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As beautiful as our city may be, one thing Toronto has never been terribly skilled at, is holding on to our heritage buildings. It seems that every year, another historic structure has disappeared from our streets. The latest is a three-storey red brick building at 267 Queen Street East, just east of Sherbourne. Built in 1886 as a small grocery store, the building was designed in the Renaissance Revival style, with moulded-brick window heads and an ornate roof cornice. The property owner and demolition contractor have since been summonsed to appear in court after it was deemed the buiding was taken down without application for consent of the City of Toronto, violating the Ontario Heritage Act. If convicted, the two face up to a year in prison and a $1 million fine.
It was only six years ago in October of 2006 that a seven-alarm fire destroyed the building to the east of this one. Ontario Paint and Wallpaper had occupied 275 Queen Street East for over 90 years. At the time, area residents mourned the loss of that building to fire. Unfortunately, another has been lost to stupidity. Time will tell what developments are in the making for the new, wider plot that can now be found at Queen and Ontario.
