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The Junction

For the NW corner of Dundas W & Clendenan Ave:



3106 DUNDAS ST W
Ward 4: Parkdale-High Park

To convert the existing two-storey mixed-use building (containing two commercial units on the ground floor and one residential unit on the second floor) into a three-storey mixed-use building (containing two commercial units on the ground floor and four residential units on the second and third floor) by constructing a partial second storey addition and a complete third storey addition.


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I like this a lot. The layouts here are interesting -- all four units will be two storeys with rooftop patios and entrances at grade. Architect is Solares, so we can expect these to be well insulated and energy efficient.
 
W. K. Lis said:
Stockyards is in the Junction.
jmap2-_edited2.jpg
From link. (West Toronto Junction Historical Society)
Click to expand...

The Stockyards was basically the Junction's industrial core back when it was its own independent municipality. Now, though, it's developing its own unique character. The same thing happened to the area south of Annette Street between Jane and Keele.
 
I don't consider anything north of the railway as "the Junction" as the look and feel is entirely different. The Stockyards might as well be in another city considering how different it is.
 
Towered said:
I don't consider anything north of the railway as "the Junction" as the look and feel is entirely different. The Stockyards might as well be in another city considering how different it is.
Click to expand...

You made me look to see if I could find anything Junction'ish to the north in the Archives........

Though this building probably stunk something awful, I think its rather a shame it wasn't adaptively re-used:

1644511807933.png


Listed as Swift's Canada, St. Clair and Keele, 1969.

This area and the junction saw a profound loss of industrial heritage that had real character, quite the shame.
 
Northern Light said:
You made me look to see if I could find anything Junction'ish to the north in the Archives........

Though this building probably stunk something awful, I think its rather a shame it wasn't adaptively re-used:

View attachment 379539

Listed as Swift's Canada, St. Clair and Keele, 1969.

This area and the junction saw a profound loss of industrial heritage that had real character, quite the shame.
Click to expand...

I remember that stretch of St. Clair west of Keele very well from my childhood. My young eyes found the massive Canada Packers plant fascinating, and I remember feeling distraught upon seeing its eventual demolition. It's now a row of awful townhomes. Serious downgrade. I hold out hope that some day a developer will assemble those properties and replace them with something on a larger scale again.
 
Northern Light said:
You made me look to see if I could find anything Junction'ish to the north in the Archives........

Though this building probably stunk something awful, I think its rather a shame it wasn't adaptively re-used:

View attachment 379539

Listed as Swift's Canada, St. Clair and Keele, 1969.

This area and the junction saw a profound loss of industrial heritage that had real character, quite the shame.
Click to expand...

The Stockyards area north of the Canadian Pacific Railway line was home to the Victorian Maple Leaf Mills flour mill complex, which survived into the late 1980s. There were also many interesting Edwardian meatpacking buildings in the area, but very little was preserved when the area was redeveloped in the 1990s and early 2000s. Some of the lanes between cattle pens in the Ontario Stockyards themselves were paved with red bricks, which was quaint.

There were railway sidings along the sides of roads which survived into the 1990s, as the railway was critical to transportation for the local industry when the area first developed. Most of the industrial plants had railway connections.

The Stockyards also had two historic steam locomotive roundhouses, West Toronto Roundhouse and an adjacent complex of railway maintenance shops (located where the Rona is now), as well as the Lambton Roundhouse at Runnymede and St. Clair. The area was full of heritage character and comparable to Liberty Village in the early 1990s before most of it was bulldozed for generic big box stores and a subdivision.

The importance of the area to the Junction's history can be seen in the street name references to the Junction like "Junction Road" and "West Toronto Street". West Toronto was the Junction's name when it was incorporated as a city (just prior to being amalgamated with the City of Toronto in 1909). It's a shame that the area's redevelopment wasn't handled with more care with regard to heritage resources and urban planning in the 1990s. Liberty Village's outcome looks great in comparison.
 
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