Toronto 95 St Joseph | 134.7m | 40s | Daniels | Core Architects

Since this is being bumped...

...looks like 3 different podiums pointlessly stacked on top of each other. And the tower portion is too busy and glass boxy. So lots of improvements needed here before they start working on it, IMO.
 
They said it’s still 39 stories… the 15 storey 2nd tower is now just a 13 storey ‘podium’.
I have fixed the database file to reflect 39 storeys again.

42
 


95 St. Joseph Street - Notice of Intention to Designate under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act

This item will be considered by Toronto Preservation Board on January 24, 2022.

Summary
This report recommends that City Council state its intention to designate the property at 95 St. Joseph Street under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act.

The property at 95 St. Joseph Street contains a four-storey complex originally known as St. Basil's Seminary and now identified as the Cardinal Flahiff Basilian Centre. The seminary is part of the University of St. Michael's College campus at the University of Toronto and is located to the east of Queen's Park and west of Bay Street in the Bay-Cloverhill neighbourhood.

St. Basil's Seminary was constructed in 1950-51 as part of the Basilian Fathers centennial project to expand St. Michael's College. The Basilian Fathers originated in France in 1828 and following the appointment of Armand-Francoise-Marie de Charbonnel as Archbishop in 1850, arrived in Toronto in 1852. In 1853, the Basilians amalgamated with St. Michael's College and in 1856 relocated the college to the Clover Hill estate. In 1949, to celebrate the college centenary and support its growth and expansion, the Basilians commissioned Ernest Cormier, OC, the Montreal-based architect and engineer who is regarded as one of Canada's most outstanding 20th-century architects, to design new and separate facilities for a high school, university and seminary. The high school, St. Michael's College was located at St. Clair and Bathurst Street. St. Basil's Seminary and the new university building, Carr Hall (1950-54), were designed by Cormier in partnership with Toronto architects, Brennan & Whale. Cormier's design for the seminary incorporated the historic Newman Hall Chapel (1913), designed by the architect Arthur W. Holmes who had authored the St. Michael's College 1920s campus masterplan and, over the course of 40 years, designed several other buildings for the college.

Completed in 1951, and extended in 1959 and 1979-80, the seminary complex is an integral part of the sequence of St. Michael's College buildings constructed over 140 years on the historic Clover Hill estate as part of a Roman Catholic educational enclave which includes the world-renowned Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies and the Marshall McLuhan Centre for Culture and Technology. Today, the St. Michael's College campus is distinguished by its collection of low-rise college buildings constructed in a consistent palette of buff brick, limestone and concrete, punctuated by the spires of St. Basil's Church and Carr Hall and set in a series of landscaped open-spaces interwoven with pedestrian pathways which together form a distinct cultural heritage landscape. St. Basil's Seminary is an important contributor to this evolved collection and context of St. Michael's College which forms part of the University of Toronto campus surrounding Queen's Park.

Following research and evaluation under Ontario Regulation 9/06, the provincial criteria prescribed for municipal designation, staff have determined that the property at 95 St. Joseph Street merits designation under Part IV Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for its design, associative and contextual value.

An Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment application has been submitted to permit the redevelopment of the property at 95 St. Joseph Street with a 39-storey, mixed-use building with a 12-storey podium. The proposed development would retain the front façade of the existing building, remove the later 1979-80 projecting fourth-floor addition and restore the original façade features. The interior chapel will be relocated, and will no longer be an active place of worship. It is proposed to be a multi-purpose amenity space within the development. The remainder of the existing four-storey St. Basil's Seminary and the Newman Hall Chapel would be demolished.

In June 2019, the More Homes, More Choice Act, 2019 (Bill 108) received Royal Assent. Schedule 11 of this Act included amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act (OHA). The Bill 108 Amendments to the OHA came into force on July 1, 2021, which included a shift in Part IV designations related certain Planning Act applications. Section 29(1.2) of the OHA now restricts City Council's ability to give notice of its intention to designate a property under the OHA to within 90 days after the City Clerk gives notice of a complete application.

The application currently under review was deemed complete prior to the new legislation coming into force.

Designation enables City Council to review proposed alterations, enforce heritage property standards and maintenance, and refuse demolition.​
 


95 St. Joseph Street - Notice of Intention to Designate under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act

This item will be considered by Toronto Preservation Board on January 24, 2022.

Summary
This report recommends that City Council state its intention to designate the property at 95 St. Joseph Street under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act.

The property at 95 St. Joseph Street contains a four-storey complex originally known as St. Basil's Seminary and now identified as the Cardinal Flahiff Basilian Centre. The seminary is part of the University of St. Michael's College campus at the University of Toronto and is located to the east of Queen's Park and west of Bay Street in the Bay-Cloverhill neighbourhood.

St. Basil's Seminary was constructed in 1950-51 as part of the Basilian Fathers centennial project to expand St. Michael's College. The Basilian Fathers originated in France in 1828 and following the appointment of Armand-Francoise-Marie de Charbonnel as Archbishop in 1850, arrived in Toronto in 1852. In 1853, the Basilians amalgamated with St. Michael's College and in 1856 relocated the college to the Clover Hill estate. In 1949, to celebrate the college centenary and support its growth and expansion, the Basilians commissioned Ernest Cormier, OC, the Montreal-based architect and engineer who is regarded as one of Canada's most outstanding 20th-century architects, to design new and separate facilities for a high school, university and seminary. The high school, St. Michael's College was located at St. Clair and Bathurst Street. St. Basil's Seminary and the new university building, Carr Hall (1950-54), were designed by Cormier in partnership with Toronto architects, Brennan & Whale. Cormier's design for the seminary incorporated the historic Newman Hall Chapel (1913), designed by the architect Arthur W. Holmes who had authored the St. Michael's College 1920s campus masterplan and, over the course of 40 years, designed several other buildings for the college.

Completed in 1951, and extended in 1959 and 1979-80, the seminary complex is an integral part of the sequence of St. Michael's College buildings constructed over 140 years on the historic Clover Hill estate as part of a Roman Catholic educational enclave which includes the world-renowned Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies and the Marshall McLuhan Centre for Culture and Technology. Today, the St. Michael's College campus is distinguished by its collection of low-rise college buildings constructed in a consistent palette of buff brick, limestone and concrete, punctuated by the spires of St. Basil's Church and Carr Hall and set in a series of landscaped open-spaces interwoven with pedestrian pathways which together form a distinct cultural heritage landscape. St. Basil's Seminary is an important contributor to this evolved collection and context of St. Michael's College which forms part of the University of Toronto campus surrounding Queen's Park.

Following research and evaluation under Ontario Regulation 9/06, the provincial criteria prescribed for municipal designation, staff have determined that the property at 95 St. Joseph Street merits designation under Part IV Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for its design, associative and contextual value.

An Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment application has been submitted to permit the redevelopment of the property at 95 St. Joseph Street with a 39-storey, mixed-use building with a 12-storey podium. The proposed development would retain the front façade of the existing building, remove the later 1979-80 projecting fourth-floor addition and restore the original façade features. The interior chapel will be relocated, and will no longer be an active place of worship. It is proposed to be a multi-purpose amenity space within the development. The remainder of the existing four-storey St. Basil's Seminary and the Newman Hall Chapel would be demolished.

In June 2019, the More Homes, More Choice Act, 2019 (Bill 108) received Royal Assent. Schedule 11 of this Act included amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act (OHA). The Bill 108 Amendments to the OHA came into force on July 1, 2021, which included a shift in Part IV designations related certain Planning Act applications. Section 29(1.2) of the OHA now restricts City Council's ability to give notice of its intention to designate a property under the OHA to within 90 days after the City Clerk gives notice of a complete application.

The application currently under review was deemed complete prior to the new legislation coming into force.

Designation enables City Council to review proposed alterations, enforce heritage property standards and maintenance, and refuse demolition.​
Subsequent to this Intention to Designate hearing (calling out this line in particular: staff have determined that the property at 95 St. Joseph Street merits designation under Part IV Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for its design, associative and contextual value.

This recommendation snippet above, is part of a 79 page PDF dated Jan 4th, with significant detail on the rationale behind the recommendation.



The final (planned) Working Group is expected to take place on Jan 27th.
 
Can we get a Mayor that can for once actually properly fund city departments, so groups like HPS and City Planning arent always in reactionary mode and start doing things when it's basically too late?

I dont see the point of this latest exercise here.
 
Huh. Anyone know what kind of application that is? Does that mean pre-application consultation, and if so has Planning formalized that process?

No files online yet. Curious to know who is running this application. Church/Fathers directly, or do they have a development partner?

I am not joking when I say this building should be considered for heritage potential. There is so much junk protected that shouldn't be, but this one to me is special. There's also what appears to be a chapel in the back of this building, on St. Basil Lane. Maybe a private chapel for the Fathers? Can't find anything about it online.

View attachment 173933

In my opinion this should also show some due deference to Kelly Library next door at 113 St. Joseph, a brutalist beauty.

View attachment 173934

Make no mistake; I believe this is an appropriate tower site. But the buildings and form at street level are special and merit some consideration.

Good find raptor.

The proposed 10,300 m2 of institutional space is probably for the Fathers to stay on site after completion.

Can't wait to see plans.
This is an insensitive destruction of the existing heritage building which was comprehensively approved for level four protection by the Toronto Preservation Board on 24th January 2022 for its design, associative and contextual values. The approval was supported by a record-setting number of community submissions. The developer and the owner should think again before proceeding with their application for site-specific exemptions which would sanction the demolishing of the greater part of the assemblage of heritage buildings on this site, which includes the original Newman Chapel (1913), the chapel at the rear to which you refer.
 
Huh. Anyone know what kind of application that is? Does that mean pre-application consultation, and if so has Planning formalized that process?

No files online yet. Curious to know who is running this application. Church/Fathers directly, or do they have a development partner?

I am not joking when I say this building should be considered for heritage potential. There is so much junk protected that shouldn't be, but this one to me is special. There's also what appears to be a chapel in the back of this building, on St. Basil Lane. Maybe a private chapel for the Fathers? Can't find anything about it online.

View attachment 173933

In my opinion this should also show some due deference to Kelly Library next door at 113 St. Joseph, a brutalist beauty.

View attachment 173934

Make no mistake; I believe this is an appropriate tower site. But the buildings and form at street level are special and merit some consideration.

Good find raptor.

The proposed 10,300 m2 of institutional space is probably for the Fathers to stay on site after completion.

Can't wait to see plans.
No - the Basilian Fathers have announced that they will be leaving the site completely.
 
Submission from Apr 2022. The renderings are consistent with what's already been posted from the previous page:



95 ST JOSEPH ST
Ward 11: University-Rosedale

Site Plan Approval for a 39 storey mixed institutional and residential building with the lower 12 floors being a seniors facility containing 254 suites with varying levels of care and the upper 26 floors containing 316 residential units. 119 parking spaces will be provided in a 2 levels underground garage.
 
Submission from Apr 2022. The renderings are consistent with what's already been posted from the previous page:



95 ST JOSEPH ST
Ward 11: University-Rosedale

Site Plan Approval for a 39 storey mixed institutional and residential building with the lower 12 floors being a seniors facility containing 254 suites with varying levels of care and the upper 26 floors containing 316 residential units. 119 parking spaces will be provided in a 2 levels underground garage.

Hi Albert, I'm curious as to how you interpret this? The wording suggests that an "Approval" is Under Review, whereas previously an "Application" was Under Review. Is that just another way of saying the same thing?
 
Hi Albert, I'm curious as to how you interpret this? The wording suggests that an "Approval" is Under Review, whereas previously an "Application" was Under Review. Is that just another way of saying the same thing?

Generally speaking, reviewing of the Site Plan Approval would move this closer towards the next step of this project coming to fruition.
 
Generally speaking, reviewing of the Site Plan Approval would move this closer towards the next step of this project coming to fruition.

Thanks for the clarification. The revised application states that the building is not Heritage Registered, but makes no reference to the unanimous adoption of Intention to Designate, passed by City Council on March 9th, 2022 - a month before the revisions were submitted.
 
On March 14th, the Toronto Preservation Board met to consider a Staff Recommendation to accept the Alterations proposed. The recommendation was rejected, as too destructive to a "landmark building", resulting in a "Cormier light"".
 
Final Report, Approval recommended to the next meeting of TEYCC:


The S. 37 here is a eye-popping.

1655477641391.png
 
There have been some changes in the tower's appearance for this one, as per the SPA, docs from December '22: Renders first, then text

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Quick comment, yes the funny-looking cloud outline is in the actual Arch. Plans; File under' Revisions for Dummies, LOL Just in case it wasn't clear what they changed, they made it obvious!

Renders of the podium:

1675799106199.png


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Text on the changes, from the Cover Letter:

1675799247177.png
 

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