New condominiums are coming to Toronto's Church and Wellesley neighbourhood, with Aragon's 28-storey Eighty One Wellesley development expected to launch this Spring. The historic neighbourhood, which has long been the heart of Toronto's LGBT culture, has become a hotbed for new development. Located just east of the famed intersection, Eighty One Wellesley reflects the neighbourhood's growing appeal for new development, with several new towers coming to the Wellesley corridor. 

Looking southwest towards the 28-storey tower, image courtesy of Aragon

Designed by Core Architects, the 179-unit tower is adding a high-rise presence to an area characterized by its diverse built form. Along Church Street, rows of low and mid-rise buildings—many of which are over a century a old—form one of Toronto's liveliest retail and entertainment hubs, while surrounding cross-streets feature larger residential buildings.

A closer look at the podium, image courtesy of Aragon

The tower will join a stretch of Wellesley Street that already features a number of mid-to-late 20th century apartment towers, while the six-storey lattice pattern podium will negotiate a transition to the lower height context along the Church Street corridor. Meeting the street, a small, granite-paved forecourt will create a new public space. The partially covered forecourt will be animated by Ipe wood benches—as well as an Ipe wood soffit above—and a small water feature, making for a discrete yet welcoming space.

The covered forecourt creates a new public space, image courtesy of Aragon

The six storey-high podium will be clad in dark brick, meeting Wellesley Street with a frontage that's designed to integrate the tower with the mid-century modernist apartment typology found throughout the neighbourhood. According to Core Architects, the project "is intended to reflect the existing fabric, and to function as an infill building that will complement the neighbourhood architectural language, rather than trying to be noticeably different or iconic."

The double-height spacer level will house amenities, image courtesy of Aragon

In between the podium and the upper tower, a glazed double-height spacer level creates a visual separation between the two distinct typologies. Housing outdoor and indoor amenity spaces, the 7th and 8th floor spacer volume features a wrap-around outdoor terrace as well as a two-storey lounge and party room with panoramic views of the surrounding area. 

Looking southeast, the tower's distinct volumes are framed by white precast cladding, image courtesy of Aragon

Above, the upper tower levels will be framed in white precast cladding, creating a sense of separation between the tower's three distinct volumes. In separating the volumes, the massing strategy also reduces the tower's impact from street level, preserving the pedestrian experience. With a floorplate of 604 m², the building is also noticeably slimmer than most of Toronto's recent point towers, which have an average floorplate of about 750 m². 

Looking south, image courtesy of Aragon

We will return with updates as the new information continues to become available. In the meantime, make sure to check out our dataBase file, linked below. Want to share your thoughts about the project? Feel free to leave a comment in the space below this page, or to join in the ongoing discussion in our associated Forum thread.