Three Hidden Heritage Buildings

[Archivist]

My quest to photograph all buildings with a heritage status in Toronto leads to some strange chases to find buildings. Here are three that you might never have noticed; over time all three have become entirely surrounded by other buildings and are currently accessible only through alleyways. I doubt I'll ever find others like these, but I would be interested if they exist, heritage or not.

Haultain Building, University of Toronto, 1903

Surrounded on all four sides by other U of T buildings, this neglected little fellow sits alone and forlorn.

Gillette Company Welfare Building (in Liberty, 1922)

Approached through an alleyway, this was a case of industrial buildings creeping up around the building, including the rather streamlined 1942 warehouse building fronting onto Fraser.

Toronto Board of Education Administration Building, College Street, 1916

This poor thing clearly had the more modern building, from 1961 (though itself a heritage building now) built directly in front of it on what must have been a grassy lawn at some point.

 

[LowPolygon]

Toronto Board of Education Administration Building, College Street, 1916

This poor thing clearly had the more modern building, from 1961 (though itself a heritage building now) built directly in front of it on what must have been a grassy lawn at some point.

[/QUOTE]

i've often wondered about the particular circumstances that brought about this rather bizarre outcome. given that the new building is from the heyday of demolition, its strange they didn't just tear it down. i'm glad they didn't, but i do wonder why it escaped the wrecking ball. they obviously had no idea what to do with it--there was certainly no way of incorporating it into the new development...facadism wasn't a glimmer in anyone's eye in 1961. in any case, the solution still seems very peculiar....

 

[adma]

As supplementary space, it was still deemed momentarily "useful"? Besides, who's to say it couldn't have been demolished in a further phase of construction that never came...

And if so, it wouldn't be the only such case of a building inadvertently "saved" because a long-term master plan never came to be. (Wymilwood was originally slated to expand into the Annesley Hall site, remember.)

 

[SP!RE]

Awesome thread... and absolutely gorgeous buildings! Thnx for this.

 

[Hipster Duck]

Speaking about the Board of Education building, I've always been a fan of the nearby Orde Street Junior Public School which has these rooftop crenellations that are vaguely reminiscent of early Frank Lloyd Wright.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Archivist: I'd take a wrecking ball to them all if I had the chance - especially the lumpish Hulking ( oops! Haultain ) Building. The man who invented the Superpanner and Infrasizer deserves something better named in his honour, surely?

 

[khris]

Not bad looking, but it really bothers me when I see windows bricked in for some reason lol.

 

[wyliepoon]

Speaking about the Board of Education building, I've always been a fan of the nearby Orde Street Junior Public School which has these rooftop crenellations that are vaguely reminiscent of early Frank Lloyd Wright.

I'm also a fan. I tend to see this as Toronto's version of FLW's Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.

 

[adma]

Yeah, it definitely has that blocky Prairie-cum-Secession "progressive education" thing going (esp. with the trellissed rooftop play area, I presume that's what it was meant to be)

A sparer version of a "Prairie school" I've always been fond of is William Burgess PS out near Pape and O'Connor--has a real whiff of Dwight Perkins' schools for Chicago...

 

[adma]

Oh, and re "hidden heritage buildings", don't forget an example that was once hidden but no longer: the old Central Prison Chapel, formerly buried within the Inglis plant, now an object which any number of Liberty Village parvenus must be decrying as a white elephant and an eyesore...

 

[Chuck]

The Haultain building is nice, until you have to attend a tutorial on the 4th floor during an early September heat wave.

 

[TKTKTK]

Oh, and re "hidden heritage buildings", don't forget an example that was once hidden but no longer: the old Central Prison Chapel, formerly buried within the Inglis plant, now an object which any number of Liberty Village parvenus must be decrying as a white elephant and an eyesore...

LOL!

"Liberty Village parvenus"?! Girl, you need to dial back the holier than thou attitude I hardly think Liberty Village qualifies as a bastion of the arriviste. And anyway, I'm always surprised that friends who live in Liberty Village actually DO know what that anomalous little remnant is, and aren't calling for its demolition

 

[Jarrek]

Not bad looking, but it really bothers me when I see windows bricked in for some reason lol.

Ditto.

And most of the time, the brick doesn't even match.

 

[jtaylor]

This trellissed rooftop play area in the Orde Junior Public School above was actually not a play area. The school, built in 1914 had it's 3rd floor and rooftop outside classrooms used exclusively by kids with Tuberculosis from local hospitals. It was thougth that, having classes outside on the rooftop would 1) help them get better faster and 2) (and this is unconfirmed) help to prevent the spread of TB to other students in the school. I have yet to get up there and look around, but I'm still trying.

Both of my kids go to this school and we're very proud of it. A wonderful property, building, staff - all with a rich history and in the top 3% for educational 'success' in the province (according to EQAO scores anyway) within the last couple of years.

 

[College Park]

The Haultain building is nice, until you have to attend a tutorial on the 4th floor during an early September heat wave.

Teaching in Haultain was no treat - too hot/too cold echo-prone rooms. There used to be a nuclear reactor in it's basement too - does anyone know it's fate?