R
rdaner
Guest
John McLeod stands before the Winchester Hotel, a Victorian landmark in Cabbagetown, and points to a salmon-coloured brick tower five storeys above the southeast corner of Parliament and Winchester Streets.
"There used to be a dome up there with a flagpole that was visible throughout the city," he said. "Apparently, the new owner has some plans to replace those."
Mr. McLeod, a Cabbagetown resident, has become the de facto leader in a movement to persuade the Winchester's owner not to go ahead with his plans for the site.
As development battles go, this might seem to be a fairly standard fight: Heritage-minded civic activists combatting a new owner bent on developing a historic landmark, in this case the Winchester, built in the 1880s by architect Thomas Kennedy.
The fight is already getting nasty. Only a week after the owner, John Bernardo, met with local heritage groups to discuss his plans, profanity-laced posters appeared on the Winchester's front door.
The new owner is mystified. Mr. Bernardo, who calls himself a small-time developer with an engineering background, isn't about to demolish the Winchester and replace it with a parking lot. He is making an effort to restore the exterior, expecting to spend more than $150,000 on the former hotel, including $10,000 to strip a layer of pink granite cladding that has masked the main floor's original bricks for decades.
He plans to install windows that are more faithful to the heritage aesthetic, and he will ask an existing business -- a Subway sandwich shop -- to change its fluorescent sign to something more in keeping with the antique vibe.
In fact, Mr. Bernardo hopes that when he is done, the building will look more or less as it did when it was new.
So why are opponents conducting e-mail writing campaigns to local politicians such as city Councillor Pam McConnell?
Activists like Mr. McLeod say they are upset with Mr. Bernardo's choice of tenant -- a Tim Hortons. The coffee shop plans to open a location in the front half of the old pub in three to four months, said Nick Javor, vice-president of corporate affairs for the company, which is owned by Wendy's International.
"Rest assured, we know it's a historic building," Mr. Javor said. "And we're working to preserve that feel. We have no desire to ruin the historic exterior. It's not going to be a typical cookie-cutter Tim Hortons as you might see in the suburbs.
"The tables won't be from the 1800s, but we'll include things like exposed brick walls and artifact displays that educate people about the building's heritage. It's not all going to be plastic veneer."
Some Cabbagetown residents object to a new Tim Hortons, which already has a kiosk in a gas station just north of the Winchester, because it will lure customers from locally owned caffeine dispensers such as neighbourhood stalwart Jet Fuel.
For others, however, the issue is more complicated.
"My opposition to what's happening with the Winchester is not a blanket opposition to Tim Hortons," Mr. McLeod said. "I like their coffee and bagels. To me, it's a question of what's the appropriate use for the most prestigious spot in the neighbourhood."
Mr. McLeod mentions the Drake, Jeff Stober's boutique hotel, which helped spark Parkdale's revitalization. "The Winchester and the Drake were built nine years apart. The Winchester is the most visible building in this area, and something like that would be a great thing to spark the rejuvenation of Parliament Street."
The root cause of the problem some Cabbagetown residents have with Mr. Bernardo's plans for the Winchester may come down to a case of Parkdale envy.
The mostly well-to-do Cabbagetowners have a contentious relationship with their strip of Parliament, a down-at-the-heels stretch that runs several blocks and contains one of the city's highest concentration of dollar stores.
Residents look at the Winchester and see the possibilities. They want an extreme makeover like the ones that brightened Parkdale, thanks to Mr. Stober and the Drake Hotel and the Zeidler family's continuing makeover of the Gladstone Hotel.
The neighbourhood generally was happy with the Laurentian Room, a nightclub on the Winchester's second floor, recently refurbished to enhance its art-deco motif. The pub attracts an eclectic mix of artists and professionals.
Residents had hoped that was the beginning of an overhaul for the building -- and the neighbourhood.
"Parliament Street is ripe for a makeover," Mr. McLeod said, "and the Winchester needs to be the linchpin in that. Unfortunately, that won't happen with Tim Hortons in there."
"There used to be a dome up there with a flagpole that was visible throughout the city," he said. "Apparently, the new owner has some plans to replace those."
Mr. McLeod, a Cabbagetown resident, has become the de facto leader in a movement to persuade the Winchester's owner not to go ahead with his plans for the site.
As development battles go, this might seem to be a fairly standard fight: Heritage-minded civic activists combatting a new owner bent on developing a historic landmark, in this case the Winchester, built in the 1880s by architect Thomas Kennedy.
The fight is already getting nasty. Only a week after the owner, John Bernardo, met with local heritage groups to discuss his plans, profanity-laced posters appeared on the Winchester's front door.
The new owner is mystified. Mr. Bernardo, who calls himself a small-time developer with an engineering background, isn't about to demolish the Winchester and replace it with a parking lot. He is making an effort to restore the exterior, expecting to spend more than $150,000 on the former hotel, including $10,000 to strip a layer of pink granite cladding that has masked the main floor's original bricks for decades.
He plans to install windows that are more faithful to the heritage aesthetic, and he will ask an existing business -- a Subway sandwich shop -- to change its fluorescent sign to something more in keeping with the antique vibe.
In fact, Mr. Bernardo hopes that when he is done, the building will look more or less as it did when it was new.
So why are opponents conducting e-mail writing campaigns to local politicians such as city Councillor Pam McConnell?
Activists like Mr. McLeod say they are upset with Mr. Bernardo's choice of tenant -- a Tim Hortons. The coffee shop plans to open a location in the front half of the old pub in three to four months, said Nick Javor, vice-president of corporate affairs for the company, which is owned by Wendy's International.
"Rest assured, we know it's a historic building," Mr. Javor said. "And we're working to preserve that feel. We have no desire to ruin the historic exterior. It's not going to be a typical cookie-cutter Tim Hortons as you might see in the suburbs.
"The tables won't be from the 1800s, but we'll include things like exposed brick walls and artifact displays that educate people about the building's heritage. It's not all going to be plastic veneer."
Some Cabbagetown residents object to a new Tim Hortons, which already has a kiosk in a gas station just north of the Winchester, because it will lure customers from locally owned caffeine dispensers such as neighbourhood stalwart Jet Fuel.
For others, however, the issue is more complicated.
"My opposition to what's happening with the Winchester is not a blanket opposition to Tim Hortons," Mr. McLeod said. "I like their coffee and bagels. To me, it's a question of what's the appropriate use for the most prestigious spot in the neighbourhood."
Mr. McLeod mentions the Drake, Jeff Stober's boutique hotel, which helped spark Parkdale's revitalization. "The Winchester and the Drake were built nine years apart. The Winchester is the most visible building in this area, and something like that would be a great thing to spark the rejuvenation of Parliament Street."
The root cause of the problem some Cabbagetown residents have with Mr. Bernardo's plans for the Winchester may come down to a case of Parkdale envy.
The mostly well-to-do Cabbagetowners have a contentious relationship with their strip of Parliament, a down-at-the-heels stretch that runs several blocks and contains one of the city's highest concentration of dollar stores.
Residents look at the Winchester and see the possibilities. They want an extreme makeover like the ones that brightened Parkdale, thanks to Mr. Stober and the Drake Hotel and the Zeidler family's continuing makeover of the Gladstone Hotel.
The neighbourhood generally was happy with the Laurentian Room, a nightclub on the Winchester's second floor, recently refurbished to enhance its art-deco motif. The pub attracts an eclectic mix of artists and professionals.
Residents had hoped that was the beginning of an overhaul for the building -- and the neighbourhood.
"Parliament Street is ripe for a makeover," Mr. McLeod said, "and the Winchester needs to be the linchpin in that. Unfortunately, that won't happen with Tim Hortons in there."