Public Notice

IN THE MATTER OF THE ONTARIO HERITAGE ACT

R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER O.18 AND

CITY OF TORONTO, PROVINCE OF ONTARIO

80 – 86 LYNN WILLIAMS STREET

NOTICE OF INTENTION TO DESIGNATE THE PROPERTY

TAKE NOTICE that Council for the City of Toronto intends to designate the property, including the lands, buildings and structures thereon known municipally as 80-86 Lynn Williams Street under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.O.18, as amended, as a property of cultural heritage value or interest.

Reasons for Designation

The property at 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street (including the structure address of 130 East Liberty Street), is worthy of designation under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for its cultural value and meets Regulation 9/06, the provincial criteria prescribed for municipal designation under the categories of design/physical, historical/ associative and contextual value.

Description

The property at 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street (including the structure address of 130 East Liberty Street), also known as the A. R. Williams Machinery Company Warehouse, is located in Toronto's Liberty Village neighbourhood, on the north side of Lynn Williams Street, mid-block between Hanna Avenue and Western Battery Road. The property contains a 59-metre-long, brick warehouse building constructed in 1928-29 with a two-storey central mass flanked by one-storey wings. The south half of the building was renovated for office use in 2005, while the northerly portion is unused. The property is part of a concentration of listed and designated industrial heritage buildings within the Liberty Village vicinity and included on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register.

Statement of Cultural Heritage Value

The property at 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street has historical, associative and contextual value for being directly associated with the industrial activity which historically defined the Liberty Village area throughout most of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Liberty Village was one of the primary industrial areas in Toronto from the 1870s until the last decades of the 1900s.

The A. R. Williams Manufacturing Warehouse contributed to this industrial activity serving as a machinery warehouse for the company from 1929 until about 1946. It likely served the company in a manufacturing capacity as well. By 1943 the west wing was being used by other companies as a welding shop and by 1948 the property had become the Liberty Storage Warehouse and operated in this capacity into the 1960s.

The 1928-29, A. R. Williams Machinery Company Warehouse has design and physical value for being representative of a warehouse building typology of the period. It is a 59-metre-long, rectangular, brick structure typical of manufacturing warehouses which were constructed at the time. The building features two-storey central massing flanked by one-storey wings on the east and west sides. Defining features of the building include its bands of clerestory windows on the second-storey east and west walls. A 10-ton travelling crane traversed the central portion of the building. The interior features exposed steel column with cross braces which support the structure and crane runway, as well as an open ceiling with steel trusses.

It is likely that the building was designed for factory use in addition to warehouse use. The clearstory windows allow for significant light infiltration suggesting a manufacturing purpose, in addition to other supporting evidence and research. 

The A. R. Williams Warehouse has historic value as it yields information about the historical institutional character and uses of the Liberty Village area and specifically the former Central Prison for Men. The east wall of the warehouse wing is one of only two physical remnants - along with the former prison Chapel (1877), a block to the southeast on East Liberty Street - to recall the presence of the former prison at the site from 1873-1915. The east wall of the warehouse is the remnant party wall of an abutting two-story, former prison building constructed c.1890-1893 and used as a woodworking and iron-styling shop.

The A. R. Williams warehouse is historically linked to the area's industrial heritage and anchors the eastern portion of Liberty Village, an area which is defined by warehouse buildings and industrial complexes. The form, scale, materials of the warehouse typology further define, maintain and support the character of the area.

Heritage Attributes

Design or Physical Value

Attributes that contribute to the value of the property at 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street

being a representative example of an early Nineteenth Century warehouse type building includes:

Exterior features of the warehouse:

• The form, scale and massing comprising a two-storey, gable roof central mass with flanking one-storey, flat-roof extensions (wings)
• The multi-pane clerestory windows forming the east and west facades of the second storey
• The fenestration, including doorway openings, and the multi-pane profile of the window sashes
• The brick cladding and construction materials; the rough-dressed stone window sills
• The ghost signage of the north and south gables showing "A. R. Williams Machinery Co. Liberty Street Plant"
• Four skylights (two per each one-storey wing)

Interior features of the warehouse:

• The steel structural framework including vertical supports and steel roof trusses
• The travelling crane and its structural framework

Historic and Associative Value

Attributes that contribute to the value of the property at 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street for having direct associations with the industrial activity that is significant to the Liberty Village area includes:

• The industrial character of the property as found in its design and physical features

Attributes that contribute to the value of the property at 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street for yielding information that contributes to an understanding of the early institutional character and function of the Liberty Village area includes:

• The remnant brick party wall of the former Central Prison building (c, 1890-1893) which abutted the warehouse helping to form the east wall and east corner or the south wall of the warehouse

Contextual Value

Attributes that contribute to the contextual value of the property at 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street as being functionally and historically linked to its surroundings:

• The warehouse building typology and other design and physical features in contribution to the historic industrial character of Liberty Village

Attributes that contribute to the contextual value of the property at 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street as defining, supporting and maintaining the historic character of the area:

• The building's contribution to the concentration of other industrial heritage buildings in the area

Notice of Objection to the Notice of Intention to Designate

Notice of an objection to the Notice of Intention to Designate the Property may be served on the City Clerk, Attention: Registrar Secretariat, City Clerk's Office, Toronto City Hall, 2nd Floor West, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 2N2; Email: RegistrarCCO@toronto.ca within thirty (30) days of March 26, 2024, which is April 25, 2024. The notice of objection to the Notice of Intention to Designate the Property must set out the reason(s) for the objection and all relevant facts.

Getting Additional Information:

Further information in respect of the Notice of Intention to Designate the Property is available from the City of Toronto at:

https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2024.PH10.7