25 The Esplanade

[fiendishlibrarian]

Fantastic thread, would like to see similar for other major buildings of note (Manulife, etc.). Buddy of mine has an ex who still lives at 25, can confirm it's a great building (the sunrooms in many units are phenomenal). Not shown is the amenity terrace that has built-in barbecues and unbeatable train-spotting views. The party room brings back fond memories.

One other thing that struck me in these photos: look at how thick the granite cladding is on Scotia Plaza when it was under construction and how far it abuts from the core of the building. No expense spared in those days. I also had to laugh at one of the parking lot photos: there's a '74-'75 Nova parked next to what looks like a brand-new '85-'86 Topaz/Taurus. That tells me that the Nova was probably the beater "second car" and the newer one at home, exactly what my family had in that era.

Last observation: I knew the patios had been along the Esplanade for some time but I didn't know how far back. That and the sidewalk pavers and trees tells me they were planning that "patio stretch" well back into even the late 1970s.

 

[Rascacielo]

Despite being surrounded by new towers, this building is still visible from my place (Wellesley & Jarvis) - the distinctive punched windows and aluminum siding aesthetics makes it stand out from the sea of blue /green glass and grey spandrelled towers. In fact, right now it's blocking my view of the rising Sky Tower (although not for long).

 

[Bibi L]

That guy is an idiot and was reported to his employer. He rants about the shelter problems like they were current problems and fails to clearly mention it was closed many months ago. If you take out the fake news, the review was great. All the elevators went through rebuilds a few years ago and some follow up repairs to the tensioners, sheaves and cable replacement. 5 elevators for 571 units, 114 units/elevator. They are working 100% now. Sure if you have people moving in or out, and an elevator is out of service you will have problems. Throw in a furniture delivery, contractor usage and cleaning. I can’t image some new towers for the upper floors with a move in/out and a service outage. I think all the elevators are on emergency power now too.

If you watch the video and go to the comments, basically every comment is talking about how inaccurate his criticisms were for 25 The Esplanade. Every single person I’ve met that has lived or is living loves this building. This is one of those condos you should check out. Not the other way around.

 

[Bibi L]

Maybe a good time to post this for a look at the inside of a unit.
Large spacious unit. 1,225 ft2
Great for taking pictures and posting on Urban Toronto.
360degree coverage of the growing downtown.and soon to be “almost” connected to the PATH. You won’t need a coat to catch a game at Scotiabank Arena or go to work in the core.

https://25theesplanade3116.ca/

I love your unit. I checked it out a while back.
The renovations are really nice, nice ceiling height, since you’re on a higher floor, and spacious.

You know what, please don’t sell it, I’ll miss your contributions to this site… lol…

 

[3Dementia]

@Bibi L

Great thread... so many memories of this joint.

I remember I went to a party in a unit on the north side (I think it was inside the giant arch (?) that was designed like a loft space... ever seen one of these?

 

[Bibi L]

@Bibi L

Great thread... so many memories of this joint.

I remember I went to a party in a unit on the north side (I think it was inside the giant arch (?) that was designed like a loft space... ever seen one of these?

It’s unit 2408. I love the big arch.
I know every unit in this building.

 

[3Dementia]

P.S. @mburrrrr

Your unit look gorgeous.

My first condo there was a new unit that was 750 sqft... it was known as a "Bachelor Unit".

Circa 2024 ... 750 sqft is known as a "3 bedroom" no?

 

[Bibi L]

Our unit is the largest in the building, at 1,400 sqft.

 

[Bibi L]

In this part, and the next one, I will be showing more pictures of the amenities.
Starting off with the whirlpool.

Pump room for the whirlpool.

This is the gym.

Party room.

Before.

Exterior.

We’ll take a peak inside the arched windows.

I will post more.

 

[Bibi L]

In this part, we’ll be going over the change rooms.

Renovations, a few months prior.

Now. They are almost complete!

Looking modern.

In the next part, I’ll be going over the views of the amenities!

 

[Bibi L]

In this part, I’ll post pictures of the views of the amenities.

Starting off with the lake views.

Next, north, city views.

East views, from the north terraces.

East view, from the gym.

North-east.

Looking west from the party room.

North terraces.

East view, daytime!

You can see so far.

Kitchen.

South views, from the terraces.

From the 6th floor SkyPark. This is a huge terrace.

Next part, exterior photos of 25 The Esplanade, looking at its architecture.

 

[Bibi L]

In this part, I’ll be posting pictures of the exterior of 25 The Esplanade. You can see this building from various different angles! Its architecture is unique, and sticks out.
If you want, you can also contribute by posting your pictures.
Starting off with the flatiron view.

Moving onto its sides. The rooftop terraces go down, creating a staircase like design.

In between Pier 27, from the lake.

The east, backside of the building. This side is different.

The colonnade. Both Novotel and 25 The Esplanade have a connected colonnade, although they do have slight differences. It works well. Novotel’s colonnade stretches 100m, while 25 The Esplanade stretches 80m. 180m total. It’s nice to walk under, and is different from most weather protected sidewalks in other developments.
25 The Esplanade:

Novotel:

 

[Bibi L]

In this part, we'll be going back to archive pictures. We'll learn even more about the history of the site of this building. (Sources for pics at the bottom)
In the first couple photos I posted, they showed the intersection of Yonge & Esplanade. We can go further back.
In this picture, we see the Toronto Wholesale Fruit Market. It was built in 1866, the building originally served as Toronto's Great Western Railway terminal. When the Great Western Railway was taken over by Grand Trunk Railway in 1882, it transitioned into a freight depot. By around 1904, the structure was repurposed as Toronto's wholesale fruit market. Refrigerator cars carrying produce from Florida and California were a common sight unloading along the Esplanade. The building was destroyed by fire on May 17, 1952. After it burnt, the building was demolished and the site was converted into a parking lot. The site would later on become the O'Keefe Centre. (Now the Meridian Hall.) Opening on October 1, 1960. If you were to stand here now, you would see the L Tower.

In this next picture taken on September 7, 1986, if you squeeze your eyes, you can see the construction pit for 25 and 45.

Also in this picture, we see another aerial photo, but this time, Novotel has topped out. 25 The Esplanade is still under construction.

In this picture, we see 25 The Esplanade, along with other buildings in the background. The area was pretty level, with most buildings being around 100m.

Here we can see 25 The Esplanade behind O'Keefe Centre. (Now the Meridian Hall.) You can even see Redpath Sugar on the far right.

In these next pictures, we see both Scotia Plaza and 25 The Esplanade under construction again. Both had topped out, but were still installing their cladding.

Here we see 55 The Esplanade and the Green P garage under construction. Before any plans for 25 and 45.

Hope you learned some more!
(Sources: City of Toronto Archives, TPL Digital Archive)