Item - 2022.PB35.1

The Toronto Preservation Board recommends that:  

1. City Council state its intention to designate the property at 79 Granby Street under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act, in accordance with the Statement of Significance attached as Attachment 3 to the report (May 24, 2022) from the Senior Manager, Heritage Planning, Urban Design, City Planning.

2. City Council state its intention to designate the property at 81 Granby Street under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act, in accordance with the Statement of Significance attached as Attachment 3 to the report (May 24, 2022) from the Senior Manager, Heritage Planning, Urban Design, City Planning.

3.  If there are no objections to the designation, City Council authorize the City Solicitor to introduce the Bill in Council designating the property under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act.

This report recommends that City Council state its intention to designate the properties at 79 and 81 Granby Street under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for their cultural heritage value. 

Located on the south side of Granby Street, between Church and Yonge Streets, the two, semi-detached residential properties at 79 and 81 Granby Street were built in 1891. The pair is a representative example of semi-detached Victorian-era dwellings designed in the Bay-and-Gable architectural style.

Understood together with the adjacent designated heritage properties at 414-418 Church Street, the semi-detached dwellings at 79 and 81 Granby Street form part of a collection of five Victorian-era buildings that were completed in 1891 by the same original owner, local merchant and real estate developer Robert Kidney.

The properties at 79 and 81 Granby Street also comprise part of a broader collection of surviving representative examples of an early period of land development in the

McGill-Granby community that continues to define and maintain remaining portions of late-19th century streetscapes today, including the adjacent heritage properties at 77 Granby Street (1884) and 76-84 McGill Street (1889).

The properties at 79 and 81 Granby Street were listed together on the City’s Heritage Register on June 8, 2021. 

Heritage Planning staff have undertaken research and evaluation and determined that the two subject properties meet Ontario Regulation 9/06, the criteria prescribed for municipal designation under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act under all three categories of design, associative and contextual values. As such, the properties are significant built heritage resources.

In June 2019, the More Homes, More Choice Act, 2019 (Bill 108) received Royal Assent. Schedule 11 of this Act included amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act. The Bill 108 Amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act came into force on July 1, 2021, which included a shift in Part IV designations related to certain Planning Act applications. Section 29(1.2) of the Ontario Heritage Act now restricts City Council's ability to give notice of its intention to designate a property under the Act to within 90 days after the City Clerk gives notice of a complete application.

On March 18, 2021 the City received an application to amend the zoning by-law to permit the redevelopment of the site with a 39-storey mixed-use building that includes the creation of 319 purpose-built rental units. The existing heritage buildings at 79-81 Granby Street are proposed to be demolished. A Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) completed by GBCA and dated October 13, 2021 was submitted to support the application. Two earlier versions of the HIA were submitted March 11, 2021 and June 11, 2021.

The development application currently under review was deemed complete following the new legislation coming into force. This Notice of Intention to Designate report must be considered by City Council before July 29, 2022.

Designation under the Ontario Heritage Act enables City Council to review proposed alterations for the properties, enforce heritage property standards and maintenance, and refuse demolition.