Adam Vaughan plans a Victorian-era rebuild for victims of Queen West fire
Posted: February 27, 2008, 2:14 AM by Zosia Bielski
By Zosia Bielski, National Post
The rebuilding of the historic Queen Street West block destroyed by last Wednesday’s fire could begin as early as this spring, says councillor Adam Vaughan.
At a meeting for business and property owners held yesterday afternoon inside the nearby Burroughs Building, Mr. Vaughan pledged the reconstruction would see the stretch just east of Bathurst revived into one of North America’s finest Victorian era shopping districts.
“The hope here is to recreate not just the physical architecture in a way that’s sensitive to heritage but also, the social architecture that’s here. There are very few places in Toronto where a family can start a business, live on top of a store and have a tenant above them. That’s a unique form of cultural heritage in the city and ... we want to facilitate that coming back to Queen West because it’s part of why people move to this neighbourhood,†Mr. Vaughan said.
Although officials have yet to contact some of the block’s approximately 60 tenants, several of whom “just fled†on Wednesday morning the councillor’s executive assistant Ange Kinnear said yesterday, Mr. Vaughan is already dreaming big.
“The goal here was to stop the march of the mall, from the Eaton Centre along Queen West and to start to protect this heritage. The idea is to protect it all the way to Parkdale, but this is the first leg of it,†he said.
Brothers Brad and Trevor Moss owned 613 Queen Street West, a two-storey building dating back to the 1850s that most recently housed the clothing store Preloved, as well as two residential tenants.
Trevor Ross said his insurance company estimated reconstruction would likely take two years. He added that although city officials “didn’t really commit†to a time frame, Mr. Vaughan did suggest a rebuild could take as little as nine months.
“The city has promised to work with the land owners to expedite the process of rebuilding. They have a real interest in seeing what was here come back and promised that if the landowners work towards that goal, they will be very generous and quick about getting things back to the way they were,†Mr. Ross said.
“It’s not going to be an easy process, even with the help from the city because there are so many different departments you have to deal with, and the insurance company.â€
Like other landlords, the Moss brothers will see little progress until the site is released to their insurance agents. Yesterday, that process looked distant as investigators in masks and forensic suits sifted through the charred rubble with rakes. The cause of the blaze is still undetermined.
Another meeting is scheduled for residents tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. at the Theatre Passe Muraille. As well on Friday, city officials will meet with dozens of artists who have offered to hold benefit concerts for the tenants.
Ms. Kinnear said she was moved by the spontaneous generosity of Torontonians across the west end, including Virginia Johnson, an Ossington Avenue clothing designer who has offered tenants one free outfit each, as well as a couple of empty nesters who called Mr. Vaughan’s office from High Park to offer their homes.
Photo: Demolition team members continue to clean up the fire that ripped through Queen Street at Bathurst Street. (Peter J. Thompson/National Post)
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