Condo Critic: Yorkville rich with everything but substance
March 6, 2010
Christopher Hume
Source here
No one ever accused Yorkville of good taste. Ever since it became boutique central in the '70s, the Village has been the best place in Toronto if you're looking for a $10,000 bomber jacket.
Architecturally speaking, however, Yorkville long ago lost much of the 19th-century charm that made it so appealing. Though Hazelton St. remains basically intact, Yorkville, Cumberland and Scollard streets have been remade into something more contemporary and generic.
The most recent wave of development – the new condo towers around Bay – could well be most remarkable yet, but for all the wrong reasons. What we have here is a kitsch contest between developers and their architects, each trying to outdo the other by designing and constructing the gaudiest tower. These are the kind of buildings that remind us why less really is more.
Still, looking at some of the stuff that appeared during the 1970s and '80s – try 101 Yorkville – even 21st-century kitsch is preferable. Through it all, however, the neighbourhood has retained a sense of its own identity; it has changed over the years but Yorkville remains a destination, probably more popular than ever.
The advent of Cumberland Park in 1993 marked a turning point of sorts. This highly engaging urban facility – complete with a piece of the Canadian Shield – is a civic highlight, more enjoyable even than the shopping for which Yorkville has grown famous.
On the other hand, although a number of art galleries can still be found in the Village, the creative energy has moved onto other parts of the city.
Condo Critic
100 YORKVILLE AT BELLAIR: When word of this development first got around, the reaction was unanimous – everybody from Jane Jacobs on down hated it. It was too tall, they charged, and incompatible with Yorkville's Victorian character. Such feelings aren't hard to understand but the reality is a bit more complicated. For a start, let's not forget that much of the land on which the complex sits was a parking lot. In many respects, the scheme gives more to the area than it takes. As an infill project, it brings density to the city core, which makes more sense than ever. The two "towers," eight and 17 storeys tall, are set back from the street and do not loom over the neighbourhood as critics feared it would. Sitting on the north side of Yorkville, the condo incorporates the facade of the old Mount Sinai Hospital and a couple of new stone-clad storefronts that add a much-needed note of elegance to this surprisingly shabby stretch. The complex is punctuated with pathways.
Curiously, the weak points are the two main structures. Given expectations, both seem just a little too ordinary for their own good. The green glass doesn't help, and neither do the precast concrete exteriors. On the other hand, the designers have not overlooked the details. They have incorporated some lovely materials, most notably limestone.
It's too bad the buildings themselves are so slab-like in their massing and that the townhouses on the north side of the site aspire to an ersatz historicism. That having been said, not only did 100 Yorkville not destroy the neighbourhood, it may be the first mixed-use development in the area that accepts the complexities and contradictions of the city. For that we should be thankful.
GRADE: B+
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