Toronto 1921 Davenport | 18.74m | 5s | Ambient Designs

AlbertC

AlbertC

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This is about 4-5 blocks west of where I live. Looks like this would replace the Silva Groceries Store and Joe's Garden Centre at the SE corner of Davenport & Laughton. Good to see midrise intensification, although this one seems a bit surprising as that has been one of the steadier businesses along this stretch of Davenport.

Development Applications

City Planning COA Application Information Center
app.toronto.ca


1921 DAVENPORT RD
Ward 9: Davenport

Proposal to construct a new 5-storey mixed-use building comprised of 190.83 m² of non-residential gross floor area and 19 residential dwelling units (1,872.17 sq. m of residential gross floor area).


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AlexBozikovic said:
Designed by John Lyle for Dominion Bank, 1927. This deserves protection.
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You tweeted earlier "Should we be protecting small and undistinguished buildings in the middle of a fast-growing city?"

I'm curious to know in your professional opinion what separates or distinguishes this building, and makes it special? To my untrained eye this is a very run of the mill bank branch location - average brickwork with some ornamentation, but largely plain. My guess is that any unique interior features have been removed over the years. Preserving it would likely render any development on the site impossible for most small builders. I'm interested to hear your take in more detail.
 
DavidCapizzano said:
You tweeted earlier "Should we be protecting small and undistinguished buildings in the middle of a fast-growing city?"

I'm curious to know in your professional opinion what separates or distinguishes this building, and makes it special? To my untrained eye this is a very run of the mill bank branch location - average brickwork with some ornamentation, but largely plain. My guess is that any unique interior features have been removed over the years. Preserving it would likely render any development on the site impossible for most small builders. I'm interested to hear your take in more detail.
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The brick and stonework, even in their current degraded state, reflect a much higher level of craft that is typical for buildings in Toronto. It’s part of a broader body of work for this bank (across the city and the country) by its architect. And the architect was John Lyle, one of the most important architects in Toronto‘s history.

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That building, like so many of the banks that Lyle designed, is the architectural highlight of the block it's located on. It's also a great visual connection to the area's history and a time when banks relied on grand neoclassical design features to create an impression of permanence and grandeur. It should be preserved.
 
This building should stay. I travel along that street all the time. That building is a highlight on Davenport. It infuriates me, though I don't know what the plan is here, that generally speaking developers don't consider a building like this an asset.
 
LUVIT! said:
The most charming corners in this city are the most desirable it seems and the most threatened!
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Vote for a councillor that’s willing to zone mixed-use into the yellowbelt.

I don’t mean to be flippant, but - the fact that large tracts of the city are off-limits to developers means that anything on a main st will be taken out. Even better is if small-scale retail without parking minimums is allowed in residential-only zones. With reduced development pressures, chances are that buildings like this would stay around a lot, lot longer.
 
Davenport gets less recognition, as majority of its built form north of the CP Railway past Dupont is lowrise. But there are some minor gems mixed in there around the main intersections at Christie, Ossington, Dovercourt and Symington. There's also some missing middle type apartments on the north side running along the base of the hill, between Oakwood to Dufferin and patches of them around Bathurst and Christie, albeit collectively not being very architecturally notable.

The area west of Symington is still on the underperforming side when compared to the Dupont stretch to the south that runs parallel. But the bones are there for potential.
 
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allengeorge said:
Vote for a councillor that’s willing to zone mixed-use into the yellowbelt.

I don’t mean to be flippant, but - the fact that large tracts of the city are off-limits to developers means that anything on a main st will be taken out. Even better is if small-scale retail without parking minimums is allowed in residential-only zones. With reduced development pressures, chances are that buildings like this would stay around a lot, lot longer.
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not to mention the chances of NEW charming mainstreets gradually forming!
 
This project is really exciting. We moved in this neighbourhood a year ago and this stretch of Davenport has so much potential, so this new life would be a welcome development.

Wish something would go into the Bamboo Drapes building, though.
 
pand75 said:
This project is really exciting. We moved in this neighbourhood a year ago and this stretch of Davenport has so much potential, so this new life would be a welcome development.

Wish something would go into the Bamboo Drapes building, though.
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There was a mention of something called "Davenport Village Lofts" for the former Bamboo Bazaar place back in 2019, but haven't heard anything surface from it since.

The website still says it's "coming soon":


The other major piece of immediate revitalization I'd like to see is the building at SW corner of Davenport & Symington. Which has sat vacant after the Chinese Restaurant closed ages ago. Saw some plans for it to be replaced a new 3 storey building, but the current building itself still has some good workable bones. Just needs the white paint cleaned off, brick and full interior restored, maybe an extra floor or two up top.
 
AlbertC said:
There was a mention of something called "Davenport Village Lofts" for the former Bamboo Bazaar place back in 2019, but haven't heard anything surface from it since.

The website still says it's "coming soon":


The other major piece of immediate revitalization I'd like to see is the building at SW corner of Davenport & Symington. Which has sat vacant after the Chinese Restaurant closed ages ago. Saw some plans for it to be replaced a new 3 storey building, but the current building itself still has some good workable bones. Just needs the white paint cleaned off, brick and full interior restored, maybe an extra floor or two up top.
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Awesome - I had no idea there was anything even discussed for that space. I did notice that there was a fresh coat of paint put on the building to clean up prior graffiti, so someone is maintaining it to some extent. Fingers crossed.

Yeah, there is the old Chinese Restaurant application that was re-opened. Same with another application at the Northeast corner of Davenport and Symington. Hey Wey just opened there too, so hopefully this is a sign of things to come.
 
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