Item - 2020.PB16.6

The Toronto Preservation Board recommends to the Toronto and East York Community Council that:

1. City Council include the property at 661 Huron Street on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register and state its intention to designate the property under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act in accordance with the Statement of Significance.

2. City Council include the property at 663-665 Huron Street on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register and state its intention to designate the property under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act in accordance with the Statement of Significance.

3. If there are no objections to the designation in accordance with the Ontario Heritage Act, City Council authorize the City Solicitor to introduce the necessary bill in Council. 

4. If there are objections in accordance with the Ontario Heritage Act, City Council direct the City Clerk to refer the proposed designation to the Conservation Review Board.

5. If the designation is referred to the Conservation Review Board, City Council authorize the City Solicitor and appropriate staff to attend any hearing held by the Conservation Review Board in support of Council's decision to designate the property.

This report recommends that City Council include the properties at 661 and 663-665 Huron Street on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register and state its intention to designate the properties under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for their cultural heritage value.   

Located on the east side of Huron Street, south of Dupont Street in The Annex neighbourhood, the properties contain two house-form buildings completed between 1890-1891 that were originally single-family dwellings and now used as multi-unit residential buildings. Both properties have cultural heritage value as fine examples of eclecticism in Late Victorian Era architecture in Toronto, combining elements of Richardsonian Romanesque with the Queen Anne Revival style. Contextually, the properties at 661 and 663-665 Huron Street are historically and visually linked to their setting on the east side of Huron Street between Dupont Street and Bernard Avenue where, along with a number of other grand Late-Victorian-era house-form buildings recognized on the City’s Heritage Register,[1] and adjacent to the Madison Avenue Heritage Conservation District, they recall the late-nineteenth to early-twentieth century period when The Annex neighbourhood emerged as a sought-after residential enclave for many of Toronto's leading citizens.

The properties at 661-665 Huron Street are located within the proposed West Annex Phase 2 Heritage Conservation District (HCD) Study Area authorized by City Council on January 31, 2018.  In spring 2020, the property at 661 Huron Street was nominated for cultural heritage evaluation by members of The Annex Residents’ Association and the British Home Children Advocacy & Research Association.

Following research and evaluation, it has been determined that the properties at 661 and 663-665 Huron Street meet Ontario Regulation 9/06, the provincial criteria prescribed for municipal designation under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act.

The Province and the City's policies seek the conservation of cultural heritage resources. Designation supports conservation as it enables City Council to review alterations to the site, enforce heritage property standards and maintenance, and refuse demolition.

On November 22, 2019 a Zoning By-law Amendment and Rental Housing Demolition applications were submitted to permit a four-storey apartment building, with 48 residential units, which would require demolition of the existing multi-unit, house-form dwellings. As the application review is ongoing, City staff will have the opportunity share Council's decision with the property owners to inform revisions of these applications.