What to do with old gas station? Fill 'er up with tourists
Dec 20, 2008 04:30 AM
Jack Lakey
STAFF REPORTER
The historic "tiny castle" filling station on Lake Shore Blvd. W. has been restored to its original grandeur, and is about to begin a second life.
We began following the restoration of the only remaining Joy Oil station in 2006 after it appeared that the city, which owns the building, would allow it to crumble, despite its designation as a historic building.
There were dozens of similar Joy Oil stations in the 1940s and 50s, which stood out from the competition due to their gaudy, faux-chateaux design, but the sole survivor was still in use at Lake Shore and Windermere Ave. until the 1990s.
The tiny Joy castles were actually two buildings: an office with a small turret similar to those that adorned European castles, connected to a second structure that housed auto service bays.
The original windows were leaded, the flashings were copper and an elegant weathervane topped the turret. The signs on his-and-hers washrooms directed customers to "thrones." The mostly male drivers of the day must have felt like kings.
It was vacant for more than a decade until the city acquired the land on which it sat, then assigned it a heritage designation, which created a dilemma: How to restore it, and what to do with it afterward?
Judging by reader response, it was clearly worth saving. Dozens of people called and emailed with their memories of the stations. One elderly woman told us she always pestered her father to pull in whenever they passed one.
For years, the station sat on blocks at Lake Shore and Windermere, slowly deteriorating, which made it seem the city had no intention of restoring it. Then it was moved across to the south side of Lake Shore, near Sunnyside beach, where city officials said it would remain until it was restored, probably by the end of 2008.
We'd forgotten about it until an email arrived this week from Linda Granfield, saying she "wept over what was happening to it for years," but was gratified to observe its transformation in recent months.
"Every time I drove along the Lake Shore to work and back, I watched Phoenix Restoration bringing that sweet, doll-house of a building back to life in this city of towering, impersonal condos and office buildings," said Granfield. "The castle is pristine, like a present waiting to be opened."
We checked it out and confirmed that the exterior is all gussied up, just like the old days, save for the leaded windows, and ready to assume a new career as a tourist information centre. It took a while but was worth the wait.
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