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AlbertC

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http://thetorontoblog.com/2011/08/2...uilding-on-dundonald-st-near-yonge-wellesley/

Condo tower in the works for site of heritage office building on Dundonald St. near Yonge & Wellesley

20 Aug 2011


Tall “cube” coming? A developer is planning a condo highrise for 17 Dundonald Street in the Yonge & Wellesley area — but the tower’s projected floor count apparently is up in the air.

People living on and near Dundonald Street say various sources — including their city councillor — have told them a new development is in the works for the property, currently the site of a 2.5-storey office building situated just a stone’s throw from the Wellesley subway station. Constructed in 1956 as the Commercial Travellers’ Association of Canada Building, the low-rise office structure was designed by the Toronto architecture firm Weir Cripps and Associates.

The building is included on the city’s inventory of heritage properties; in fact, on June 8 2010, Toronto City Council adopted an “Intention to Designate” for the property. In an April 21 2010 background report presented to city councillors and the Toronto Preservation Board, city planners stated that 17 Dundonald had “cultural heritage value” worthy of designation under the Ontario Heritage Act.

Area residents say Ward 27 City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam has told meetings of neighbourhood condo owners that a developer has been discussing redevelopment proposals for 17 Dundonald with city planners. Their intention, apparently, is to construct a highrise condo building in a Cubist style intended to emulate the Modernist architecture of the office building it will replace. But I’ve heard conflicting information about just how tall the building might be: 18, 19, 25 and 30 storeys are the floor counts people have mentioned. Word on the street is that a tower taller than the nearby 22 Condominiums and Continental Tower (23 and 24 storeys, respectively) doesn’t sit well with city planners, who feel too much height would be out of character for Dundonald Street. So far there has been no word on the identity of either the proposed building’s developer or the architectural firm designing it.
 
http://thetorontoblog.com/2011/08/2...uilding-on-dundonald-st-near-yonge-wellesley/

Condo tower in the works for site of heritage office building on Dundonald St. near Yonge & Wellesley

20 Aug 2011

Ouch !! So 22 Wellesley E condo owners facing north are going to be freaking, especially since the freakingly-high condo fees they're paying for their units with crappy balconies and 8' ceilings are already depreciating their property values, and to have to look into somebody's kitchen to see what they're cooking up for supper as their 'view', well, I don't know.
But this building ... prime south exposure would be looking into those crappy 22 Wellesley living rooms, or west exposure would be looking into the crappy Continental towers bedrooms. Yuck. Who would've thunk that a east exposure would be considered prime for downtown
 
That's a pity. I always thought that building was a bit of a hidden gem. It hasn't been kept up as well as it could have been, but it wouldn't take much to really make it shine
 
I've often thought that this would make a good location for a mid-rise, not a high-rise. This explains the building's somewhat rundown condition. Someone renovated a home across the street from here that I stare at in amazement each time I pass, one must wonder where people get their taste from.
 
I've often thought that this would make a good location for a mid-rise, not a high-rise. .

but a 30s building wouldn't really be out of context since the towers to the west and south are almost as high, and if 40s+ are acceptable for Charles St. E. from bloor to jarvis, then why not?
 
Ouch !! So 22 Wellesley E condo owners facing north are going to be freaking, especially since the freakingly-high condo fees they're paying for their units with crappy balconies and 8' ceilings are already depreciating their property values, and to have to look into somebody's kitchen to see what they're cooking up for supper as their 'view', well, I don't know.
But this building ... prime south exposure would be looking into those crappy 22 Wellesley living rooms, or west exposure would be looking into the crappy Continental towers bedrooms. Yuck. Who would've thunk that a east exposure would be considered prime for downtown

Holy crap! Negative or what!?! That's city living! Nothing new for downtown Toronto.
 
I've often thought that this would make a good location for a mid-rise, not a high-rise. This explains the building's somewhat rundown condition. Someone renovated a home across the street from here that I stare at in amazement each time I pass, one must wonder where people get their taste from.

Ditto on both points. Funny, I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed the oddity of that reno. I really like the office building too...it's just beautiful.
 
Dundonald is one of my fave streets in the village. I also think a mid-rise would better suit the relaxed, meandering feel of the street. A high-rise may kill that feel.
 
Ugh!

I'm all for respecting history and this building is alright, but what I don't look forward to is the next seven pages of this thread when our resident, self-proclaimed, bastion of protectionism, berates all of us for not appreciating the treasure we have in our midst. His post after post of vicious, smug condescension, actually designed to elevate his own self-esteem, not the value of the building.

Can we just skip all that crap and move passed the part where once again, he has intimidated, humiliated and insulted everyone into submission so they are afraid to even add their opinion and the Mods have to shut down the thread for a while and then just go directly to the talk about the merits of the condo they may be putting up?
 
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Ugh!

I'm all for respecting history and this building is alright, but what I don't look forward to is the next seven pages of this thread when our resident, self-proclaimed, bastion of protectionism, berates all of us for not appreciating the treasure we have in our midst. His post after post of vicious, smug condescension, actually designed to elevate his own self-esteem, not the value of the building.

Can we just skip all that crap and move passed the part where once again, he has intimidated, humiliated and insulted everyone into submission so they are afraid to even add their opinion and the Mods have to shut down the thread for a while and then just go directly to the talk about the merits of the condo they may be putting up?

Why do you present it in weasel-word terms of "all of us" and "everyone"? After all, there's quite a few central, active UT fixtures--enough to even form a central "braintrust", shall I say--who've been more likely to incline my way (in principle, if not in means) than yours on the bulk of these issues. And those who are scared of adding their opinion; maybe it's a necessary winnowing-out process. You simply can't blithely have untutored frosh engaging in 4th-year seminar-course discussion in the name of "freedom of speech", you know--unless it's something like a Darren O'Donnell performance project.

And besides, re your insistence upon "the talk about the merits of the condo they may be putting up": if UT worked that way, then there ought to be no discussion of preexisting conditions at all, anywhere. Like, down the street, the 596 Church project thread shouldn't have been hijacked by the heritage whiners, it should have focussed solely upon what was proposed. (And that was a "heritage-hijacked" thread which I wasn't central in.). Look: if UT worked that way, than I'd have no more business being in here than I have business being in, say, Free Dominion. And if you want an "adma-free" forum like that, set one up yourself.

That said--well, adma or no adma, we are dealing here with a listed building "of interest", and as such it doesn't need an adma to do the primary cheerleading. Though that it is listed and 45 Charles was not is more a matter of happenstance; and I'm not inclined to step forward and holler "save this building, or else"--in fact, I'd be more distressed if it were retained yet unsympathetically renovated, than if it were demolished...
 
That's a pity. I always thought that building was a bit of a hidden gem. It hasn't been kept up as well as it could have been, but it wouldn't take much to really make it shine

Sorry, I'll be first to say, this is not a great example of any type of architecture - and saving it only encourages more sprawl. I agree we need to protect heritage buildings that have something significant to say about our past, but this is clearly not such a building.

Having said that, I can't say I'm a fan of the cheap drivel they are popping up in this area and there will likely be no loss if the protectionists get their way here.
 

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