Toronto Block Condos | ?m | 4s | Treasure Hill Homes | Richard Wengle

11 May 2013: Guess which Toronto architect isn't inviting me over for tea? :D

More "junk" although not quite as bad as Urbancorp's Manning Street project. Did RW or the developer even walk around the block checking out the local aesthetic?

Does Block blow away the century old competition across the street?
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Let's look at this project to find out...
From Shaw:
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Nail guns are fun but dangerous toys--that's how the million dollar homes (and garages here) are built today:
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I'm not jealous though--nail guns are a great way to get arthritis in a hurry...
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What's Roxton Rd looking like lately?
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New meets old:
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Thanks for giving me a tidy $500k profit!!! Hope you enjoy your new home :D
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The (slightly premature) urbandreamer verdict?

BLOCKED
 
Relative to his erstwhile notoriety for McMansion schlock, Wengle's overcompensating here.
 
The moulded concrete (or whatever) was not a cohensive choice.... it's like Wengle was trying to be minimal, but just couldn't help himself.
 
ProjectEnd said:
I quite like the back end. Why couldn't Richard just remove the garages and duplicate that on the street-fronting side?
Click to expand...

The flat facades on the back are unremarkable. There's no contrast. The only thing that enlivens them are the windows with the black mullions. But once the windows are replaced, as they probably will be in time, the facades will lose even that bare detail. The front facades would be fine without the fussy white parapets. Simpler parapets and more doses of white along the facade would have made the townhouses better. All that black brick looks somewhat bleak--like soot-blackened Victorians on their last breath in the 1960s before demolition for some generic skyscraper.
 
I almost like it until the white contrasting cornices and other tacky effects start showing up. It had so much potential though!
 
I don't hate black (or charcoal) brick but I don't like it either. I hope it is a fad that dies out. In a decade or two the black brick buildings in this city will look very dated.
 
What's wrong with something looking dated? Would you prefer that all the Victorians in town looked more contemporary?

42
 
Treasure Hill with Richard Wengle released their 'Urbantowns on Bayview' in Richmond Hill almost a month ago (just north of Hwy.7).
The design was very similar to this but two storeys (with a raised basement level) instead of three storeys and the townhouses were a little wider to accomodate a garage in the front. All of the townhouses looked the same with hardly any variation from each other.
The first of two phases of about 70 homes sold out before it was open to pre-registered buyers.
 
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