Toronto The Dineen Building | ?m | 5s | Commercial Realty G. | George Robb

oh please tell me that's NOT going to happen to the main floor ...
a restoration like the Big Bop would be nice


thecharioteer said:
Sneak preview?

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Torontovibe said:
The buildings beside it, are a disaster and need to come down.
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Not to over-defend them, but their facades are actually surprisingly-intact 40s-style "urban improvements" (compare subway-construction-era photos, and you'll know what I mean)
 
Wouldn't it be wonderful if the space north of the Dineen could somehow be repurposed to provide access to the strange and remote 'Cloud Garden' directly behind them. If that location could be redesigned with Yonge Street access, it could be a welcome green space in an area mostly devoid of parks.
I'm sure commercial considerations would preclude anything like that....just thinking out loud!
 
cdr108 said:
oh please tell me that's NOT going to happen to the main floor ...
a restoration like the Big Bop would be nice
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Were you talking about the storefront glass? I think it is pretty faithful to the original. Unfortunately, they left out the leaded glass at the top.

1915yongeandtemperance.jpg


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Yonge_Street_looking_north_from_Temperance.jpg
 
cdr108 said:
oh please tell me that's NOT going to happen to the main floor ...
a restoration like the Big Bop would be nice
Click to expand...

Yes I share your derision. I mentioned a while ago how disappointing I found the ground floor, but if you see it today it has already been hacked to shreds and I'm not sure they could have replaced it with stone or brick and made the overall look fluid. Overall I think it's a good enough and just glad to see the rest of the building restored.

Oh and I also hope that the fourth storey glass enclosure for the restaurant is set back far enough to not really be seen from street level, but I doubt that will be the case.
 
Did you not look at the pictures? The original ground floor had floor to ceiling windows. It was a store front.

If you want to complain about something, complain about the exposed brick interior walls. How 1980s.
 
Wow, the brick colour is unbelievable! It was so dull from years of accumulated pollution before. What a difference, indeed.
 
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For the longest time I had assumed that demolition of this building was a foregone conclusion. I'm relieved to see it come back to life. Along with the restoration of the 1905 Canadian Bank of Commerce building, Yonge Street's remaining heritage gems are seeing good days.
 
Ramako said:
For the longest time I had assumed that demolition of this building was a foregone conclusion. I'm relieved to see it come back to life. Along with the restoration of the 1905 Canadian Bank of Commerce building, Yonge Street's remaining heritage gems are seeing good days.
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Some cleaning/resto work was done on 221 Yonge by ING Direct as well, and it looks quite nice now. Hopefully 205 is next, at which point pretty much all of the heritage buildings between King and Dundas will be looking pretty good.
 
I've walked by this building thousands of times and never noticed how beautiful this building is. What a difference a good renovation can do. I love it now.
 
The covering is being removed from the south side this morning, revealing what look like copper "flourishes" and they seem to have copper over the front door too. I suspect it will be fully uncovered by this evening. It looks fantastic.
 
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