Toronto Mirvish Village (Honest Ed's Redevelopment) | 85.04m | 26s | Westbank | Henriquez Partners

I'm not sure of the size of the lot, but it would be great if they could divide it with narrow pedestrian only streets with a park in the middle maybe 3 or 4 running NS and EW. Each of the blocks could have mid rise size developments with the first two/three floors being stores/restaurants and the upper floors being residential. The streets could be covered with glass canopies to protect from the weather. Also, the central park could be surrounded by diverse (street food vendors). The Market could be named after Honest Ed's and could maintain some of the character (signage) of the original store.

This kind of atmosphere http://www.flickr.com/photos/8649564@N05/537844662/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnfrisch/5459450240/
 
Does the "surrounding land" include the strip of shops, galleries, and cafes on Markham Street?
 
ShonTron said:
Which signs, though? The huge flashing Honest Ed's signs? Probably only one of those needs to be kept. The hand-painted puns and self-deprecating jokes, too? I'd actually hire the guy who still paints the Honest Ed's signs to reproduce the best of those and put them into a permanent window display containing a few pieces of Ed's memorabilia below the one kept flashing sign. Perhaps all that should be on the Markham Street side of the building, rather than the corner of Bloor and Bathurst, a trade-off of main corner visibility vs. a Mirvish Village tribute.
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[video=youtube;O0e_4TYWl0Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0e_4TYWl0Q&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 
I'm OK with a 10 to 12 storey proposal. If we are talking greater than 15 I will personally join the NIMBY squad. Tough to say though because 100 million is a lot of cheese.

By the way as I mentioned in the Gehry King street proposal thread I would have done things differently if I were Mirvish. I would have retained at least one of the two Honest Ed's buildings as the proposed gallery and OCAD space with a potential small museum dedicated to my father retaining some of the oddities from the store. I realize these amenities are leverage tools for the Gehry proposal and that the Honest Ed's building may be difficult to adapt structurally because it's a bit of a rabbit warren.
 
Frankly, I'm not even much for the existing "marquee signs", which have too much of a harsh 80s Vegas-cum-Andrew-Lloyd-Webber superscale to them--for pure Pop Art splendour, the 60s version of Honest Ed's was superior. And in the rawest terms, divorced from any Mirvish-retail sentiment, they *are* a neighbourhood blight of sorts, esp. given the kind of neighbourhood it is (and I've heard as much from locals). *Those* don't need to be in situ.

However, the worst could happen is if any replacement is nondescript--perhaps David Mirvish could have a word in re architectural recommendations. (Or maybe, Bjarke Ingels can make his Toronto debut here...)
 
This is sad to hear about. Ed Mirvish and Sam Sniderman were real characters: TO's old-school Jewish businessmen who sold discount goods and saw themselves as a sort of "progressive bourgeoisie" and were real communitarians and supported the arts etc.
 
There's a way to save one of the four signs - and only one of the four signs needs to be saved. The other three can go to the scrappers or be used to refurbish the remaining one, as far as I'm concerned.

As for Adma's comment, I do get that, but most people remember the neon records at Sam's (which came later in that store's history) , the light-bulb flashing Ed's sign, though the puns, self-deprecating jokes and "come in and get lost" signs go back to the spirit of early days of the store.

And since the original store was at the corner of Bloor and Markham, I think that is where the miscellaneous mementos and signs should be placed.
 
In4matt said:
I'm not sure of the size of the lot, but it would be great if they could divide it with narrow pedestrian only streets with a park in the middle maybe 3 or 4 running NS and EW. Each of the blocks could have mid rise size developments with the first two/three floors being stores/restaurants and the upper floors being residential. The streets could be covered with glass canopies to protect from the weather. Also, the central park could be surrounded by diverse (street food vendors). The Market could be named after Honest Ed's and could maintain some of the character (signage) of the original store.

This kind of atmosphere http://www.flickr.com/photos/8649564@N05/537844662/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnfrisch/5459450240/
Click to expand...

INteresting take in the Toronto Standard: http://torontostandard.com/the-sprawl/honest-eds
 
Yep, David seems to be quite keen on clearcutting his father's legacy. I don't really care about Honest Ed's - but I do care about Markham Street. It looks like it's slated for destruction one way or another.

I'm going NIMBY.
 
ShonTron said:
Yep, David seems to be quite keen on clearcutting his father's legacy. I don't really care about Honest Ed's - but I do care about Markham Street. It looks like it's slated for destruction one way or another.

I'm going NIMBY.
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Then again, would this simply be the logical extension of his already *owning* the entire block? And given the overall nature of the neighbourhood, residents, politicians, etc, it's hard for me to imagine this'd lead to the easy clearcutting of Mirvish Village--not unless, of course, Mirvish threw in some "starchitect bait" a la Gehry on King.

But let me make this subversive offering: if anything on the block deserves designation for its architectural merit, it's John Andrews' Mirvish Gallery/Books space

2467053943_ebc54ee66d.jpg
 
adma said:
Then again, would this simply be the logical extension of his already *owning* the entire block? And given the overall nature of the neighbourhood, residents, politicians, etc, it's hard for me to imagine this'd lead to the easy clearcutting of Mirvish Village--not unless, of course, Mirvish threw in some "starchitect bait" a la Gehry on King.
Click to expand...

That's true. Thankfully Markham Street is surrounded by four of the most heritage–conscious neighbourhoods in the city who are ready to take this fight on. People who are resigned or mildly in favour of Honest Ed's kicking the bargain basement bucket and might accept a retail/low risde condo on the site will be outraged by redevelopment of Markham Street (I'm not calling it Mirvish Village for now), and David's already signalling that everyone should expect to be out in three years.
 
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