IN THE MATTER OF THE ONTARIO
HERITAGE ACT
R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER O.18 AND
CITY OF TORONTO, PROVINCE OF
ONTARIO
1 WEATHERELL STREET
NOTICE OF INTENTION TO DESIGNATE
THE PROPERTY
TAKE NOTICE that Council for the
City of Toronto intends to designate the property, including the lands,
buildings and structures thereon known municipally as 1 Weatherell Street under
Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.O.18, as
amended, as a property of cultural heritage value or interest.
Reasons for Designation
The property at 1 Weatherell Street 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/physical, historical/associative and contextual value.
Description
Anchoring the southwest corner of Weatherell
Street and Armadale Avenue within the Bloor West Village neighbourhood, the
property at 1 Weatherell contains a one-storey bungalow completed in 1923.
Designed by the prolific Toronto-born architect, Henry Simpson (1865-1926), the
Craftsman-style dwelling served as Simpson's private home in the final years of
his life. Simpson's previous private residence designed by the architect
himself and located at 7 Triller Avenue (1912) also employs the Craftsman style
and has been recognized on the City's Heritage Register since 1980.
Statement of Cultural Heritage Value
Physical and Design Value
The property at 1 Weatherell Street is valued as
a representative example of the bungalow building type, clad in red brick and
designed by the architect-owner, Henry Simpson, in the Craftsman style. It
contains defining features of the style including a mid-pitched gable roof with
half-timbering, an asymmetrical design with its covered and arched main
entrance porch opening onto the south and east elevations, wooden brackets and
exposed wooden rafters below the eaves, leaded glass windows and flared, buttress-like
corner columns on the south elevation.
Historical and Associative Value
The property is valued for its association with
Toronto-born architect, Henry Simpson (1865-1926), who was a significant
designer in Toronto through the late 19th and early 20th century, designing
countless buildings for institutional, corporate and private clients. Trained
under E.J. Lennox and having brief partnerships with Charles J. Gibson, James
Ellis and Robert M. Young, he was primarily a sole practitioner. Notable works
by Simpson during his career include Cooke's Church (1891, demolished) where he
was an avid member and the Metallic Roofing Company factory and Beaux-Arts
style showroom (1896), the latter having been designated a National Historic
Site in 1985 and moved from its original location at King and Dufferin Streets
to Atlantic Avenue the following year.
The property at 1 Weatherell was built at the
end of Simpson's career as a practicing architect and is believed to have been
designed for his personal use in retirement, likely reflected in the size and
accessibility of the house and layout. His enjoyment of the house was short
lived as he died at 62 years, three years after the house was built.
The property also yields information that
contributes to the understanding of the historical development and suburban
expansion of Toronto and the residential and commercial growth along Bloor
Street West in the early 20th century, as part of the wave of development that
occurred following the annexation of The Junction to the City of Toronto in
1909. The inclusion of an attached garage in the design of the subject property
signals the suburban context and emerging automobile culture that would come to
define the Bloor West Village area by the mid-20th century.
Contextual Value
The Henry Simpson House defines, maintains, and
supports the early-20th century residential character in the western portion of
Bloor West Village, north of Bloor Street West. The property's early-20th
century date of construction is consistent with the neighbourhood while also
defining itself as a unique, architect-owned and designed dwelling situated on
a corner lot amongst more typical and uniformly-designed subdivision houses.
The property is physically, functionally,
visually and historically linked to its surroundings in the residential area of
Bloor West Village just northwest of the Jane and Bloor intersection where its
Craftsman-style design and detailing at once references and sets it apart from
the other 1920s houses, as well as townhouses and institutional buildings of
later periods on the street. Representing the earliest period of the
subdivision of Registered Plan 1676, its elevated design is an important
component in the built form history and evolution of its immediate neighbourhood.
Heritage Attributes
Design or Physical Value
Attributes that contribute to the value of the
house-form building located at 1 Weatherell Street as being a representative of
the bungalow type in the Craftsman style:
·
The setback,
placement and orientation of the building on its terraced corner lot at the
southwest corner of Weatherell Street and Armadale Avenue
·
The one-storey scale,
form and massing on a rectangular plan with gable roof
·
The materials, with
the red brick cladding and the brick, stone and wood detailing
·
The corbelled brick
chimney surmounted by three clay caps/pots
·
The exposed wooden
rafters below the roof eaves
·
In the north and
south gables, the original half timbering and decorative wooden double brackets
supporting the gable corners
·
The two, flared,
brick buttresses at the north and south ends of the east elevation
·
The arrangement of
the openings with their brick headers and stone sills (flat-headed on the main
floor and segmental-arched at the basement level)
·
The original leaded
glass window pane designs, including the pattern and number of lights per pane
·
The covered, corner
front porch containing the main entrance with its centred arch (north) and
segmental arch opening and stairs (east)
·
The galvanized iron
sheet metal gutters and downspouts, designed by the architect
·
The attached
single-car garage at the south end of the property, with its wooden barn doors
and detailing, each door containing four rectangular window panes
·
The single brick
buttress at the south-east corner of the garage and the adjacent rear house
entrance opening onto the paved driveway
Contextual Value
Attributes that contribute to the value of the
house-form building located at 1 Weatherell Street as defining, supporting and
maintain the historic character of the area and being historically, visually,
functionally and physically linked to its setting:
Notice of Objection to the Notice of Intention to Designate
Notice of an objection to the Notice of
Intention to Designate the Property may be served on the City Clerk, Attention:
Administrator, Secretariat, City Clerk's Office, Toronto City Hall, 2nd Floor
West, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 2N2.; Email: hertpb@toronto.ca within thirty days of October 3, 2022, which is November 2, 2022. The
notice of objection to the Notice of Intention to Designate the Property must
set out the reason(s) for the objection and all relevant facts.
Getting Additional Information:
Further information in respect of the Notice of
Intention to Designate the Property is available from the City of Toronto at:
http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.CC50.11
Dated at the City of Toronto on October 3, 2022.
John D. Elvidge
City Clerk