Twenty Gothic (High Park, Monarch, 8s, &Co)

[paquetja]

I agree

'L' - shaped buildings are not that common these days. The front terrace is a nice touch, too.

I completely agree. I can't think of any residential building like this that has gone up recently. No, the finishes on the outside of the building aren't very unique and I agree with some comments that it has a bit of an institutional feel, but the L shape is very interesting and original for the area and I think it will end up being a very nice addition to the neighborhood.

Regarding using a red brick though, if you look at all the building in front of 20 Gothic, and even some around it, they are almost ALL red. If 20 Gothic had gone red it would just have disappeared in the sea of red brick. I like the way it stands out a bit, but still maintains the 'feel' of the neighborhood.

That's my opinion anyway. I'm often completely wrong about things though

 

[urbandreamer]

25 February 2009 photo update

Looking very beige from Bloor St West:

 

[Alvar]

The developer is to be planting vines along the garage's facade (the podium, if you will), and, of course, the little plot of land immediately east of the building is to be re-developped into a parkette. Soooo Bloor West! (I.E.: Trees, trees, trees!).

 

[junctionist]

It would be great to have the blank beige walls covered in ivy.

 

[Hydrogen]

Probably will be graffiti before that.

 

[paquetja]

It would be great to have the blank beige walls covered in ivy.

I've heard they are doing just that. The 'bottom' walls around the building will be covered in vines/ivy. I think they have already planted them.

 

[Solaris]

Rendering

For UT's future records (while it is still available from Monarch's website)

 

[johnsjmc]

I just happened upon this site and thread about 20 Gothic development. I was born at 16 Gothic in 1951. My grandfather Dr. WJ McCormick. bought the mansion on the hill in 1906 and built,owned and operated the High Park Mineral baths . The swimming pools mentioned at the beginning of the thread. He operated a private sanatorium called the Stratcona Hosp. I think until his first wife (also a Dr. died in childbirth in 1922)
The original rounded pool shown in archive photos with a ladder type diving tower was buried under the present Bloor st. during it,s widening before WW1. Even though most pics at the time are cationed as being north of Bloor. A brass cannon from 1812 was dug up during construction .probably from the same battles which gave Grenadier pond it,s name It,s at Ft Henry now.
The 2 larger 50x100 ft pools shown in some pics with the wooden diving tower ( it was 9 ft deep in the diving area) were built about 1910 . Marylyn Bell trained there in the other pool ,which always seemed colder ,for her lake crossing They were operated until about 1963. My grandfather was 83 by then and closed the pools because they were leaking about a ft overnight if not constantly refilled. Within a year the property which had the two pools, and our house( a duplex at 16 Gothic and some other pool buildings was expropriated by the city for the Bloor W subway. The whole works had small frontage on Gothic and bigger frontage off Parkview . It was expropriated by the city for ONLY $90,000 in 64or 65. My grandfather passed in 1968 and my grandmother in 1979. Never understood why the house was needed for the subway. I also now ask why a part has been able to be used to build a private condo project. My grandfather lost the first pool to the widening of Bloor, which was a dirt road in 1906. Then Grandparents lost their buildings and frontage on Bloor and the Hospital on the hill during the depression , then the needless excess land grab for the subway. If it was all needed in 64 how could some be traded for this development to go ahead? The 1964 expropriation hastened my grandparents death as they were kicked out of a home they had been in for 60 yrs. And it appears ALL the land grab wasn,t needed for the subway after all Thanks Toronto Regards john McCormick London Ont.

 

[johnsjmc]

Its certainly fair to say that we don't do enough to preserve our historic structure and areas. The Canadian mindset values preservation only if it doesn't cost anything.

That said, those baths would have been removed to make way for the subway line if they weren't removed earlier (which they probably were). Hard to justify rerouting a subway for a swimming pool.

The house in the background of the second picture has been quite well preserved through its conversion to a condo. That house was my grandparents first house which was lost to the depression in 1929

That first picture of the baths is interesting. There's one guy about to jump off a 25' diving platform, but the person below looks to be standing in about 2 and 1/2 feet of water. They lived dangerously in those days!

The pool with the tower had a 9+ deep diving well the shallow end was about 3 ft.
My Grandfather built the Mineral baths in 1906-8. Owned and operated for 60 yrs. The first pic shows a pool eventually buried under a widening of Bloor W. Maybe the first expropriation. Then the later pools were expropriated in 1964 for the subway extension .I see you think they shouldn,t have moved the line to save the pools If you look at a map of the line it turns south to come through the pool property. I always thought because it was the biggest single piece of land in the area the city could expropriate from one owner avoiding the complication of multiple expropriations, That indeed the city moved the line to get the pools not to avoid them. The city took the pools,buildings,land on Parkview(which was just a lane to my GFs back garden.and my grandparents second home fronting on 16 Gothic.
The city had driven our pool business under by building a free public pool in High Park just the year before.