New owners plan facelift for Maclean House

[AlbertC]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...an-facelift-for-maclean-house/article2089144/

New owners plan facelift for Maclean House

TAMARA BALUJA
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Jul. 07, 2011 3:00AM EDT

Maclean House, a Toronto heritage building, may just have found its saviour.

The building at 7 Austin Terrace – and former home of John Bayne Maclean, founder of Canada’s Maclean’s magazine – became a rallying point for heritage preservationists in the city when contractors tore out several key heritage features, including the window sashes and the portico above the front door, in December of 2009.

The building appeared to be rotting away when property owner 1626829 Ontario Ltd. applied to demolish it and build a new three-storey, eight-unit townhouse complex attached to another three-storey rental building with six units. Now, a new group has acquired Maclean House for an undisclosed figure and vows to restore the site to its former glory.

In this new proposal, the original single family dwelling will be divided into three smaller attached family units. An additional wing that was built in the 1940s – and which does not have heritage standing – will be demolished, said Mr. Garnet, and will be replaced with two semi-detached and one single dwelling.

So far Renaissance Fine Homes has the backing of all the community groups that had rallied to save the 1910 Georgian Revival property, including local councillor Joe Mihevc. Within the past two weeks, the plan has already received the blessings of the Ontario Municipal Board, and the Toronto and East York community council.

Macean house in its heyday:

http://clratoronto.ca/preservation/

Maclean house today:

http://torontoist.com/2011/02/the_maclean_house_quandary.php

 

[junctionist]

That sounds promising. It's a bold move in favour of preservation.

 

[pransom222]

They need to preserve that old build. That is part of history.