Toronto Sun Life Financial Tower & Harbour Plaza Residences | 236.51m | 67s | Menkes | Sweeny &Co

[TKTKTK]

I like that building...hopefully it isn't brutally raped by some condo

 

[DSCToronto]

In summer 2008 Metrolinx had plans to use this site as a Bus Depot (replacing Dundas Street Bus Station) but I think this has fallen out of favour and they now hope to consolidate all the busses on the present GO bus site behind the Dominion Building just east of Union Station.

 

[maestro]

They should throw some wheels under the Harbour Commission Buildling, roll it down to the foot of Yonge, and leave 90 Harbour alone

 

[taal]

I dunno ... If you've seen the building in person I'm not sure it's worth saving (Not where the port authority is! the other abandoned one).
It's not in a good shape either.

 

[maestro]

^just a fan of its style and too much of it has been lost to the wreckers already (I imagine the LCBO on the east of Yonge is endangered as well )

 

[jswag]

90 Harbour is such a nice building, but seriously hampered by its surroundings (Gardiner to the north, Harbour St offramp to the south). Abandoning a building never does it any favours either. I seriously dig the glossy black cladding on the ground floor, and the art deco-ish front facade and almost wrap-around windows. Although the siting of 90 Harbour and the Harbour Commission building cause serious issues to future redevelopment of the entire parcel, I would fight it if they tried to demolish 90 Harbour.

If anything the parking lot (on Queen's Quay) west of Waterpark Place just south of 90 Harbour would be a better candidate for the terminal. Also, Metrolinx and GO Transit could even move into 90 Harbour and maybe add a respectful addition to the building.

 

[adma]

Abandoning a building never does it any favours either.

Well, abandonment or at the very least benign neglect can do one favour of sorts: as the report indicates, a lot of the mid-century fittings are intact, because there was never any intense urgency to slickly update.

Otherwise, I find the building a little frumpy, c1950 brick Modern/Moderne at its most institutional--not unlike what Archivist's joint at 880 Bay is often knocked for. Definitely a lesser sequel to the Postal Delivery building. I even prefer the near-contemporary LCBO HP to the east, in spite of (or because of?) the weird Third Reichish vibe it gives off. That said (and in an echo of the whole Bush Sheds fooferaw), frumpy or not, I'm not opposed to its being considered as "heritage" (and of course, we know all the embodied-energy arguments against demolition, etc). Just don't make too much of a mountain of a molehill.

Thinking further, I also kinda miss that little sleeper of a Art Deco brick nothing office building that stood until about 1990 at the SW corner of York and Lakeshore, or was it Bay and Lakeshore...

 

[androiduk]

There's a perfect opportunity here to balance out this little part of the city. Get rid of the parking lot surrounding the building, maybe replace it with underground parking, and landscape the entire property with gardens and grass. Nice refuge for all the local office workers and condo dwellers. The only question is how to use the building. Maybe corporate head office or institutional.

 

[Automation Gallery]

The city has just decided to withdraw its application for giving the building heritage status - it has no authority, it being owned by the Ontario Reality Corporation.

Thank god
This building looks like shit down there.It would be a nice location to build the new Toronto Aquarium that they have been planning for the past years.
The heritage 1917 Toronto Harbour Commission building next door could be a nice addition to the aquarium plans.

 

[TKTKTK]

Thank god
This building looks like shit down there.It would be a nice location to build the new Toronto Aquarium that they have been planning for the past years.
The heritage 1917 Toronto Harbour Commission building next door could be a nice addition to the aquarium plans.

What? There isn't enough empty space there already that they have to tear down perfectly fine buildings to site an Aquarium?

And given what's been built in that neighbourhood over the last couple years, 90 Harbour is hardly ruining the aesthetic. I'll take its brick-y normalcy over all its neighbours' glass and plastic.

 

[CGM]

The locations proximity to the Gardiner and Lakeshore makes it ideal

 

[Solaris]

Jan 2

my guess is 3 towers will go on the 90 Harbour site, 30s to 50s, one office tower, two condo towers, with a common podium which incorporates the existing south facade

do note that 90 Harbour (vacant bldg) and 60 Harbour (nice bldg occupied by harbour comission) are two different sites and likely subject to different redevelopment timing / proposals

 

[Solaris]

MODs, shouldn't this thread be in Projects + Construction ?

 

[interchange42]

It's an existing building that has no specific proposal attached to it... so, no.

42

 

[Tewder]

What? There isn't enough empty space there already that they have to tear down perfectly fine buildings to site an Aquarium?

And given what's been built in that neighbourhood over the last couple years, 90 Harbour is hardly ruining the aesthetic. I'll take its brick-y normalcy over all its neighbours' glass and plastic.

I agree. With so much new glass construction around - and I don't dislike glass construction - this building seems very solid and satisfying, even if not a masterpiece.