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From the Globe:
THE ARCHITOURIST: ARCHITECTURAL CONSERVATION
What to do with a Riverdale landmark?
The old hospital is slated for demolition. Some suggest it would make a fine condo
By DAVE LEBLANC
Friday, June 17, 2005 Page G6
Patients enjoying the early June weather almost surely noticed the older gentleman as he strolled the grounds of the former Riverdale Hospital -- now known as Bridgepoint Health -- pausing occasionally to admire its handsome features.
With a sleek white ponytail anchoring his hawk-like nose, he squinted up at the zigzagging curtain wall wrapping around the macaroni-shaped building and noted with approval that the original aluminum window sashes and spandrel panels of "mink brown" and "sky grey" are still quite serviceable.
As the man walked into the shade under the colourful "mushroom" canopies, however, only one wheelchair-bound fellow thought to politely inquire as to what he was looking at with such interest.
Howard Chapman, a soft-spoken, 87-year-old architect, answered matter-of-factly and with a touch of humility that he was one of the two men responsible for the hospital's creation more than four decades ago.
Opened at Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street in 1963, Riverdale Hospital was the first major commission for the two-partner firm of Chapman and Hurst, and the first major institutional building for leafy Riverdale.
Leonard Hurst (1928-1979) had been out of the University of Toronto's architecture school for only five years when the firm received the commission in 1959. He was made design partner-in-charge because of his materials expertise and artistry, as evidenced by such flourishes as the concrete awning with circular cutouts and the "therapy terrace" wall of sawed-off ceramic sewer pipe on the hospital's south elevation.
These talents, coupled with Mr. Chapman's business acumen, produced a grand work called the "Taj Mahal of bed-care centres" in a 1963 review by the Toronto Planning Board.
The semi-circular shape, novel in Toronto then as now, solved many problems. Hemmed in by the Don Jail and a bowling club to the south and the Don Valley to the west, the partners decided to explore a curved design. Not only would it allow them to squeeze more building (and therefore beds) onto less land, it would provide better views to more patients. And since it was also the firm's desire to break with traditional hospital architecture, the design would create a more fluid, and at times even playful, profile.
"We both had an objection to long, endless corridors stretching forever," Mr. Chapman says. "In fact, the site helped us there because we simply couldn't accommodate them."
Since the shape also dictated that elevators be placed a good distance away from the building's entrance foyer, an elaborate mural was commissioned to draw the eye (and hopefully the feet) down the corridor to find them. The winner of a competition, the exquisite 85-foot long glass tile mosaic entitled Life -- a 2½-year project for Kitchener artist Margit Gatterbauer -- achieved this and much more. Depicting mankind's evolution, it lifts the spirit and gives the building an energy not usually found in hospitals.
Which is exactly the point. From its ample interior brick- and teak-work, which provides domestic warmth, to its wonderful exterior massing and original landscaping by George Tanaka, this is a place more akin to a tropical hotel than institutional building. "I can tell you that that's a big consideration when you're designing a building -- to really get into the spirit of it and give people some comfort and some enthusiasm about living," Mr. Chapman says.
Dancing happily over the whizzing traffic of the Don Valley Parkway, the building's curving arms seem to both embrace its elderly southern neighbour, the Don Jail, while being a clean modernist counterpoint. Unfortunately, it's also dancing dangerously close to extinction; Bridgepoint wants to have it bulldozed to make way for a new facility.
So why not just place the new building elsewhere on the large site? That's what an independent think tank, which included University of Toronto architecture dean George Baird, heritage architect Catherine Nasmith and Alex Speigel of Context Development, asked this past April when Toronto-Danforth Councillor Paula Fletcher invited them to study Bridgepoint's proposal.
"I think there was quite a strong consensus on this," says Mr. Speigel, who argues that retention of the 1963 building is a "no-brainer" since it would not only eliminate the problem of where to house patients during construction, it would give it a new lease on life, likely as a residential complex.
"It's a very easy thing to leave the building [and] still make the rest of the site work. In fact, I think the rest of the site works better."
Calling the building "quite a landmark," Mr. Speigel is convinced its narrow floor plate would make for an easy condominium conversion, while its modernist attributes and commanding view of the city would make for an easy sell to potential developers. "The entrance is spectacular," he says. "I think anybody with any design sense would certainly want to keep that as a feature."
On June 22, Bridgepoint will host an open house at 4 p.m., followed by a community consultation meeting at 7 p.m. in the hospital's auditorium, which Ms. Fletcher predicts will be well-attended.
"I do have to go with whatever the expert opinion is, but I've been really holding people's feet to the fire over this half-round building," the councillor says. "If in the end it stays up, I'll be thrilled; if in the end it goes down, there'll be nothing casual about it. Every single possible way of keeping it up will have been looked at first, and that's been my commitment."
Which no doubt suits Mr. Chapman, who looks away from his building and up at the gathering rain clouds. "One of the things that has impressed me over the years," he says, "is the number of people who come here and say it's a wonderful place."
Dave LeBlanc hosts The Architourist on CFRB Sunday mornings. Inquiries can be sent to dave.leblanc@globeandmail.ca.
____________________________________________________
Finally this building is receiving some media attention - the site plans/street grid extension as it stands now doesn't really require the demolition of this neat building - which also happen to align with the view axis of the Don Jail very nicely.
GB
THE ARCHITOURIST: ARCHITECTURAL CONSERVATION
What to do with a Riverdale landmark?
The old hospital is slated for demolition. Some suggest it would make a fine condo
By DAVE LEBLANC
Friday, June 17, 2005 Page G6
Patients enjoying the early June weather almost surely noticed the older gentleman as he strolled the grounds of the former Riverdale Hospital -- now known as Bridgepoint Health -- pausing occasionally to admire its handsome features.
With a sleek white ponytail anchoring his hawk-like nose, he squinted up at the zigzagging curtain wall wrapping around the macaroni-shaped building and noted with approval that the original aluminum window sashes and spandrel panels of "mink brown" and "sky grey" are still quite serviceable.
As the man walked into the shade under the colourful "mushroom" canopies, however, only one wheelchair-bound fellow thought to politely inquire as to what he was looking at with such interest.
Howard Chapman, a soft-spoken, 87-year-old architect, answered matter-of-factly and with a touch of humility that he was one of the two men responsible for the hospital's creation more than four decades ago.
Opened at Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street in 1963, Riverdale Hospital was the first major commission for the two-partner firm of Chapman and Hurst, and the first major institutional building for leafy Riverdale.
Leonard Hurst (1928-1979) had been out of the University of Toronto's architecture school for only five years when the firm received the commission in 1959. He was made design partner-in-charge because of his materials expertise and artistry, as evidenced by such flourishes as the concrete awning with circular cutouts and the "therapy terrace" wall of sawed-off ceramic sewer pipe on the hospital's south elevation.
These talents, coupled with Mr. Chapman's business acumen, produced a grand work called the "Taj Mahal of bed-care centres" in a 1963 review by the Toronto Planning Board.
The semi-circular shape, novel in Toronto then as now, solved many problems. Hemmed in by the Don Jail and a bowling club to the south and the Don Valley to the west, the partners decided to explore a curved design. Not only would it allow them to squeeze more building (and therefore beds) onto less land, it would provide better views to more patients. And since it was also the firm's desire to break with traditional hospital architecture, the design would create a more fluid, and at times even playful, profile.
"We both had an objection to long, endless corridors stretching forever," Mr. Chapman says. "In fact, the site helped us there because we simply couldn't accommodate them."
Since the shape also dictated that elevators be placed a good distance away from the building's entrance foyer, an elaborate mural was commissioned to draw the eye (and hopefully the feet) down the corridor to find them. The winner of a competition, the exquisite 85-foot long glass tile mosaic entitled Life -- a 2½-year project for Kitchener artist Margit Gatterbauer -- achieved this and much more. Depicting mankind's evolution, it lifts the spirit and gives the building an energy not usually found in hospitals.
Which is exactly the point. From its ample interior brick- and teak-work, which provides domestic warmth, to its wonderful exterior massing and original landscaping by George Tanaka, this is a place more akin to a tropical hotel than institutional building. "I can tell you that that's a big consideration when you're designing a building -- to really get into the spirit of it and give people some comfort and some enthusiasm about living," Mr. Chapman says.
Dancing happily over the whizzing traffic of the Don Valley Parkway, the building's curving arms seem to both embrace its elderly southern neighbour, the Don Jail, while being a clean modernist counterpoint. Unfortunately, it's also dancing dangerously close to extinction; Bridgepoint wants to have it bulldozed to make way for a new facility.
So why not just place the new building elsewhere on the large site? That's what an independent think tank, which included University of Toronto architecture dean George Baird, heritage architect Catherine Nasmith and Alex Speigel of Context Development, asked this past April when Toronto-Danforth Councillor Paula Fletcher invited them to study Bridgepoint's proposal.
"I think there was quite a strong consensus on this," says Mr. Speigel, who argues that retention of the 1963 building is a "no-brainer" since it would not only eliminate the problem of where to house patients during construction, it would give it a new lease on life, likely as a residential complex.
"It's a very easy thing to leave the building [and] still make the rest of the site work. In fact, I think the rest of the site works better."
Calling the building "quite a landmark," Mr. Speigel is convinced its narrow floor plate would make for an easy condominium conversion, while its modernist attributes and commanding view of the city would make for an easy sell to potential developers. "The entrance is spectacular," he says. "I think anybody with any design sense would certainly want to keep that as a feature."
On June 22, Bridgepoint will host an open house at 4 p.m., followed by a community consultation meeting at 7 p.m. in the hospital's auditorium, which Ms. Fletcher predicts will be well-attended.
"I do have to go with whatever the expert opinion is, but I've been really holding people's feet to the fire over this half-round building," the councillor says. "If in the end it stays up, I'll be thrilled; if in the end it goes down, there'll be nothing casual about it. Every single possible way of keeping it up will have been looked at first, and that's been my commitment."
Which no doubt suits Mr. Chapman, who looks away from his building and up at the gathering rain clouds. "One of the things that has impressed me over the years," he says, "is the number of people who come here and say it's a wonderful place."
Dave LeBlanc hosts The Architourist on CFRB Sunday mornings. Inquiries can be sent to dave.leblanc@globeandmail.ca.
____________________________________________________
Finally this building is receiving some media attention - the site plans/street grid extension as it stands now doesn't really require the demolition of this neat building - which also happen to align with the view axis of the Don Jail very nicely.
GB
enter by the south door)