Item - 2025.PB26.3

The Toronto Preservation Board recommends that:

1. City Council include 1778, 1908 (including entrance addresses 1910 Bloor Street West and 8 High Park Avenue), 1914, 1920, and 1926 Bloor Street West on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register in accordance with the Listing Statements (Reasons for Inclusion) attached as Attachments 1 to 5 to the report, December 13, 2024, from the Senior Manager, Heritage Planning, Urban Design, City Planning.

Gary Miedema, Project Manager, Policy and Research, Urban Design, City Planning gave a presentation on 1778, 1908, 1914, 1920, and 1926 Bloor Street West - Inclusion on the Heritage Register.

This report recommends that City Council include 1778, 1908 (including entrance addresses 1910 Bloor Street West and 8 High Park Avenue), 1914, 1920, and 1926 Bloor Street West on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register for their cultural heritage value and interest according to the Listing Statements (Reasons for Inclusion) found in Attachments 1 to 5.

The subject properties are located in the High Park North neighbourhood. The property at 1778 Bloor Street West is located on the northeast corner of Bloor Street West and Mountview Avenue. The properties at 1908, 1914, 1920, and 1926 Bloor Street West are located on the north side of Bloor Street West between High Park Avenue to the east and Quebec Avenue to the west. All five properties were constructed between circa 1927 and 1930 and contain early-20th century walk-up apartment buildings The four adjacent subject properties located at 1908, 1914, 1920, and 1926 were all constructed for local builders John. M. Cummings and Robert C. R. Cummings. The Cummings brothers commissioned well-known Toronto architect, Frank S. Mallory, to design the building at 1908 Bloor Street West situated at the corner of High Park Avenue.

The properties were identified as having potential heritage value through the Bloor Street West Heritage Conservation District Study and as contributing to the character of the portion of Bloor Street West which fronts onto High Park through the Bloor West Village Avenue Study.  A location map and current photograph of each heritage property is found in Attachments 1 to 5.

The properties recommended for inclusion on the City’s Heritage Register have been researched and evaluated by staff using the criteria prescribed in Ontario Regulation 9/06 and meet one or more of the provincial criteria for determining cultural heritage value or interest and are believed to be of cultural heritage value or interest.

Under the Ontario Heritage Act (the Act), 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 limits listing to a period of two years.

The Act requires that, 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 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.