone cares, as if the builders wanted to do something worthy not just of the inhabitants but the city.
One can complain that this addition represents another nail in the coffin of King East, at the same time, the building itself shows of early 21st-century residential architecture at its best.
GRADE: A
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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Toronto Star