St. Michaels Staff Residence - ID Needed

[Archivistower]

Here's a building I'm trying to identify. It's identified only as "St. Michaels Staff Residence". The photo is from the 1961 Massey Medals for Architecture - this building was a runner up. Can anybone tell me where this was, and if it's still around?

 

[spmarshall]

I am going to make a guess - I hope it leads you on the right direction. My guess is that it refers to the St. Michael's College School (certainly not the U of T College or the Hospital, whose former nurses' residence on Shuter will shortly be torn down).

Google Map

There's a small quadrangle building at SMCS on the NW side (adjacent to Bathurst) with trees in the courtyard in the locations that match the photo if it is looking west. Could this be it?

 

[Archivistower]

That's a good suggestion. I won't know until I visit the site - but it would explain the ambivalent "St. Mike's" part of the description.

Now I'm intrigued and want to go up there right away!

 

[building babel]

The Abebooks website currently lists 3 copies of, "Massey Medals for Architecture 1961" ( 100 pages, softcover, B/W photos on each page ) for sale, one from a seller in Montreal. The site has an "Ask Bookseller a Question" feature for each listing.

 

[Bogtrotter]

I live near there and can check it out sometime. From that map it looks like it might be the Basilian Residence? It seems Ernest Cormier designed part of the college- but not sure about that particular structure.

 

[Bogtrotter]

It's not the Basilian residence as far as I can tell- unless it has since been replaced. It may yet be the inner courtyard of the college- but I couldn't get access to it when I dropped by tonight.

 

[building babel]

Not by him, I don't think, but it reminds me of buildings by George Robb, famous for the Shell Oil Tower - a design based on the geometry of the golden section.

The nicely proportioned modules that make up the windows and doors are pleasing to the eye and visually balanced, yet asymmetrically placed in an interesting way. I like how the strong, two floor pilasters butt up to the cornice line, and play off the strong horizontal bands not only of the upper floor windows but the brickwork that runs below them too. It's a visual tease - do the pilasters and cornice project out from the building, or is the rest of the building recessed? The play of verticals and horizontals, largely enabled by the rather monumental pilasters, seems to be the defining motif of this place. I hope it's still around.

 

[Bogtrotter]

For those who are interested re Robb- www.gra.ca/projects.htm

I walked through the college (after getting me weekly groceries) tonight and I didn't see a building that resembled Archivist's photo. Personally the building in the photo reminds me of the Presbyterian residence I once resided in on University Ave in Montreal. It also had pillasters to cornice and H windows.

When was the award granted- not necessarily on 1961 I assume?

 

[mark simpson]

^pretty typical instituional design of the early 60s

 

[Citywriter]

I like how the strong, two floor pilasters butt up to the cornice line, and play off the strong horizontal bands not only of the upper floor windows but the brickwork that runs below them too. It's a visual tease - do the pilasters and cornice project out from the building, or is the rest of the building recessed?

Babel: kind of like 2 Carlton....

 

[building babel]

Hey! Toronto Style, mark 1.

 

[Citywriter]

Yeah.

Also Wymilwood (by Eric Arthur no less):

 

[building babel]

Perhaps it was a hot local 1950's-style design fetish thing?

The equivalent to the "floating pane" extended-sheet-of-glass thing we see in several Toronto Style buildings now: in core's M5V, aA's Four Seasons condo/hotel, KPMB's National Ballet School, the Telus Tower of Adamson Associates, and Diamond+Schmitt's City Room for instance.

 

[Archivistower]

... and in James Cheng's Shangri-La.

Oh, that's in Vancouver.

 

[building babel]

>Re: St. Michael's Staff Residence - ID Needed

So, have you solved the mystery of who designed this place yet, Archivist? The tension, all this waiting without knowing, it's just getting to me, I can't take it much longer and I'm a nervous wreck!