Courtesy: The Toronto Sun
Article
Inn on the Park is history
'Landmark building' demolished
By ZEN RURYK, CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
Some of the key parts of the Inn on the Park are being saved despite the demolition of the 1960s-era piece of modernist architecture, Councillor Cliff Jenkins says.
Demolition of the Eglinton Ave. E. hotel started Monday -- one day before North York community council was to consider an application to preserve the building as a heritage landmark.
Plans call for the construction of a Lexus dealership, a seniors home, retail shops and a restaurant on the site.
KEY ELEMENTS SAVED
Jenkins said yesterday that city bureaucrats worked for up to a year on an agreement to ensure Rowntree Motors, which purchased the building several years ago, saved key elements of the structure.
A courtyard, a ballroom, a tower and some shops are being incorporated into the new development, he said.
"The other key thing that is going to be retained is the architectural elements of the front of the buildings," said Jenkins, the area's councillor.
"You're losing a landmark building," said Robert Saunders, chairman of the Toronto Preservation Board, which was seeking to save the hotel.
CELEBRITIES
A report from the board says the Inn on the Park is significant as the only surviving example of the two Four Seasons Hotels built in the city by prominent early modernist architect Peter Dickinson.
"It deteriorated pretty badly in the last few years, but at the beginning, and in the '60s, it was an excellent hotel," Saunders said. "A lot of celebrities stayed at the Inn on the Park."
The report says its "significant heritage attributes" include its original white-painted brick, cedar woodwork, glass and fieldstone.