It's no different than the buildings on Yonge Street having little impact on Rosedale or Forrest Hill.
That's not a hard rule though by any means though. It would depend on a variety of things (ie. design, massing, neighbourhood issues, etc.)
It's very unfortunate that they went with the Kingsway marketing. There's a chance that this might not do anything for Dundas retail. That's something that residents should demand from this developer. Of course the Kingsway is great for the houses and character, and it's definitely worth preserving. If condos are restricted to Dundas, and if they're designed properly, very little is going to change in the neighbourhood. In fact, with another retail strip nearby, it might just become a better place to live.
It's no different than the buildings on Yonge Street having little impact on Rosedale or Forrest Hill.
If anything's a threat to the Kingsway, it isn't condo encroachment, it's dopes replacing 20s/30s/40s dwellings with "in character" schmaltz--some of whom might be among those up in arms over condo encroachment, for all we know...
Much can be done with careful renovation over time, but not everything. For example, there is no easy way to add insulation to the uninsulated walls. The walls don't appear to have easily accessed hollows for blowing insulation in, and replacing the walls on the inside would require removing the original wood panelling (which would subtract from the character of the place). Another possibility would be to add it to the outside and stucco over it, but this would change the whole look of the house.
Thing is, for some reason builders these days appear (as far as I've seen) to be quite unable to copy the original style of these houses. They seem to try, but what they create does not have the same spirit as the original. For myself, I prefer to live in a house with some character in spite of the inconveniences. I think the vast majority in the neighbourhood feel the same way - certainly if it is a McMansion you want, it would be a lot cheaper to but it elsewhere.
There is a method of blowing in polyurethane foam insulation into uninsulated wall cavities. It's expensive, but all you're left with are little holes in the wall. You might want to look into that.
We have very skilled tradespeople to build our houses, but we are missing the craftsmen/women that were trained in carving decorative details, creating marble inlays or making stained glass windows, etc.
I know we can do it, though. The Hindu temple up in Rexdale was meticulously carved by artisans from India and it looks just like the real thing. Perhaps we should look into extending temporary work visas for people with these skills.
I know about that; I asked an 'expert' and was told that houses built in this era are apparently not suitable for that procedure.
Why is that?
Apparently, it's the way the walls were originally made. Old houses built before around 1940 allegedly do not have the type of regular wall cavities (created by predictable framing) required for this procedure.
I'm just repeating what I was told, I'm certainly not an expert on the matter.