Hume: Yet another condo tower
May 7, 2010
Christopher Hume
STAR COLUMNIST
Circumstances have not been kind to St. Clair Ave. W. Despite the great advantage of having been laid out with a streetcar right-of-way running down the middle, it is a thoroughfare we have messed up in many ways. Indeed, we seem to have summoned a special creativity to turn a street with so much potential into a road that will forever be less than the sum of its parts.
Though the idea of giving the streetcar preference makes a lot of sense, it could have been implemented with a bit more subtlety, not to mention intelligence and efficiency, than we see here. It must be said, however, that for much of its length, the built form of the street is not exactly exciting. The two- and three-storey boxes — retail at grade, apartments above — that dominates much of St. Clair can be seen throughout Toronto. They may be dull and cheap-looking, but they have one great virtue – flexibility.
Look at what has unfolded on Queen, King, Bayview and Mount Pleasant, where these nondescript buildings have allowed neighbourhoods to flourish. For whatever reason, that has never happened on St. Clair. Though the surrounding residential enclaves boast some of the finest housing stock in the city, things haven’t coalesced here.
As for the new streetcar line, it should benefit local business; on the other hand, it divides St. Clair unnecessarily on a north/south basis. The route underscores a way of thinking that deals with one problem at a time, instead of trying to solve two, three or more. From a transit engineering point of view, the line makes eminent sense; from any other point of view, however, it creates problems. One day, perhaps, Toronto will learn to think holistically; until then, we will continue to taking two steps forward, three backwards.
chume@thestar.ca
Condo Critic
The Forest Hill, 500 St. Clair W.: This is another instantly familiar condo tower that happily takes more than it gives. Toronto already has dozens, if not hundreds, of such buildings, so the addition of one more should hardly come as a surprise. It’s more of a disappointment than anything.
It must be said that the corner of St. Clair and Bathurst ranks among the least appealing in the city; this condo doesn’t help the cause. On the northeast corner there’s a gas station, on the southeast an especially unpleasant commercial block, now on the northwest, we have an equally uninspired condo.
Constructed of the concrete and glass, it consists of a mid-rise tower sitting atop a three-storey podium. The building comes right out to the sidewalk and in that sense is fully integrated into its surroundings. Already Starbucks has taken over the corner.
There’s nothing particularly offensive about this development; but in typical Toronto fashion, it doesn’t go one iota farther than it needs to. It’s good enough, but nothing more. That, it tells us, is enough.
GRADE: C
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