Friday, November 21, 2014

More 1327 - 1339 Queen St E Heritage Discoveries


By Laura Marks
ETCC Steering Committee

A few weeks ago I visited the Land Titles Office to find out more about the history of the proposed development site at 1327-1339 Queen Street East. Once Belinda supplied the legal descriptions it was easy to find the documents relating to the lots at the LTO. The information gleaned from them provided new directions for research of the buildings.

From the map of Plan 214:

In 1857 John and George Ernest were owners of lot 10, Broken Front, first concession from the Bay, Ashbridge Bay to Concession Road (Queen Street), Leslie Street to Lake Street (Knox Ave).

From the Land Title Documents pertaining to Lots 22, 23 and 24, Plan 214:

The first listing in the list of Land Titles is for Lot 24 (1327 and 1329 Queen East), when John Greenwood (of Greenwood Avenue and of The Puritan Tavern, formerly at the northwest corner of Queen and Greenwood) bought Lot 24 from the estate of Henry William Savage in 1858.

In 1864 William Vine bought lots 22 (1337-1339 Queen East) and 23 (1333 and 1337 Queen East) from the Estate of Henry William Savage. William Vine bought Lot 24 from John Greenwood's Estate: ITs date 1867, date of registry 1880. From the Land Titles records it appears that the three lots may have been won in a wager.

Butcher's Arms Tavern - from Landmarks of Toronto, John Ross Robertson

William Vine was a butcher who owned and operated a popular tavern called the Butcher's Arms, situated on the east side of Mill Lane, now Broadview Avenue between Hogarth and Sparkhall Avenues. The pub was the best known sporting house in the city. Regular cock fighting matches were held there. The Butcher's Arms was frequented by horse racing men from the track located on the south side of Queen Street at Broadview and by the infamous Brooks Bush Gang, who terrorized East End citizenry and who were responsible for the murder of John Sheridan Hogan: printer, newspaperman, lawyer and politician in 1859. His body was found floating in the river in 1861, eighteen months after a botched robbery by the Brooks Bush Gang at the Don Bridge. William Vine died age 62 in 1879, but his wife, Frances lived on to a ripe old age into the 20th century.

Mrs Vine - from Landmarks of Toronto, John Ross Robertson
In 1886 Robert Manson, another butcher, purchased all three lots from Frances Vine, but he defaulted on the taxes in 1891 due to his insolvency. In desperation he committed suicide by slashing his throat with a razor early one morning in May, 1903. His wife Annie, who was one of the founders and patrons of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Leslieville, paid the tax arrears in 1906 and 1907. She sold lot 24 and the west part of Lot 23 to to William B.P. Graham, bookkeeper at Graham Ice and Coal and brother of John C. Graham, President of Graham Ice and Coal. She sold Lot 22 and the east part of lot 23 to William Booth, who built the Yorkville Fire Hall (1876) as well as many other buildings in Toronto.

The Graham House at 1327 and 1329 Queen Street East was built for John C. Graham in 1906 by William J. Hewitt, a local builder who lived on Coxwell Avenue and who also owned lots 38-50 of plan 214, in other words, all of Connaught Avenue. The Graham House is widely admired and features lovely stained glass windows at the street view and in the side bays.

1327-1329 Building Permit : 1327-1329 Queen Street East - photograph from the Toronto Archive - from the author's collection


The building at 1337-1339 Queen Street East, the most easterly four-plex, was built and fully tenanted by 1912. The four-plex to the west, 1333-1335 was completed and all but one of the flats occupied by 1913. The Toronto Directory entries refer to the previous year. These two four-plex buildings are "one of a kind" in Toronto with their spacious porches and balconies, generous roofs and slim, square columns. The historically designated four-plexes of the Price Brother's development of the mid to late 1920s in the Beach mimic many of the qualities of these originals.


1327-1339 Queen East, Might's Toronto Directory 1912   1327-1339 Queen East, Might's Toronto Directory 1913

1327-1339 Queen East, Might's Toronto Directory 1914

At Toronto Archives I found a permit granted in 1913 for a structure to be affixed to the side of the Woodbine Apartments on Queen Street East near Laing. This could refer to our four-plexes, or it could refer to the building directly on the corner. No specific address was named and I can find no trace of a mention of the Woodbine Apartments anywhere else. The name of the applicant on the building permit is William Bell, who was a specification writer for the celebrated architectural firm, Darling and Pearson. If the Woodbine Apartments are our four-plexes then the architects very well could have been Darling and Pearson. Another prominent Toronto architect who did work for William Booth was David Brash Dick (1846 - 1925) one of the founders of the Arts and Letters Club, who designed a house for William Booth on Avenue Road just south of Davenport in 1878.


William Bell, Might's Toronto Directory 1912William Bell, Toronto Might's Directory 1913

To date I haven't found a building permit for either four-plex building. There may or may not be one because the Toronto Architect's Office was severely understaffed and housing development in Toronto was very intense at the time the four-plexes were built.

Around the first decade of the 20th century the form of multi-unit residences in Toronto was in its infancy. There was widespread opposition to the construction of apartment buildings on the grounds that neighbourhoods were being devalued by the inclusion of "tenements" for single people or people who couldn't afford an entire house. In May 1912 by-law 6061 was passed declaring it necessary to have 500 feet of yard space around each dwelling for each suite on the ground floor, and that tenements or apartments could only be built on commercial streets. A way of circumventing the by-laws was to build two semi-detached four-family dwellings as opposed to one large building.

There was a scarcity of trained examiners in the Toronto Architect's department of the time because of poor pay. There were 50 new permits per day and a month long wait for approval. By June 1912 the old by-laws were unobtainable and in the neighbourhood of 100 new laws had been amended but not yet passed. By August 1912 the City Architect had suffered a nervous breakdown from overwork and was at home under a doctor's care. There were 250 permits awaiting attention. Many buildings were being erected without permits. However, it's unlikely that buildings in such a prominent position as Queen Street would have been built without a permit. Local residents were up-in-arms about apartment buildings being built in their neighbourhoods and builders were being reported to the authorities for building without a permit. I've come across several building permits applied for by the Booths during the relevant time, but none so far have been for the four-plexes.

From the archives of the Toronto Daily Star, Friday, August 16, 1912:

Congestion in Architect's Bureau
Toronto Daily Star, Friday, August 16, 1912


Four-plexes of the general vintage of ours seem to be quite rare. I know of only two other groupings in Toronto.

Edward McNamara Building,  857-879 King Street West, Google Maps

The Edward McNamara Building, a Classical Revival building located at 857-879 King Street West near Strachan Avenue, built 1903, included in the City of Toronto Inventory of Heritage Properties June, 2006, was designed by prominent Toronto architect Henry Simpson who articled with E. J. Lennox and partnered with Charles J. Gibson, James Ellis and Robert M. Young. Among many other notable Toronto buildings, Henry Simpson designed the historically designated house at 100 Greenwood Avenue in 1897 for John Raphael Price, brick manufacturer, whose wife was Ella Maud, John C. Graham's daughter, and whose mother was Annie Simpson Price.


John Price House, 100 Greenwood Avenue, architect Henry Simpson
- from the author's collection


The other early group of four-plexes that has come to light is at the south end of Ashdale Avenue. These four-plexes were built some time between 1914 and 1917 and bear some resemblance to Henry Simpson's four-plexes at King Street West. Further research is needed to find the exact year of construction and the architect, possibly leading to information about our Queen Street four-plexes, which pre-date these and may be the template for all of the four-plexes in the east end.


6a - 8b Ashdale Ave 22a - 24b Ashdale Ave
A selection of the several four-plexes on Ashdale Ave - from the author's collection

My sincere hope is that the City's Heritage Preservation Department will soon begin their study, carrying on from the findings of my research. Using their expertise and their greater access to information I'm hopeful they can confirm the provenance of our four-plexes beyond any doubt to firmly establish their preeminence as among the very first relatively small multi-unit purpose-built Toronto dwellings, preserving 1333-1339 Queen Street East by means of a heritage designation.

Stay tuned for further discoveries.


Laura Marks
ETCC Steering Committee



primary sources:
From the Land Titles Office:
Land Titles map of Plan 214
Land Titles for Lots 22, 23 and 24, Plan 214.
Landmarks of Toronto, J.Ross Robertson
Toronto Archives: Building permits for Queen Street East: 1911, 1912 and 1913
Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800-1950
From Summer Cottage Colony to Metropolitan Suburb: Toronto's Beach District, 1889-1929 by
Nik Luca
Toronto's First apartment House Boom: an Historical Geography, 1900-1920 by Richard Dennis, Department of Geography, University College, London, England.
Globe and Mail Archives: May 3, 1912 p.9, August 12, 1912 p.8, December 17, 1926 p.12
Toronto Daily Star Archives: Tuesday, May 21, 1912, p. 3, Thursday, June 13, 1912, front page, Thursday, August 15, 1912 front page, Friday, August 16, 1912 p. 17.
Might's Toronto Directories: 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914 and 1917.
Goad's Maps plate #103 1913.




mh

Friday, November 14, 2014

The Last Working Group Meeting - Report on WG Meeting #4


The last Working Group meeting regarding the proposed development at 1327-1339 Queen East took place on Wednesday November 5 at the S.H Armstrong Community Centre. We were advised by City Planning that an Area study to determine appropriate building development guidelines will be starting and introduced to Kelly Jones. She’ll be leading the study and has been asked to look at whether the Beaches guidelines or the Leslieville guidelines would apply for this area. (The answer will more than likely be no and then the real study will begin).

The group questioned the fact that, once again, - we were not seeing any changes to the development design, that we were being placed into smaller table groups when the Working Group was already quite small and manageable, and that our concerns regarding depth, density and height were still not being addressed by the city.


The format for the meeting was changed and rather than being read a series of reports and asked to comment, we were asked for our thoughts on the development. There were four questions: that were posed by planning
  1. Ground floor design and use: How could a building on this site contribute to the vibrancy of the street.Could certain uses of this site contribute to the vibrancy of Queen St. East? What design elements would fit the character of this part of Queen St. East
  2. The Streetscape – Could the streetscape be improved in this location? What elements are needed here – wider sidewalks, lighting, street furniture, others?
  3. General Built Form – You have been provided the comments by the City’s Urban Designer to the applicant. What do you think about the sidewalk width, the base building height, the overall height, the stepbacks, the relationship to Memory Lane…?
  4. Memory Lane – The proposal identifies low-rise buildings and vehicular access on Memory Lane. How could the existing and/or proposed conditions for Memory Lane be improved?


Before we list the input from the working group, it should be mentioned that anyone can copy these questions and send their suggestions to the Planning department. The dialogue is continuing.

1. Ground floor design and use:

First reactions were: set the building back so that there is more space for the community to use i.e. patios, protective weather canopy. Create setbacks and angles to make people engage with the street. Also make sure that the trees are allowed to have enough room and light to grow. Let people be able to walk side-by-side and not single file.

It was suggested that the building not present a flat façade to the street but engage the passerby and perhaps draw them in to the building. Smaller retail spaces were suggested and maybe a mix of retail and office; fruit and vegetable markets, things that can service the local neighbourhood. The worry was expressed that there are many vacant locations now that aren’t renting and that this increased retail won’t help matters.

Mention was made that the retail connections on Queen are broken up so that pedestrians only walk so far and then they turn around because of dead zones. Mention was made that the retail environment is a work in progress because Leslieville doesn’t have the density to support it yet.

Mention was made that the Queen St frontage could be animated via a north-south greenway promenade through the property that would also help animate Memory Lane - and that a more-than-the-Green-Standard-required number of at-grade bicycle parking spots, plus a well lit, natural light, at-grade bicycle maintenance space could be an element to help that animation - while at the same time encouraging the adoption of active modes of transportation that densification and sedentary urban lifestyles demand.

2. The Streetscape:

Mention was made that a two level commercial office space might be considered with a “grander” anchor tenant.

Mention was made that the retail spaces at Woodbine and Queen and Carlaw and Dundas are also retail spaces that don’t work. Retail at grade only animates the street and adds value to the area if in fact it’s finely “grained” enough, both in terms of its aesthetic and its function otherwise it’s a very dead end and it can actually hinder animation on the street. King East example sited where it hits the Don Valley.We are replete with examples of retail areas that don’t work.

Mention was made that Roncesvalles streetscape works.

Mention was made that the acoustic environment on Queen needs to be broken up using different façade materials.

3. Built Form discussion:

Suggested that the development be reorganized on site to put the town house units into a T shape at the back so that their “fronts” would face east and west- providing setbacks to the yards on either side - with planting/green areas in front of each.

- on the south side as a result there would be much reduced over-look onto neighbouring back yards…
these rear units would mostly look west and east - the balconies would be solid facing east and west - only the balcony face to the south would be glass to provide neighbours with more privacy… these units aren’t on the lane. The building would mesh better with the neighbourhood at the back and be less invasive. There would be no windows overlooking memory Lane. The back should be heterogeneous with what is already there.

The service area could be moved to in the centre of the complex and the building would wrap around this area reducing visual pollution. The parking ramp could be covered by a green roof which would afford the neighbours with a better visual environment.

Suggestion that the number of three bedroom units should be increased and the number of two bedroom to attract more families. Developer says it will depend on the demand.

Mention that the area is losing affordable housing.

4. Memory Lane

Mention was made of the need to make allowances for the pedestrian traffic, need “safe areas” for people to stand in while traffic is passing. Mention was made that other developments are in the works that will also stress the capacity of Memory Lane and Sears.


Summing Up

It was a very animated evening. As a result of the last Working Group meeting the ETCC sent the following email to Planning:

After the last Working Group meeting there were a few items that remain up in the air for us. If we could get any feedback on the following it would be appreciated:

1. In order for the developer to understand what changes to his overall design need to be made as of right, he needs to receive the comments from the Planning department. Can you advise when you’d be providing the next round to the developer?

2. We have heard many times that the development will be serviced from Queen and that this is why the laneway construction is being allowed. There is some confusion on our part as to how emergency services will be accessing the rear construction off of Queen as there is no vehicular access from Queen.

3. At the last meeting on Wednesday evening, a question was raised as to whether the Co-op at 1327 Queen East was subject to a residential or commercial taxation rate. We would like clarity on that matter as it possibly could impact rental replacement unit count.

4. After the Working Group meeting on September 22 we submitted a number of concerns that also need to be answered:

a) The building remains incompatible with the city’s own guidelines, how is this going to be addressed.

b) The height at 25.8 metres is still over the maximum allowed of 14m for this area and is also well over the 20 metres for both the Beach area and the Leslieville and Mid-Rise guidelines (which do not apply for this area). Does the city intend to enforce its height restrictions with regard to this precedent setting development.

c) What is the city’s stance on the requested density for this project which is more than twice that allowed.

We would also like to iterate the feeling that an additional public meeting for the community is essential so that they can have the opportunity to see the revised drawings of the development well before the obligatory TEYCC meeting.


They have acknowledged this email and have said that they will be getting back to us on these matters.

This process feels long and frustrating but none-the-less it is a process and it will eventually help make a difference with this development and ultimately for this community. We will post any replies received as soon as available and any other information that we glean.


Victoria Dinnick -
for the ETCC Steering Committee



mh

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Agenda for Working Group Meeting #4 - Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Working group meeting #4 is on tomorrow night - Wednesday, November 5, 2014 - at S.H. Armstrong Community Centre, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm.

Senior Planner, Leontine Major sent out this agenda today via email:

1327 to 1339 Queen Street East Working Group

Agenda
Meeting #4:
Date: November 5, 2014
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Location: SH Armstrong Community Centre, 56 Woodfield Road


Agenda:
1. Review of Meeting Notes from September 22, 2014 meeting .......... 6:30
2. Update on Area Study ....................................................... 6:35
3. Update on Heritage .......................................................... 6:40
4. Break-out Table Discussion ................................................. 6:45
5. Group Discussion ............................................................. 7:45
6. Next Steps .................................................................... 8:20
7. Wrap up of tonight's meeting .............................................. 8:25



See Related:

City of Toronto Planning Division | Urban Design Section | 1327-1339 Queen Street East Development Application Review | Urban Design Comments, Planner, Shawna Bowan - August 8 2014:

East Toronto Community Coalition | 1327-1339 Queen St E Development Application Review - Urban Design Comments, August 8 2014 | http://easttorontocommunity.blogspot.ca/2014/11/1327-1339-queen-st-e-development.html



mh

1327-1339 Queen St E Development Application Review - Urban Design Comments, August 8 2014

These are screen shots of the .PDF from City Planning dated August 8, 2014 - published without prejudice to the final outcome of the ongoing process.

They speak to many of the concerns brought forward by the community and the working group.

City of Toronto Planning Division | Urban Design Section | 1327-1339 Queen Street East Development Application Review | Urban Design Comments by Planner, Shawna Bowan - August 8 2014


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