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Hume: New Toronto condo does its bit for urbanity
March 15, 2012
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Christopher Hume
STAR COLUMNIST
Sherbourne St., the street that time forgot, is now the road to the future.
Though neglected for decades, in recent years it has become a hot bed of condo activity. That should come as no surprise; but it’s still a shock to see just how the fortunes of this once-grand-but-much-reduced thoroughfare have changed. Stretches of misery remain, especially around Queen St. E., yet the forces of gentrification will not be denied. And with the badly conceived interventions of the mid-20th century slowly disappearing from the landscape, Sherbourne’s many urban qualities are once again being revealed. Not much heritage remains, but enough to remind us that this was one of the streets of choice in 19th-century Toronto.
The big changes now are happening at the bottom end of Sherbourne, south of Queen. Sherbourne Common, which opened in 2010, anchors the street and reconnects it to Lake Ontario and the waterfront. North of that, Sherborune is in the process of being remade by residential towers. Much has yet to unfold, but what makes the revitalization so interesting is to see how the infrastructure of today and yesterday can be combined and enhance one another.
Post-war redevelopment, by contrast, tended to ignore the past. These days we have learned to work with it instead. Most obviously, that means contemporary buildings once again seek a relationship with the street, and by extension, the rest of the city.
chume@thestar.ca
Condo Critic
The Modern, 320 Richmond St. E.: Sitting on the east side of Sherbourne Ave. at Richmond St., this 17-storey condo is less a tower than a slab. There are reasons to be leery of such a form, but here it works well enough. The main facade, which faces west onto Sherbourne, is enlivened by the interaction of planes, one running parallel to the street, the other at an angle. Finished in glass and dark masonry, the building has a vaguely industrial appearance. That aesthetic is enhanced by the bank of windows and recessed balconies that give this project a gritty yet urban quality. No one would call it handsome, but it’s hard not to pay attention.
Grade: B+
