IN THE MATTER
OF THE ONTARIO HERITAGE ACT
R.S.O. 1990,
CHAPTER 0.18 AND
CITY OF
TORONTO, PROVINCE OF ONTARIO
663 KING STREET WEST
NOTICE
OF INTENTION TO DESIGNATE
Take notice that Toronto City Council intends
to designate the lands and building known municipally as 663 King Street West
under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act.
Canada Biscuit Company
Building
Reasons for Designation
The
property at 663 King Street West is worthy of designation under Part IV,
Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for its cultural heritage value, and
meets Ontario Regulation 9/06, the provincial criteria prescribed for municipal
designation under all three categories of design, associative and contextual
value.
Description:
Located
on the southeast corner of Bathurst Street in the King-Spadina neighbourhood,
the property at 663 King Street West contains a four-storey industrial building
that was constructed in 1900 for the Canada Biscuit Company according to the
designs of Toronto architect A. R. (Arthur Richard) Denison. Following the demise of the latter company in
1905, the complex was acquired by a trio of manufacturers’ agents who headed
the Anglo-Canadian Leather Company, which became the lead tenant in the building. A significant occupant between 1907 and 1921
was the Reliance Knitting Company, which eventually purchased the property
following its amalgamation with another manufacturer. The Samuel Trees Company, a saddlery
manufacturer that evolved its business to produce automobile fittings, owned
and occupied the building for nearly 40 years, a period when the Bank of
Montreal operated a branch on the premises.
The
property at 663 King Street West was listed on the inaugural City of Toronto
Inventory of Heritage Properties (now known as the Heritage Inventory) in
1973. The King-Spadina HCD Plan (2016)
identifies 663 King Street West as a contributing heritage property. Council designated the King-Spadina Heritage
Conservation District (HCD) under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act in October
2017 by By-law 1111-2017, which was amended by By-law 1241-2017. In 2019, the HCD was under appeal.
Statement of Cultural
Heritage Value:
The
property at 663 King Street West has design value as a well-crafted example of
an early-20th century factory in the King-Spadina neighbourhood with
features of Edwardian Classicism, the most popular style for most building
types during this era. The sheer scale
of the building is viewed on Bathurst Street where the west elevation extends
14 bays to Stewart Street, and the principal (north) elevation on King Street
is distinguished by the stone facing of the lower wall and the organization of
the windows above in a three-storey arcade.
The
cultural heritage value of 663 King Street West is also through its contribution
to the development and evolution of the King-Spadina neighbourhood in the early
20th century when the area changed from an institutional and
residential enclave to Toronto’s new manufacturing district following the Great
Fire of 1904. The Canada Biscuit Company
Building anchors a major intersection in King-Spadina where it is an integral
part of the collection of industrial buildings that extends along King Street
West.
The
Canada Biscuit Company Building is also valued for its historical association
with Toronto architect A. R. (Arthur Richard) Denison. A member of one of the city’s founding
families, Denison accepted innumerable commissions during a career that lasted
more than 40 years and included brief partnerships with other
practitioners. During the period in the
early 1900s when he designed the Canada Biscuit Company Building, Denison
specialized in factories and warehouses, including the E. W. Gillett Company’s
complex (1912) on Fraser Street in today’s Liberty Village, which is also recognized
on the City’s Heritage Register.
Contextually,
the value of the property at 663 King Street West is through its support for
the historical character of the King-Spadina neighbourhood where it contributes
to the important collection of former warehouses and factories that changed the
area from its origins as an institutional and residential enclave to Toronto’s
manufacturing sector after the Great Fire of 1904. The Canada Biscuit Company Building is
historically, visually and physically linked to its setting at King Street West
and Bathurst Street where it anchors a major intersection in both King-Spadina
and Toronto with the landmark Wheat Sheaf Tavern (1849) on the opposite
(southwest) corner.
Heritage Attributes
The
heritage attributes of the Canada Biscuit Company Building at 663 King Street
West are:
·
The
placement, setback and orientation of the building on the southeast corner of
Bathurst Street
·
The
scale, form and massing of the four-storey building with the rectangular-shaped
plan above the raised base with the flat-headed window openings
·
The
materials, with the red brick cladding and the brick, stone and wood detailing
·
The
flat roofline with the corbelled brickwork along the north, west and south
elevations
·
The
principal (north) elevation on King Street West with the stone cladding in the
first storey where the main entrance is centered between two oversized
flat-headed window openings and, in the upper three stories, brick arcades
organize the pairs of flat-headed window openings with the continuous stone
lintels and sills
·
The
extended west elevation on Bathurst Street, with the organization and detailing
of the flat-headed door and window openings, some of which have been altered
·
On the west elevation, the cornice between the
third and fourth stories in the southerly seven bays, which marks the point
where the complementary extra storey was added
·
The
rear (south) elevation on Stewart Street extending five bays, which has an
entrance in the first (ground) floor and pairs of flat-headed window openings
above, and where the cornice between the third and fourth stories is continued
from the west elevation
No heritage attributes are identified on the
east elevation. The adjoining
four-storey building at 60 Stewart Street is not identified in the Statement of
Significance (Reasons for Designation).
Notice of an
objection to the proposed designation may be served on the City Clerk,
Attention: Ellen Devlin, Administrator,
Toronto and East York Community Council, Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen Street
West, 2nd floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 2N2, within thirty days of March 13,
2019, which is April 12, 2019. The notice of objection must set out the
reason(s) for the objection, and all relevant facts.
Dated at Toronto this 13th day of March,
2019.
Ulli S. Watkiss
City Clerk