Notice of intention to designate

616 Yonge Street

Take notice that Toronto City Council intends to designate the lands and buildings known municipally as 616 Yonge Street under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act.

Reasons for Designation

Description
The property at 616 Yonge Street is 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 its cultural heritage value. The property meets the criteria for municipal designation prescribed by the Province of Ontario under the categories of contextual, associative and design value. The commercial building (1885) was commissioned by John Wickson, who also owned the neighbouring properties at 614 and 618 Yonge Street, and was first occupied by druggist John Armstrong.

Statement of Significance
With its location on Yonge Street, the property at 616 Yonge Street contributes 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 John Armstrong is 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 property was 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 property at 616 Yonge Street was originally developed by the mid 1880s as part of a collection of commercial buildings whose appearances reflected the historical character of Yonge Street from Wellesley to Bloor streets.

As constructed, the John Armstrong Building resembled the adjoining 2½-storey gable-roofed commercial structures at 614 and 618 Yonge Street. It had been altered in 1929 for the Toronto Paint Company according to the plans of Toronto architects Kaplan and Sprachman, who designed a new east façade with two additional stories. With the neighbouring buildings to the north and south at 606 to 618 Yonge Street, the John Armstrong Building contributes to the continuous street wall of commercial buildings that share a similar scale, materials and detailing.

Heritage Attributes
The heritage attributes of the John Armstrong Building are:

• The scale, form and massing
• The materials, with brick cladding and brick, stone, wood and glass detailing
• On the east façade, the oversized commercial window opening in the second storey above the first-floor storefront (the original storefront has been altered)
• The location of the property adjoining the commercial buildings on the north and south, which share its setback, alignment of stories, 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