A
Archivistower
Guest
Extreme makeovers
The Gladstone reopens with a slick redesign.
Which hotels will be next?
Dec. 3, 2005.
CHRISTOPHER HUME
ARCHITECTURE CRITIC
As of today it's official: the Gladstone Hotel has reopened.
It never really closed, of course, but as of now this once run-down redbrick heap ranks among Toronto's hotspots, a West Queen West destination, and a sign of how successful we have become in reinventing and recycling the city.
Under its new owners, the Zeidler family, the 116-year-old institution has been transformed into a counterculture showcase, an artist-decorated venue where almost every room doubles as a gallery.
In one unit, just completed by Millie Chen, the walls have been covered in wallpaper with traditional Chinese motifs that she has altered very subtly and subversively.
Another chambre has been turned into a felt room. Designed by Kathryn Walter, it proves that felt, even industrial felt, can be a strangely sensuous material.
Melissa Levin created what she calls the "puzzle room." Decorated with jigsaw puzzles, all freely mixed and matched, it's a space where people can go to play games.
Despite being known as a dump for decades, the Gladstone began life as a respectable establishment frequented by late-19th-century commercial travellers.
In those days, Toronto was dotted with similar hotels; usually not more than four or five storeys tall and designed with the latest architectural fashion clearly in mind, they were small but proud operations.
But as the 20th century progressed and the chains took over the hotel business, the appeal of the local landmark diminished. Visitors preferred familiarity and brand names they'd heard before. The best surprise, said one hotel ad, was no surprise.
With the advent of the 21st century, however, the lure of the homogeneous world had started to wane.
What's the point of travelling halfway around the world to stay at a hotel that could be down the road?
Toronto has discovered that in a big way. Two years before the Gladstone became what it is today, the nearby Drake, a lesser landmark a block or two east on Queen Street, was remade as an artistic hangout, prime cultural real estate. Little wonder it has been wildly successful since the moment it opened.
The beauty of Toronto lies in these twin realities: first, that it has a stock of buildings from the 1800s, and second, that we have the entrepreneurs willing to renovate, restore and recycle them.
In addition to the Gladstone and the Drake, there are new boutique hotels, some of the city's most elegant, such as Le Germain on Mercer, the Pantages on Victoria and the Cosmopolitan on Colborne.
But why stop there? Queen Street East, despite being run down and long neglected, is now coming back to life. It, too, boasts some magnificent 19th-century architectural relics, some of them definitely worth a closer look and — who knows? — maybe a remake.The most obvious candidate, The New Broadview House Hotel, better known as Jilly's (Girls! Girls! Girls! Girls!), sits proudly on the northwest corner of Queen and Broadview Avenue.
Built in 1891 by Archibald Dingman, a self-made Victorian businessman with wide-ranging interests, this Romanesque heap makes an incongruous setting for a strip club, but beneath its tawdry skin lies a genuine urban landmark.
Given that the rumblings of an art scene are starting to be heard on Queen East, Dingman's redbrick palace is ideally situated to become its base. Like the Gladstone, it is anchored to the site by a four-storey tower that still looms over the intersection. The exterior surfaces, with their carved sandstone caricatures, rival those of Old City Hall.
Just west of Jilly's on Queen is another, apparently salvageable, building, the New Edwin Hotel. Built circa 1910, it was expanded in the early '50s. Though the addition is not much to look at, the original structure has a remarkable dignity; the overhanging cornice lends an air of elegance to this simple but assured establishment.
"There's been a lot of inquiries lately," says owner Chris Patadacos. "Yeah, I'd be interested. The area's changing. It's more affluent, that's for sure. The hotel was built when this was Highway 2, Kingston Rd. We have guys staying by the week and by the month."
There you have it: east Toronto's response to the Drake and the Gladstone, Broadview House and the Edwin. Close enough to each other to form a critical mass, they are a renaissance waiting to happen.
There's more. Travel east on Queen to Leslie and there's the hard-to-miss Duke of York Tavern. Though no longer a functioning hotel, it was built in 1868 as an inn. Today, its most distinctive feature is the mural of John Wayne — the Duke — painted on the front façade.
"It's not a hotel any more," explained a voice with a thick European accent. "It's bachelor apartments."
Then he hung up, clearly uncomfortable with the idea of discussing the history of the building.
Not everyone loves the idea of change; rather the devil you know than the one you don't. Like it or not, the middle classes are turning their spotlight even on this dark and dreary corner of the city. Three-and-a-half years ago, restaurateur Gio Rana opened a place directly across Queen from the Duke. It was an instant success.
Now Queen East is on its way to becoming yet another downtown destination. Art galleries have popped up, and condos, bars, restaurants and antique stores are appearing daily. The possibilities are vast.
The truth, however, is that Toronto has always preferred to go west. The west end has much more to offer in the way of hotels than the Gladstone and Drake. The intersections of Spadina Avenue with King and College Sts. provide two excellent examples.
The Waverly, at College, has been a neighbourhood fixture since 1900. Though it's far from the most exciting example of late Victorian architecture in Toronto, it's one of those rare places that actually has played a role in the cultural life of the city. Poet Milton Acorn was a long-time resident there, as was painter Mashel Teitelbaum. Novelist Elmore Leonard even mentioned the Waverly in his book Killshot. The building has seen better days, but its location couldn't be better. Can revitalization be far off?
Similarly, the old Spadina Hotel (northwest corner of King and Spadina) seems ripe for a rebirth. Though it comes highly regarded as a backpackers' hostel, it was in rough shape before that, seemingly forever. Sadly, the building suffers from one of the worst paint jobs of any building in Toronto. The vertigo-inducing colour scheme should be declared illegal. Somewhere beneath it all, there's an impressive Empire-style building, complete with mansard roof and dormer windows, waiting to get out.
It's only a matter of time.
The Gladstone reopens with a slick redesign.
Which hotels will be next?
Dec. 3, 2005.
CHRISTOPHER HUME
ARCHITECTURE CRITIC
As of today it's official: the Gladstone Hotel has reopened.
It never really closed, of course, but as of now this once run-down redbrick heap ranks among Toronto's hotspots, a West Queen West destination, and a sign of how successful we have become in reinventing and recycling the city.
Under its new owners, the Zeidler family, the 116-year-old institution has been transformed into a counterculture showcase, an artist-decorated venue where almost every room doubles as a gallery.
In one unit, just completed by Millie Chen, the walls have been covered in wallpaper with traditional Chinese motifs that she has altered very subtly and subversively.
Another chambre has been turned into a felt room. Designed by Kathryn Walter, it proves that felt, even industrial felt, can be a strangely sensuous material.
Melissa Levin created what she calls the "puzzle room." Decorated with jigsaw puzzles, all freely mixed and matched, it's a space where people can go to play games.
Despite being known as a dump for decades, the Gladstone began life as a respectable establishment frequented by late-19th-century commercial travellers.
In those days, Toronto was dotted with similar hotels; usually not more than four or five storeys tall and designed with the latest architectural fashion clearly in mind, they were small but proud operations.
But as the 20th century progressed and the chains took over the hotel business, the appeal of the local landmark diminished. Visitors preferred familiarity and brand names they'd heard before. The best surprise, said one hotel ad, was no surprise.
With the advent of the 21st century, however, the lure of the homogeneous world had started to wane.
What's the point of travelling halfway around the world to stay at a hotel that could be down the road?
Toronto has discovered that in a big way. Two years before the Gladstone became what it is today, the nearby Drake, a lesser landmark a block or two east on Queen Street, was remade as an artistic hangout, prime cultural real estate. Little wonder it has been wildly successful since the moment it opened.
The beauty of Toronto lies in these twin realities: first, that it has a stock of buildings from the 1800s, and second, that we have the entrepreneurs willing to renovate, restore and recycle them.
In addition to the Gladstone and the Drake, there are new boutique hotels, some of the city's most elegant, such as Le Germain on Mercer, the Pantages on Victoria and the Cosmopolitan on Colborne.
But why stop there? Queen Street East, despite being run down and long neglected, is now coming back to life. It, too, boasts some magnificent 19th-century architectural relics, some of them definitely worth a closer look and — who knows? — maybe a remake.The most obvious candidate, The New Broadview House Hotel, better known as Jilly's (Girls! Girls! Girls! Girls!), sits proudly on the northwest corner of Queen and Broadview Avenue.
Built in 1891 by Archibald Dingman, a self-made Victorian businessman with wide-ranging interests, this Romanesque heap makes an incongruous setting for a strip club, but beneath its tawdry skin lies a genuine urban landmark.
Given that the rumblings of an art scene are starting to be heard on Queen East, Dingman's redbrick palace is ideally situated to become its base. Like the Gladstone, it is anchored to the site by a four-storey tower that still looms over the intersection. The exterior surfaces, with their carved sandstone caricatures, rival those of Old City Hall.
Just west of Jilly's on Queen is another, apparently salvageable, building, the New Edwin Hotel. Built circa 1910, it was expanded in the early '50s. Though the addition is not much to look at, the original structure has a remarkable dignity; the overhanging cornice lends an air of elegance to this simple but assured establishment.
"There's been a lot of inquiries lately," says owner Chris Patadacos. "Yeah, I'd be interested. The area's changing. It's more affluent, that's for sure. The hotel was built when this was Highway 2, Kingston Rd. We have guys staying by the week and by the month."
There you have it: east Toronto's response to the Drake and the Gladstone, Broadview House and the Edwin. Close enough to each other to form a critical mass, they are a renaissance waiting to happen.
There's more. Travel east on Queen to Leslie and there's the hard-to-miss Duke of York Tavern. Though no longer a functioning hotel, it was built in 1868 as an inn. Today, its most distinctive feature is the mural of John Wayne — the Duke — painted on the front façade.
"It's not a hotel any more," explained a voice with a thick European accent. "It's bachelor apartments."
Then he hung up, clearly uncomfortable with the idea of discussing the history of the building.
Not everyone loves the idea of change; rather the devil you know than the one you don't. Like it or not, the middle classes are turning their spotlight even on this dark and dreary corner of the city. Three-and-a-half years ago, restaurateur Gio Rana opened a place directly across Queen from the Duke. It was an instant success.
Now Queen East is on its way to becoming yet another downtown destination. Art galleries have popped up, and condos, bars, restaurants and antique stores are appearing daily. The possibilities are vast.
The truth, however, is that Toronto has always preferred to go west. The west end has much more to offer in the way of hotels than the Gladstone and Drake. The intersections of Spadina Avenue with King and College Sts. provide two excellent examples.
The Waverly, at College, has been a neighbourhood fixture since 1900. Though it's far from the most exciting example of late Victorian architecture in Toronto, it's one of those rare places that actually has played a role in the cultural life of the city. Poet Milton Acorn was a long-time resident there, as was painter Mashel Teitelbaum. Novelist Elmore Leonard even mentioned the Waverly in his book Killshot. The building has seen better days, but its location couldn't be better. Can revitalization be far off?
Similarly, the old Spadina Hotel (northwest corner of King and Spadina) seems ripe for a rebirth. Though it comes highly regarded as a backpackers' hostel, it was in rough shape before that, seemingly forever. Sadly, the building suffers from one of the worst paint jobs of any building in Toronto. The vertigo-inducing colour scheme should be declared illegal. Somewhere beneath it all, there's an impressive Empire-style building, complete with mansard roof and dormer windows, waiting to get out.
It's only a matter of time.
