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The 1886-built Bloor Street United Church is being reworked to add Cielo Condos to it. Initiated by the congregation, the project by Collecdev will rise 29-storeys above the northwest corner of Bloor and Huron streets in Downtown Toronto and will bring new residences, a new headquarters for the United Church of Canada, and a rebuilt sanctuary for the congregation. As heritage preservation and interior demolition work continue inside the church, work is becoming increasingly apparent on the exterior as roof slats have recently been removed.
We caught up with interior work in early June, but the process has come a long way since then. Taking a closer look, shingles were first scraped off before the slats could begin to be removed, and now we can see clearly through the sections that have both come off.
Taking a look from the east side of the church, we can see that a lot more of this de-shingling and slat-removal work has been done on the Huron Street-facing side of the building. We can see, too, that the stained glass windows have been carefully removed as well, likely having been taken off site to be cleaned and restored. The stained glass will be reinstalled when the development is close to completion.
All of the restoration work is being done under the supervision of ERA Architects. Since all that is being preserved from the church is its heritage exterior walls, all of the floors and interior walls must be removed to make way for the new structure.
As work continues, one of the last things to be demolished will be the west wall of the sanctuary. It will be completely reconstructed and refurbished, and will become a key feature of the church's new interior promenade atrium that will be accessed from Bloor Street.
Heritage retention work is planned to continue until sometime in August. This will also include a steel framework that will be used to support the heritage walls of the church while the remainder of structural demolition, excavation, and construction all take place inside.
Upon completion, Cielo Condos will stand 29 storeys, offer 284 residential units, and bring a reimagined worship area for congregation members. The building and its amenities and interiors are designed by KPMB Architects, while externally, landscape architecture is to be appointed by Janet Rosenberg & Studio.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow updates for this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more from our Database file for the project, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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