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222 Jarvis Street LEED retrofit (former Sears office building, 9s, WZMH).

Ugh... please don't even suggest covering this building in glass. It's a piece of architectural history. We need to respect all eras of architecture.

Let's not make the same mistakes we have in the past, with regards to our heritage buildings and ignorance towards them. (And yes, some day this building will be "heritage"). Covering it in glass would just about remove all its architectural merit.
 
I've always had very mixed feelings about this building. It looks great in the photo and one can really appreciate the detailing from a distance, but I have always absolutely hated walking by it, especially the Jarvis Street side. It can feel a bit overwhelming to the point of threatening.

Does anyone remember the name of the hotel (and strip club) which used to be in the parking lot on the south side. I recall it had quite the reputation but the name eludes me.
 
I've always been an admirer of this buidling--even as a kid. The reverse pyramid was, at the time, quite daring and highly original. This building should be protected if it isn't already.
 
URBAN!TY said:
Let's not make the same mistakes we have in the past, with regards to our heritage buildings and ignorance towards them. (And yes, some day this building will be "heritage"). Covering it in glass would just about remove all its architectural merit.
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Agreed. If you read the old 1950's and 1960's debates about tearing down the Victorian and Edwardian gems that we now wish they had spared, you see the same arguments as we do now against buildings like this.

It was a mistake then, and it is a mistake now -- at least when talking about demolishing buildings of architectural significance. Something like Rackhouse 'M' is of no real historical or architectural significance in my opinion, but this building is.

Bill
 
I love this building. First time I saw it I was like "wow!"
The parking lot sucks of course, but that has nothing to do with the building or the design.
What would be cool is if they made a matching building, except out of glass in the parking lot! Kind of like a tribute to it, but modern. Just an idea :p
 
phunky said:
What would be cool is if they made a matching building, except out of glass in the parking lot! Kind of like a tribute to it, but modern. Just an idea :p
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I like that idea. Or perhaps a right side up pyramid next to it. (A 69 if you will.)
 
I quite like the building. I wouldn't want a whole city filled with them, but it's certainly architecturally unique around here.

I don't think PIR would be buying the building if Ryerson were going to use it, but I'm a bit baffled. I thought the government was getting out of the property ownership business, or at least not expanding further. It seems a bit odd if they're trying to use it to expand the Queens Park precinct, since it's a little far.

I don't think the province is trying to move everything to North York. There is a policy to try and disperse department offices a little more around the province. MTO is in St. Catharines, Northern Development and Mines is in Sudbury, and Agriculture is in Guelph, for example. There are a few more. It's a good idea for many reasons, including financial, since rents are obviously much cheaper in all those locations.
 
I worked in the Sears building for 6 months back in the early 90's on a consulting gig. One of the bizarre aspects of the building was that you used escalators to get about inside from floor to floor like a mall. There were elevators to whisk one to the top but they were for the exclusive use of Sears executives who naturally had their offices on the top floors.

The other fond memory was leaving late and night and having to navigate through the clusters of hookers on my way over to Dundas Station.
 
alklay said:
I checked my source. He told me that the rumour of Ryerson moving into the building has been around for years but he has not heard anything under the Levy administration.
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Levy has been quoted often as saying he wants further expansion to occur around/on Yonge. Given the choice, I bet he'd take a tiny piece of Sam's over all of Sears.

I too am not a fan of a lot of stuff that went up in the 70s but I have to say this is one of my faves. It's bold. And that massive Canadian flag works well there, but there's something about the context that is a bit cold, maybe it's the parking lot.
 
I'm amazed that Sears has stuck around downtown (not just downtown, but Jarvis!) for this long and I'm sad to see it go. Sears just seems like the sort of company that would have its HQ in the burbs. There's also example of Sears in Chicago.

I too am fond of this building. The brick softens the effect, the exact same design done in concrete would be truly oppressive. Along with 'upside-down pyramid' I've also heard it referred to as 'KGB Headquarters'.

I think there was also a discussion in the past on UT about the special window-cleaning equipment for this building.
 
It is delightful to see the tide against brutalism turning at last, especially among some who were so vehemently opposed to it a few years ago. This is most heartening.
 
My professor told us this story about the building:

As the story goes, the architect showed the Sears CEO a model of a step-pyramid design, and he said something like "that's so ugly you might as well turn it upside down..."

And according to Dr. Keeble of the Ryerson School of Urban & Regional Planning, that's why the building looks the way it does.

But of course, he's made some wild claims before....
 
phunky said:
I love this building. First time I saw it I was like "wow!"
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You're not alone. This is one of the buildings I remember most upon first moving to Toronto some 15+ years back.

A few years ago I had a few meetings inside for a gig and it was almost like I was about to meet some sort of superstar. I was so happy to have a legitimate excuse to enter this mysterious structure.
 
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