Notice of intention to designate

606 and 608 Yonge Street

Take notice that Toronto City Council intends to designate the lands and buildings known municipally as 606 and 608 Yonge Street under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act.

Reasons for Designation

Description
The properties at 606 and 608 Yonge Street are worthy of inclusion on the City of Toronto Inventory of Heritage Properties and designation under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for their cultural heritage value. The properties meet the criteria for municipal designation prescribed by the Province of Ontario under the categories of contextual and design value. The three-storey commercial buildings at 606 and 608 Yonge Street (1886) are part of an eight-unit row at 596-612 Yonge commissioned by James and Elmes Henderson and first occupied by James Simpson, a sewing machine agent at #606, and Margaret Howard, who operated a millinery business at #608.

Statement of Significance
With their location on Yonge Street, the properties at 606 and 608 Yonge Street contribute to the character of the street as it evolved from its origins as a military road to become Toronto's most famous commercial thoroughfare. The two units of the Henderson Block are placed on the west side of the street between Wellesley and Bloor, which is one of the remaining areas of Yonge Street that retains its late 19th and early 20th century character as the setting of low-rise commercial structures. Located south of St. Joseph Street, the properties were part of the lands developed in the mid 1800s by John Elmsley Jr. (1801-1863), a prominent provincial politician who established a country estate on a park lot southwest of Yonge and Bloor streets. As a convert to Roman Catholicism, when Elmsley laid out a subdivision with residential, commercial and institutional uses, he named the streets after saints including St. Alban (now Wellesley Street) and St. Joseph. The properties at 606 and 608 Yonge Street were developed by the mid 1880s as part of a collection of two- to three-storey commercial buildings with decorative brickwork and varied roof styles that reflect the historical character of Yonge Street from Wellesley to Bloor streets.

The two units of the Henderson Block at 606 and 608 Yonge Street are representative examples of late 19th century commercial structures with architectural features drawn from the predominant styles of the era. Above the first-floor storefronts, the upper stories of the buildings display Classical detailing, with brick parapets, brackets, piers and corbels. With the neighbouring properties to the north at 610 to 618 Yonge, two units of the Henderson Block at 606 and 608 Yonge Street contribute to a continuous street wall of commercial buildings that share a similar scale, materials and detailing.

Heritage Attributes
The heritage attributes of the Henderson Block at 606 and 608 Yonge Street are:

• The scale, form and massing
• The materials, with brick cladding, and brick, stone, wood and glass detailing
• The three storey plans on brick foundations, where the east façade of each building is divided into two asymmetrical bays above the first-floor storefronts (the original storefronts have been altered)
• The brick parapets with corbelled brick detailing marking the flat rooflines
• The fenestration on the second and third stories, with flat-headed window openings with brick flat arches, continuous stone sills, and corbelled brickwork beneath the central windows in the third floor
• The detailing, with the horizontal division of the second and third floors with string courses, and the vertical division of the upper stories by piers with corbelled brickwork
• The location of the properties adjoining the complementary commercial buildings directly north and south, including the near-identical structures at 610 and 612 Yonge Street, which share their setback, height, alignment of floors, and brick cladding

Notice of an objection to the proposed designation may be served on the City Clerk, Attention: Rosalind Dyers, Administrator, Toronto and East York Community Council, Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen Street West, 2nd floor, Toronto, ON M5H 2N2, within thirty days of the 2nd day of February, 2010, which is March 4, 2010. The notice must set out the reason(s) for the objection, and all relevant facts.

Dated at Toronto this 2nd day of February, 2010.

Ulli S. Watkiss
City Clerk