Item - 2025.PB34.1

The Toronto Preservation Board recommends that:

1. City Council state its intention to designate the properties at 207, 209, 211, and 213 Jarvis Street under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act in accordance with the Statement of Significance for 207, 209, 211, and 213 Jarvis Street (Reasons for Designation) attached as Attachment 1 to the report (July 3, 2025) from the Senior Manager, Heritage Planning, Urban Design, City Planning.

2. City Council state its intention to designate the properties at 215, 217, and 219 Jarvis Street under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act in accordance with the Statement of Significance for 215, 217, and 219 Jarvis Street (Reasons for Designation) attached as Attachment 2 to the report (July 3, 2025) from the Senior Manager, Heritage Planning, Urban Design, City Planning.

3.  If there are no objections to the designations, City Council authorize the City Solicitor to introduce the Bills in Council designating each of the properties under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act.

Emma Doedens, Heritage Planner, Heritage Planning, Urban Design, City Planning gave a presentation on 207, 209, 211, 213, 215, 217, and 219 Jarvis Street - Notice of Intention to Designate Properties under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act.

This report recommends that City Council state its intention to designate the properties at 207, 209, 211, 213, 215, 217, and 219 Jarvis Street under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for their cultural heritage value according to the Statements of Significance, which include a description of heritage attributes for each property in Attachments 1 and 2 to this report.

The subject properties at 207, 209, 211, 213, 215, 217, and 219 Jarvis Street are located on the east side of Jarvis Street, near the northeast corner of Jarvis Street and Shuter Street, in the Moss Park neighbourhood. Location maps and current photographs of the heritage properties are found in Attachment 3.

The properties contain two contiguous, multi-unit residential buildings. Constructed in 1863, 215-219 Jarvis Street is a three-storey terrace comprised of three identical dwellings designed in the Italianate Revival style. The property is a rare surviving example of the terrace building type designed for the middle-class within the City of Toronto. The properties at 207-213 Jarvis Street contain a residential block comprised of four townhouses constructed in 1879 and designed in the Second Empire Revival style. Collectively, the subject properties represent part of the initial subdivision of Park Lot 6 around 1846, which created Jarvis Street to the designs of John Howard. John George Howard (1803 - 1890), the official surveyor and civil engineer for the City of Toronto, designed a plan that called for narrow lots at the southern portions of the Jarvis Street subdivision, which catered to middle-class development, in contrast to the larger lots reserved for grand residences to the north. Together the properties form a historic, mid-nineteenth century streetwall on the east side of Jarvis Street and are the only buildings contemporaneous to that period remaining within the immediate streetscape context.

All seven subject properties were listed on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register on November 21, 1977.

207, 209, 211, 213, 215, 217, and 219 Jarvis Street have been identified as candidates for designation through the City's implementation of Bill 23 amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act and the strategy for Listed Properties that must be either designated or removed from the Register by January 1, 2027.

Part of the strategy for the review of the Listed Properties on the Heritage Register includes the procurement of qualified heritage consultants to research, evaluate, and prepare heritage evaluation reports for a subset of Listed Properties prioritized for designation. For the purpose of this report, the City Planning Division retained Alex Corey Heritage Consulting (the Consultant) to research and evaluate a collection of 15 Listed house-form buildings fronting onto Jarvis Street (see 'Jarvis Street Heritage Evaluations' map in Attachment 3) and if one or more properties met the provincial criteria for individual designation under Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act, to then prepare heritage evaluation reports and recommendations for such properties as appropriate. The Consultant evaluated the properties subject of this report and determined that they meet or exceed the provincial criteria.

The Consultant's research of the subject properties is contained in Attachment 4 of this report. The research, analysis, and evaluations within Attachment 4 reflect the Consultant's professional expertise and opinions. Staff have reviewed the Consultant's research and heritage evaluations and concur with the determination that the properties at 207, 209, 211, 213, 215, 217, and 219 Jarvis Street have cultural heritage value and each meet two or more of the Ontario Regulation 9/06 criteria prescribed for municipal designation under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act. A property may be designated under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act, if it meets two or more of the nine criteria. 

Designation enables City Council to review proposed alterations or demolitions to the property and enforce heritage property standards and maintenance.