ganjavih
Senior Member
What a beautiful building... and such a rare style for Toronto. Whoever are responsible for this fiasco should be drawn and quartered.
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Walnut Hall: Historic building dies of neglect
- Thread starter AlvinofDiaspar
- Start date
Jayomatic
Active Member
I always dreamed of turning those into beautiful townhomes.
ShonTron
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Hung, drawn and quartered, to be precise.
Avert your eyes if you must, 'tis a misery.
unimaginative2
Senior Member
Ugh. And those townhouses that the developer built are pretty hideous too.
Edward
Senior Member
I was just going to add photos of the crime scene. Seems I was beat to the punch. Thanks.
CDL.TO
Moderator
Same here. I snapped some photos today. Was planning to label them as "Federally Designated Heritage Rubble" and everything...
ShonTron
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Why does "shocked" in this case more akin to Louie being "shocked, shocked that there is illegal gambling" in Rick's Cafe?
From Star:
Heritage block buyer `shocked' site demolished
May 23, 2007 04:30 AM
John Goddard
The recent buyers of Walnut Hall want to know why the city demolished their 1850s heritage building over the weekend, ruining their restoration plans in the process.
"We're shocked," said Domenic Santaguida of Trisan Reality Corp. in Etobicoke. "We're quite disturbed by the whole thing.
"We're just trying to figure out why it had to be taken down, because we had our own people there assessing it (in the past few weeks) ...
"Obviously, public safety is No. 1, that's paramount. I assume that was the rationale."
For more than 150 years, Walnut Hall stood downtown at Shuter and George Sts., a stately three-storey red brick structure of four row houses.
Late Saturday afternoon, bricks starting spewing from the back wall.
Toronto's deputy chief building official Jim Laughlin described what happened next.
"By 6p.m., the second bay (106 Shuter St.), had collapsed into the rear yard from the first and second storeys. Two hours later, the third storey collapsed as far into the building as halfway. By 11p.m., the roof of the second unit started to fall in."
Laughlin ordered units 104 and 106 torn down at midnight. Inspectors assessed the remaining half of the structure.
Wreckers tore down 108. Inspectors assessed the last quarter again and by 9a.m. it, too, was gone.
"I was just talking to the chief building official (Ann Borooah)," city Councillor Kyle Rae said yesterday.
"She said some of the bricks are clean.
"There is no mortar on them. They were completely eaten away. There was nothing keeping the building together."
The owners could not be located over the weekend.
Santaguida and Montreal partner, Carlo Bizzotto, bought the property in March, with plans to incorporate the heritage structure into a condominium development.
"We were hoping to get this restored very quickly," Santaguida said.
"We were in the process of doing that."
He would not discuss details of the proposal, but Rae said he talked to both owners in March and was "very excited" by their plans.
"They were going to keep the heritage building and build in behind," the councillor said. "There was an approval back around 2002 (for a seven-storey condo tower) behind the building.
"They were actually saying they were going to go even higher. That made me a little uncomfortable... but they were going to keep the building."
Bizzotto, with other partners, has converted a Montreal high school and heritage paper mill into condominiums.
Walnut Hall has been boarded up for 30 years. It belonged to the RCMP for two decades.
They sold it in 1997 to two developers, one of whom was Joe Jonatan, who became sole owner and in 2002 won zoning approval for a restoration plan that included the tower.
He died of cancer in February, after which Santaguida and Bizzotto bought the property for $1.8 million.
From Star:
Heritage block buyer `shocked' site demolished
May 23, 2007 04:30 AM
John Goddard
The recent buyers of Walnut Hall want to know why the city demolished their 1850s heritage building over the weekend, ruining their restoration plans in the process.
"We're shocked," said Domenic Santaguida of Trisan Reality Corp. in Etobicoke. "We're quite disturbed by the whole thing.
"We're just trying to figure out why it had to be taken down, because we had our own people there assessing it (in the past few weeks) ...
"Obviously, public safety is No. 1, that's paramount. I assume that was the rationale."
For more than 150 years, Walnut Hall stood downtown at Shuter and George Sts., a stately three-storey red brick structure of four row houses.
Late Saturday afternoon, bricks starting spewing from the back wall.
Toronto's deputy chief building official Jim Laughlin described what happened next.
"By 6p.m., the second bay (106 Shuter St.), had collapsed into the rear yard from the first and second storeys. Two hours later, the third storey collapsed as far into the building as halfway. By 11p.m., the roof of the second unit started to fall in."
Laughlin ordered units 104 and 106 torn down at midnight. Inspectors assessed the remaining half of the structure.
Wreckers tore down 108. Inspectors assessed the last quarter again and by 9a.m. it, too, was gone.
"I was just talking to the chief building official (Ann Borooah)," city Councillor Kyle Rae said yesterday.
"She said some of the bricks are clean.
"There is no mortar on them. They were completely eaten away. There was nothing keeping the building together."
The owners could not be located over the weekend.
Santaguida and Montreal partner, Carlo Bizzotto, bought the property in March, with plans to incorporate the heritage structure into a condominium development.
"We were hoping to get this restored very quickly," Santaguida said.
"We were in the process of doing that."
He would not discuss details of the proposal, but Rae said he talked to both owners in March and was "very excited" by their plans.
"They were going to keep the heritage building and build in behind," the councillor said. "There was an approval back around 2002 (for a seven-storey condo tower) behind the building.
"They were actually saying they were going to go even higher. That made me a little uncomfortable... but they were going to keep the building."
Bizzotto, with other partners, has converted a Montreal high school and heritage paper mill into condominiums.
Walnut Hall has been boarded up for 30 years. It belonged to the RCMP for two decades.
They sold it in 1997 to two developers, one of whom was Joe Jonatan, who became sole owner and in 2002 won zoning approval for a restoration plan that included the tower.
He died of cancer in February, after which Santaguida and Bizzotto bought the property for $1.8 million.
Towered
Senior Member
Ok, I've been wondering about that building for my entire life! What's the story behind it? Until that BMV opened a few months back, that site always stood out to me because it was abandoned for as long as I can remember and looked mysterious, sort of like an old castle. I asked a friend of mine who's an urban enthusiast and also posts here about it a few years ago and he said that some crazy old lady owned the property but refused to sell it or develop it for reasons he didn't know, but he seemed unsure that that was the case. I'm dying to finally know the details about this place!!
ShonTron
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That's pretty much what I've heard too, and believe this is in fact, true.
AndreaPalladio
Senior Member
I always heard that it was owned by a number of siblings, or that they had inheirited it in a will (possibly from your crazy old lady?) and could never agree about what to do with it. I vaguely recall that there what's his name in Toronto Life covered it.
I'm pretty sure it was owned until recently by a now defunct crazy old lady who inherited it from her crazy late husband. It took a year or so post mortem for lawyers to work out title to the property owing to liens, etc., but that seems to have been taken care of. I'd love to know who the new owners are, and how much that had to spend to bring it up to scratch to open it again. Should I just assume that BMV are leasing the space?
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Jayomatic
Active Member
There's also a building along Queen Street right next to Foot Locker that looks in pretty rough shape and the whole west wall of brick isn't even there. Its just wood beams with the inner plaster walls exposed from the outside. I wonder what the story is behind that.
Andrew3D
Active Member
Chicago's used to be there. I believe a 4 or 5 floor boutique hotel and new bar are going in. The building you mention only looks like that because the building in the middle was torn down late last summer.
BobBob
Senior Member
Ooh, harsh!
JasonParis
Moderator
simply Dan has a beautiful clean brick. This is indeed true. Scary!