AliAshgar
New Member
Could have been a lovely apple store location there. Wonder who will be replacing.
Toronto One Bloor West | 308.6m | 85s | Tridel | Foster + Partners
- Thread starter urbandreamer
- Start date
bgobgo
Active Member
Great pics Benito. The refurbished brick building looks nice. Appears they painted the white trim yellow perhaps to compliment the champagne cladding on the tower!?
Reminder of what it looked like a decade ago..
Source: Google Maps
Reminder of what it looked like a decade ago..
Source: Google Maps
Heritage facade is complete.
zang
Senior Member
I'm surprised in restoring the facade, they didn't replace the red brick "fixes" from the past.
UtakataNoAnnex
Superstar
I suspect they'll do the fine grain repairs once the tower is mostly completed. Or at least that's how I've seen done with other projects like this.
Collingwoodbuildinglover
Senior Member
So by my account they would be just a little under half of this section between mechanicals. So we should be seeing a mechanical floor being poured again by April
Rascacielo
Senior Member
Today (mostly from Rosedale)
Benito
Senior Member
BloorMan
Active Member
Columns and walls getting poured today:
Northern Light
Superstar
Below is a pic by great UT contributor @jer1961
I love the restoration work on the Yonge-facing facade.........but what's with the north-facing brick wall?
That can't be original brick, it doesn't match the front facade at all. I find that rather jarring.
Edit to add: I think we need to summon UT's brick connoisseur @DavidCapizzano to opine on the matter.
I love the restoration work on the Yonge-facing facade.........but what's with the north-facing brick wall?
That can't be original brick, it doesn't match the front facade at all. I find that rather jarring.
Edit to add: I think we need to summon UT's brick connoisseur @DavidCapizzano to opine on the matter.
Last edited:
Blovertis
Active Member
Agree 100 percent. How hard would it have been to at least dye the mortar red?
thecharioteer
Senior Member
It's not the mortar, it's the brick colour itself and the choice to use brick at all. As it appears from archival photos from the 1930's, there was always a portion of the building's north facade that was exposed, which became even more visible in the 1970's when the adjacent 3-storey building was replaced by a 2-storey building. What they should have done was to clad the north face in a new material and colour that was compatible with both the new architecture and heritage building.
1930's:
1971:
Northern Light
Superstar
Agreed.
Not sure why one would object to brick here, assuming you could deliver either of the original brick or a good simulation thereof.
Great finds!
Not sure I agree; I mean, an alternative material would be a better choice than what they did; but I'm not sure there wasn't a better heritage compatible choice.
Now if there were no better heritage choice to be made, I'm open to alternative of some description.
thecharioteer
Senior Member
It's clear from the historic photos that the heritage building in question was not part of a larger row which would have necessitated adding a new exterior wall to what was once an interior wall. This is not an uncommon situation in urban environments. The simplest solution is often to stucco the exterior wall in a complementary colour. If there are reclaimed bricks from a demolition, these are often reused and it is likely that the original brick from this building is no longer available.
If it's a feature wall, art is often added (the Gooderham Building) or even a green wall (the Caixaforum in Madrid).
In this case, given the proximity to the new building, I would have looked at some sort of panel system, in metal or porcelain that would have given it a crisp, clean surface without trying to mimic the original brick.
UpwithOlives
Active Member
A green/living wall would be nice, and still possible.