Item - 2025.NY24.9

North York Community Council recommends that:

1. City Council include 36 Green Valley Road on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register in accordance with the Listing Statement (Reasons for Inclusion) attached as Attachment 1 to the report (May 12, 2025) from the Senior Manager, Heritage Planning, Urban Design, City Planning.

This report recommends that City Council include 36 Green Valley Road on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register for its cultural heritage value and interest according to the Listing Statement (Reasons for Inclusion) found in Attachment 1.

The subject property at 36 Green Valley Road is located in the Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills neighbourhood on the east side of Green Valley Road where it terminates at the northern boundary of the Rosedale Golf Club. It contains a one-storey detached, Mid-Century Modern house-form building. A location map and current photograph of the heritage property are found in Attachment 2.

The property at 36 Green Valley Road was constructed in 1960 as the family home of Rosalie Wise Sharp and Isadore Sharp, the founder of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. The house was designed by prominent architect Peter Dickinson, whose portfolio includes Meridian Hall, formerly the O’Keefe Centre (1 Front Street East), 111 Richmond Street, The Benvenuto Apartments (1 Benvenuto Place), and the Queen Elizabeth Building at the Canadian National Exhibition (2 Strachan Avenue), which are designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. Peter Dickinson also designed the Four Seasons Motor Hotel (415 Jarvis Street) and the Inn on the Park (both demolished) that launched Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. The property at 36 Green Valley Road is the only surviving house designed by Peter Dickinson in Toronto.

The property has been researched and evaluated by staff using the criteria prescribed in Ontario Regulation 9/06 and meets one or more of the provincial criteria for determining cultural heritage value or interest and is believed to be of cultural heritage value or interest that merits inclusion on the City’s Heritage Register.
 

On January 1, 2023, amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act (the Act) through the More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 (Bill 23) came into effect. Under the Act, as amended, a municipal heritage register may include properties that have not been designated but Council believes to be of “cultural heritage value or interest", and that meet one or more of the provincial criteria for determining whether they are of cultural heritage value or interest. The Act now also limits listing to a period of two years.

As of January 1, 2023, should a property be subject to an Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment and / or Draft Plan of Subdivision Application, properties must be listed on the heritage register prior to Part IV designation and before the occurrence of a prescribed event. A prescribed event is a point of time when the application for an Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment and / or Draft Plan of Subdivision Application has been deemed complete and the City Clerk provides notice of that complete application to the public in accordance with the Planning Act. 

The listing of non-designated properties on the municipal heritage register under the Act also extends interim protection from demolition and provides an opportunity for City Council to determine whether the property warrants conservation through designation under the Act should a development or demolition application be submitted.

Properties on the Heritage Register will be conserved and maintained in accordance with the Official Plan Heritage Policies. Heritage Impact Assessments (HIA) are required for development applications that affect listed properties.

At its meeting on May 14, 2025 the Toronto Preservation Board considered Item PB31.2 and made recommendations to City Council.

Summary from the report (May 12, 2025) from the Senior Manager, Heritage Planning, Urban Design, City Planning:
 

This report recommends that City Council include 36 Green Valley Road on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register for its cultural heritage value and interest according to the Listing Statement (Reasons for Inclusion) found in Attachment 1.

The subject property at 36 Green Valley Road is located in the Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills neighbourhood on the east side of Green Valley Road where it terminates at the northern boundary of the Rosedale Golf Club. It contains a one-storey detached, Mid-Century Modern house-form building. A location map and current photograph of the heritage property are found in Attachment 2.

The property at 36 Green Valley Road was constructed in 1960 as the family home of Rosalie Wise Sharp and Isadore Sharp, the founder of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. The house was designed by prominent architect Peter Dickinson, whose portfolio includes Meridian Hall, formerly the O’Keefe Centre (1 Front Street East), 111 Richmond Street, The Benvenuto Apartments (1 Benvenuto Place), and the Queen Elizabeth Building at the Canadian National Exhibition (2 Strachan Avenue), which are designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. Peter Dickinson also designed the Four Seasons Motor Hotel (415 Jarvis Street) and the Inn on the Park (both demolished) that launched Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. The property at 36 Green Valley Road is the only surviving house designed by Peter Dickinson in Toronto.

The property has been researched and evaluated by staff using the criteria prescribed in Ontario Regulation 9/06 and meets one or more of the provincial criteria for determining cultural heritage value or interest and is believed to be of cultural heritage value or interest that merits inclusion on the City’s Heritage Register.

On January 1, 2023, amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act (the Act) through the More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 (Bill 23) came into effect. Under the Act, as amended, a municipal heritage register may include properties that have not been designated but Council believes to be of “cultural heritage value or interest", and that meet one or more of the provincial criteria for determining whether they are of cultural heritage value or interest. The Act now also limits listing to a period of two years.

As of January 1, 2023, should a property be subject to an Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment and / or Draft Plan of Subdivision Application, properties must be listed on the heritage register prior to Part IV designation and before the occurrence of a prescribed event. A prescribed event is a point of time when the application for an Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment and / or Draft Plan of Subdivision Application has been deemed complete and the City Clerk provides notice of that complete application to the public in accordance with the Planning Act. 

The listing of non-designated properties on the municipal heritage register under the Act also extends interim protection from demolition and provides an opportunity for City Council to determine whether the property warrants conservation through designation under the Act should a development or demolition application be submitted.

Properties on the Heritage Register will be conserved and maintained in accordance with the Official Plan Heritage Policies. Heritage Impact Assessments (HIA) are required for development applications that affect listed properties.