Toronto St Lawrence Centre Redevelopment | ?m | ?s | CreateTO | Hariri Pontarini

[3Dementia]

Think maybe there's a possible "in between" repair vs. tear down/rebuild. The Bluma at nearly 900 bums in seats and the Jane Mallet at 500 bums in seats... do service much needed "sweet spot" programming-wise (especially if Canadian Stage remains viable with good artistic leadership).

So I'd say see you later to the concrete castle facade, at least facing Front Street. Signage can only do so much.

It's real heritage happened inside.

But assuming it still has decent production bones like backstage staging, dressing rooms and a viable fly-tower. etc. .. I could suggest/welcome a "major facial" on the north side (well beyond previous lipstick fixes).

Know nothin' about needed seats/auditorium issues, lobby, leaky pipe upgrades... but maybe this could be a $60 million day at the spa. Just wondering.

 

[jje1000]

Think maybe there's a possible "in between" repair vs. tear down/rebuild. The Bluma at nearly 900 bums in seats and the Jane Mallet at 500 bums in seats... do service much needed "sweet spot" programming-wise (especially if Canadian Stage remains viable with good artistic leadership).

So I'd say see you later to the concrete castle facade, at least facing Front Street. Signage can only do so much.

It's real heritage happened inside.

But assuming it still has decent production bones like backstage staging, dressing rooms and a viable fly-tower. etc. .. I could suggest/welcome a "major facial" on the north side (well beyond previous lipstick fixes).

Know nothin' about needed seats/auditorium issues, lobby, leaky pipe upgrades... but maybe this could be a $60 million day at the spa. Just wondering.

I was thinking of exactly that the other day- assuming that the issues in the auditoriums can be fixed in an economic manner, one other solution could be to rip the entire Front Street frontage of the building off- leaving only the auditoriums behind- and rebuild the space. Decapitate the building to save the building, a bit of irony in that.

That way, you aren't constricted by the lobby's rather subpar bones, and can improve the programming in the space. Retail/community space could be introduced on the ground floor, with a 'grand stairway' that leads to a second floor 'great room' (sort of following the form of the Four Seasons Centre).

The new frontage could be made taller to match the roofline of the heritage block beside it (maybe an additional floor), and could even incorporate amenities like public rooftop access to create a more layered urban experience.

But of course, there'll always be surprise curveballs in doing heavy reconstruction like this (i.e. possible structural/utility constraints & the need to shore up the remaining structure in a tight space).

 

[3Dementia]

Agree raising the roofline (upper lobby etc.) is a great idea. A new facade might a great candidate for masonry (colour please) along with some "look at me I'm a theatre" elements, cool lighting etc.

 

[adma]

First Bozikovic, now Micallef (if as a sidebar to a Sheraton Centre defence)

Shawn Micallef: Toronto’s mid-century Sheraton Centre is modernism worth preserving

Amid calls to tear down similarly aged buildings, the city should give the Queen Street hotel the heritage protection it deserves, writes Shawn Micallef.

www.thestar.com

 

[TheSix]

Mods, we might want to remove the "30-ish" from the title, looks like this project won't have a condo or office component. Maybe we should also remove "diamond-schmitt"? Or would we start a new thread?

 

[AlbertC]

Canadian Stage announces 2020-2021 season as its home, the St. Lawrence Centre, faces uncertain future

J. KELLY NESTRUCK

Next season, Canadian Stage plans to bring some epic drama back to the main stage of the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts – the Toronto civic theatre currently the subject of its own epic drama off stage at City Hall, where council will be debating whether to consider demolishing and replacing the complex later this week.

------------
On Tuesday, Healy will officially reveal this and the rest of his 2020-2021 programming in an announcement now overshadowed by the looming decision over the fate of the St. Lawrence Centre and Canadian Stage’s place in it.

Might these be the last new Canadian Stage productions at the St. Lawrence Centre – or, at least, this St. Lawrence Centre?

“One of the main things that attracted me to Canadian Stage was the ability to provide opportunities for Canadian artists on a larger stage,” says Healy, who came out of a meeting with Mayor John Tory and Councillor Gary Crawford last week assured that the interest of legacy tenants would be strongly considered in the redevelopment.

Canadian Stage announces 2020-2021 season as its home, the St. Lawrence Centre, faces uncertain future

Brendan Healy’s first full season as artistic director includes works by Erin Shields, Olivier Choinière and the Canadian premiere of the scorching, secretive American play Fairview

www.theglobeandmail.com

 

[adma]

For a different G&M perspective, Nestruck chimes in (paywall, oh well)

A new St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts is a good idea, but it will need the funds to both build it and fill it

There should be no illusions on Toronto City Council’s part; if it wants a new space that thrives and is a home for not-for-profits, TO Live will most likely have to subsidize the space

www.theglobeandmail.com

 

[Northern Light]

This item was not held by anyone on Council this morning. So the redevelopment option is approved by default.

 

[DSC]

This item was not held by anyone on Council this morning. So the redevelopment option is approved by default.

Now they just need $$$$$$$$$

 

[jje1000]

This item was not held by anyone on Council this morning. So the redevelopment option is approved by default.

Guess in the end that despite the outrage from the chattering classes on Twitter, no one felt strongly enough about the St. Lawrence Centre to demand an alternative.

Let's see how things end up.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Guess in the end that despite the outrage from the chattering classes on Twitter, no one felt strongly enough about the St. Lawrence Centre to demand an alternative.

While I agree with redeveloping this building, I am not sure if we should be condemning the "outrage of the chattering classes" that definitively. It is always a good thing that someone is interested in our built heritage, and just because there are different beliefs for this project doesn't mean they don't intersect in others - and you will need allies in those cases.

AoD

 

[jje1000]

While I agree with redeveloping this building, I am not sure if we should be condemning the "outrage of the chattering classes" that definitively. It is always a good thing that someone is interested in our built heritage, and just because there are different beliefs for this project doesn't mean they don't intersect in others - and you will need allies in those cases.

AoD

Not condemning, but noting that outside of the limited outrage (1-2 tweets/twitter comments at most) confined mostly to Urban Toronto/Twitter/a few opinion articles in the papers, no one really particularly raised any strong opposition to it.

Of course, demolition is years away, and push might come to shove when the bulldozers finally come, IMO.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Not condemning, but noting that outside of the limited outrage (1-2 tweets/twitter comments at most) confined mostly to Urban Toronto/Twitter/a few opinion articles in the papers, no one really particularly raised any strong opposition to it.

It's Toronto, how often do you see *anyone* raising strong opposition to tearing buildings - heritage or otherwise - down?

AoD

 

[jje1000]

It's Toronto, how often do you see *anyone* raising strong opposition to tearing buildings - heritage or otherwise - down?

AoD

I'd say that the major battles have mostly been fought long ago, but it unfortunately probably speaks to the fact that not a lot of Toronto is architecturally noteworthy or stirring, even in many of its modernist structures (it doesn't mean that Toronto isn't a charming or habitable city, it just means that most of the current heritage battles revolve around less prominent fabric buildings).

We'd probably see some stronger voices being raised if something like the ROM Crystal was up for demolition. But something like the Davisville School? Fewer voices are going to be raised.

The second element is that Toronto does sort of actively (and selectively) preserve its older buildings in a flawed but tangible sort of way (think 65 King)- in that a lot of buildings that would normally be demolished in other cities are preserved in some format, taking the edge off of redevelopment. In those cases, 'heritage' isn't technically going away, even if it is.

 

[adma]

We'd probably see some stronger voices being raised if something like the ROM Crystal was up for demolition. But something like the Davisville School? Fewer voices are going to be raised.

When it comes to the reality of Toronto's heritage community, the fact that you're singling out Davisville as a "fewer voices" example has a way of placing your dismissiveness of the SLC in an unflattering light.