City's Ugliest Heritage Buildings

[Archivist]

In another thread, someone suggested maybe we could have a thread on the city's ugliest heritage buildings (this is relation to the Continental Can building, shame on you!). Who better to rise to the occassion than your Archivist? Also, this atones in some way for my perhaps excessive crankiness at the appearance recently of yet another "worst highrise" thread.

I present some of my own favourites for ugliest heritage building, below. To be fair, I should mention that almost all of these are from Heritage Conservation Districts, so they are included in the Inventory more because of their location than their individual merits.

Queen Street West
This heritage district is positively loaded with vile buildings, and the two below certainly qualify. It has long been my contention that the buildings along Queen West are generally unremarkable, or even manage to offend like these three must, however, in their uses they perform admirably well in maintaining the vitality of this beloved strip.

This building below exemplifies the other asthetic crime of Queen West, which is the building that was probably once fine, but which is badly maintained. The lion on the building hints at a grandeur now almost totally erased.

Gerrard

The southern Cabbagetown Heritage Conservation District managed to include these lovelies.

And this, in the middle of nowhere (actually Fairbank, York)

To be fair, this house is probably fine, but when I visited it some years ago I found it in a state of disrepair behind a mechanic's shop.

 

[Hipster Duck]

It won't win any beauty awards, but this is building is a fascinating study of the organic development of the city; how buildings change hands between owners with varying levels of sympathy and good intentions.

 

[ganjavih]

Wow, those Cabbagetown "heritage" buildings are a joke.

I stand by my opinion that 790 Bay is ugly. It's squat, those grey/beige panels between the windows are *blech*, and that opaque glass with the horizontal stripes near the base is just beastly.

http://flickr.com/photos/st-even/2282956112/

http://flickr.com/photos/401forester/3086799536/

 

[Automation Gallery]

The owners of these mediocre/derelict buildings that have been classified as heritage must be pretty disapointed that the resale of their property probably has depreciated by 30%. I know that if i was a developer buying up property the last that i would want is more red tape at City Hall.

 

[Tewder]

I would suspect that there are older heritage fronts lurking beneath those false facades?

I actually like some of the buildings you cite. They only need a little restoration/TLC.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Aren't there some uglier than usual pink brick McMansions on Mathersfield in Rosedale that were heritage-districted? They may not be as aggressively ugly as those Gerrard stinkers but one could say they have a higher 'what were they thinking?' value.

I would suspect that there are older heritage fronts lurking beneath those false facades?

No. Certainly not in the last one (the roti shop and the restaurant), anyway, unless red paint counts as a false facade.

 

[Archivist]

scarb, yes, you are quite right. 36 ugly houses on Mathersfield form part of the South Rosedale heritage conservation district. Strangely, they are omitted entirely from the South Rosedale Ratepayers Association website. Disowned, as it were.

(Nice to have met you the other evening, by the way).

 

[adma]

For some reason, I'm muted on the so-called "ugliness" here. It actually looks like a well-meaning if neutral 70sish vernacular (or proto-postmodern) attempt at contextual infill.

And re the Mathersfield McMansions: as odd as they might seem within an HCD, for what they are, I can't condemn them--and in context, they're not all that gruesome as upmarket retro-McMansions go. Even the McMansion epithet seems a bit insulting; in reality, it's just Duany-Plater-Zyberkesque infill. The best of a bad lot, I suppose--a little slice of Kentlands at the edge of Chestnut Park, why not.

As goes 790 Bay: if heritage listing doesn't state its case, its status as the debut venue for Dominion Modern's shows ought to...

 

[jks]

Wow, I can`t believe how misguided the city as at heritage designation. What about the historian rowhouses across from the AGO, they are GORGEOUS, and yet that idiot managed to demolish one and build that gray monstrosity with the solar panels on the roof.

 

[Archivist]

jks, those are all on the inventory, but one burnt down.

 

[jks]

jks, those are all on the inventory, but one burnt down.

Oh, my bad

 

[adma]

Wow, I can`t believe how misguided the city as at heritage designation. What about the historian rowhouses across from the AGO, they are GORGEOUS, and yet that idiot managed to demolish one and build that gray monstrosity with the solar panels on the roof.

Did Steve Mann actually *build* said monstrosity, or did he just matter-of-factly adapt it to his own needs? (Seems more like some failed 80sish commercial/office infill to me...)

 

[jks]

Well, to be honest, I don't know LOL, I'm just speculating. I guess solar panels don't look so well on a historic rowhouse LOL.

 

[Archivist]

It's funny how that one little building on Dundas has rocketed to prominence since the opening of the AGO. To be honest, I'd think of it as an opportunity for some kind of modern infill, like, Charles Pachter's house around the corner on Grange. But it is certainly an eyesore as it stands.

I have found this thread quite interesting, especially the comments in defense of some of the buildings that I posted. I really was trying for the uglies, but I'm always encouraging of gentle appraisals of our city, so a suggestion to see something as 1970's contextual infill is really welcome.

I've added some more photos, of "unexpected" heritage buildings.

Here are a few samples of the Mathersfield houses.

And a house from the Weston Heritage Conservation District. I do dislike this building and other like it, and won't be talked out of it, because in my view the garages ruin the streetscape. I can actually live with the Mathersfield houses, since as you will note there are no huge garages fronting the street, but these are irreparable.

Finally, this building (in Weston) is typical of a kind that you find commonly in the city, I'm including it here not because it is ugly but because it is so very common. The South Cabbagetown HCD is rife with them. Does anybody have a suggestion as to what style this is?

 

[MisterF]

The owners of these mediocre/derelict buildings that have been classified as heritage must be pretty disapointed that the resale of their property probably has depreciated by 30%. I know that if i was a developer buying up property the last that i would want is more red tape at City Hall.

Heritage designation doesn't reduce property values.