Markham 68 Main Street Condominiums | 42.3m | 6s | Sierra | FBP Architects

Good idea

This is a good idea to develop mainstreet markham as an old style inspired town centre, because the role of city centre has already been allocated by highway 7 and warden, making another modern city centre here would be redundant and split up markham into its own historic towns once again. Main street unionville should be unaltered because it is smaller and can support itself with its own residents, but main street markham needs this revitalization.
 
Urban intensification and revitalization continue apace with LEED® standard 68 Main Street Condominiums in Markham Village by Sierra Group. Designed by Flanagan Beresford Patteson Architects, with interiors by Flora Di Menna Designs and landscaping by Strybos Barron King Landscape Architecture, 68 Main Street’s architectural vocabulary and massing have been developed in close collaboration with the Town of Markham to complement the architectural heritage and built form of Markham Village.

Text by Doug Convoy Photos by Craig White

68 Main Street features façades with dichromatic brickwork, stone accents, and other historicist elements. It contains ground-level retail on Main Street, where it is built right to the sidewalk, rising only four storeys with a setback at the fifth. A portal in the Main Street frontage, designated for restaurants, gives access to the private, cobblestone courtyard-piazza.

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The cobblestone courtyard-piazza, without excessive separation between pedestrians and cars, is designed as a people-friendly gathering place for residents.

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The building's Main Street elevation follows the forms and rhythms of its heritage neighbours.

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The building engages the corner with a historicist clock tower. Dichromatic brickwork and traditional-style cornices mimic the local vernacular.

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The portal connecting Main Street to the private courtyard-piazza

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The portal is designated for restaurants, providing an opportunity for intimate, sheltered patios.

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A bird's-eye view of 68 Main Street Condominiums

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Main Street, Markham Village

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Main Street offers a mixed bag of 19th and 20th century architecture in a vernacular of blond, orange, and red brick mostly.

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An exceptional board and batten Victorian with elaborate gingerbread

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A portion of the 68 Main Street site occupied today by the condominium presentation centre

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A portion of the 68 Main Street site currently occupied by a forgettable strip mall

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Another view of the strip mall to be replaced by 68 Main Street

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Stay tuned for our next report, which will focus on the on 68 Main Street's amenities and the well-appointed model suite in the presentation centre.
 
Faux done well. There are many streets in Toronto that would benefit greatly from this type of development.
 
Hard to say if it'll be done well until we see the final product, but looks promising.
 
Faux done well. There are many streets in Toronto that would benefit greatly from this type of development.

I agree, it looks like the designers had a good understanding of Victorian commercial block design in Ontario. It might actually be good historicism. If building something like this block is possible, it gives me hope that perhaps actual Victorian blocks on streets like Queen which were demolished for cheap replacement apartment buildings, gas stations, or chain stores could be rebuilt one day if the opportunity arises.

I want to see the best in contemporary architecture in Toronto, but also the best historicism if there's an opportunity to rebuild a great building that was demolished or destroyed by fire at some point. It may start at a lower level, with simpler projects that remind ordinary people that it is very much possible to rebuild heritage architecture.
 
Urban Toronto’s coverage of 68 Main Street by Sierra Group continues with an overview of the condominium amenities and a look inside the model suite in the sales centre.

Text by Doug Convoy Photos by Craig White Illustrations courtesy of The Sierra Group

As part of Sierra’s strategy for LEED® certification, 68 Main Street will feature green roofs, with landscaped, Japanese-inspired gardens, water elements, seating areas, and gourmet gas barbecue stations.

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68 Main Street also will offer a number of auto-share vehicles in the building for residents to use by the hour or by the day.

Through the private courtyard-piazza...

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...and into the marble and mahogany lobby with concierge service

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The building will include an extensive fitness centre and a combination media-party room for large gatherings with state-of-the-art entertainment technology.

68 Main Street contains 143 suites in a variety of layouts – one-bedroom, one-bedroom + den, two-bedroom, two-bedroom + den and three-bedroom – and two series of finishes, the Residential Series and Signature Series. Prices range from the mid-$200,000s to over $1 million.

The 958 square-foot, two-bedroom + den model suite showcases the condominium's high-level of standard finishes, such as marble and granite counters, engineered hardwood floors, and 5 1/4 inch baseboards.

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68 Main Street Condominiums in Markham Village is the new face of development in the GTA, as set out in Ontario's Places to Grow, promising a more urban, integrated, and sustainable lifestyle for residents. The Presentation Centre is located on the west side of Highway 48/Main Street in Markham Village, north of Highway 7. For more information, contact 905-305-0822 or visit www.68mainstreet.ca.
 
I talked to the owner of the Japanese restaurant in the plaza. He said that demolition of the existing building is scheduled for March.
 
The ugly plaza is all gone now, and it really gives you a sense of the size of the site.

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