IN THE MATTER
OF THE ONTARIO HERITAGE ACT
R.S.O. 1990,
CHAPTER 0.18 AND
CITY OF
TORONTO, PROVINCE OF ONTARIO
226 ST. GEORGE STREET
NOTICE OF
INTENTION TO DESIGNATE
Take
notice that Toronto City Council intends to designate the lands and buildings
known municipally as 226 St. George Street under Part IV, Section 29 of the
Ontario Heritage Act.
Reasons for Designation
The
property at 226 St. George 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 Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act under all
three categories of design, associative and contextual value.
Description
Located
on the west side of St. George Street south of Bernard Avenue in The Annex
neighbourhood, the George Gooderham Mitchell House (1903) is a 2.5-storey brick
and stone house form building designed by the architect David Roberts Jr. for
George Gooderham Mitchell and subsequently used as a vocational school by
various groups affiliated with the Roman Catholic faith. The property was
listed on the City of Toronto Inventory of Heritage Properties (now known as
the Heritage Register) in July 1976.
Statement of Significance
The
property at 226 St. George Street has cultural heritage value as a fine
representative example of Queen Anne Revival styling applied to a large house
form building in the first decade of the twentieth century. The style,
identified by the variety of materials and decorative detailing, asymmetrical
profile and complicated roof lines, represented the exuberant architecture of
the late Victorian era. The George Gooderham Mitchell House is noteworthy for its attractive combination of forms, massing
and stonework.
The
George Gooderham Mitchell House is valued for its associations with a member of
Toronto's prominent Gooderham family, which co-founded the famed Gooderham and
Worts Distillery (now the Distillery District).
The property was developed and initially occupied by stockbroker George
Gooderham Mitchell, grandson of George Gooderham.
The
property at 226 St. George Street is also valued for its association with the
architect David Roberts, Jr., who had extensive connections to the Gooderham
family. Roberts oversaw much of the work
at the Gooderham and Worts Distillery (including the reconstruction of several
buildings after the 1870 fire) and designed the landmark Gooderham Building at
Wellington and Front Streets (completed in 1892 and known locally as the
"Flat-Iron Building"). He also
prepared plans for the residences of various Gooderham family members, with the
grand George Gooderham House (dating to 1889-91 and currently the York Club) at
the northeast corner of St. George and Bloor Streets being among his best known
commissions.
Contextually,
the property at 226 St. George Street has cultural heritage value for its
visual and historical links to its setting in The Annex neighbourhood. Its appearance reflects the late-nineteenth
to early-twentieth century development of the area as one of the most
sought-after residential enclaves in Toronto where the city's leading citizens
occupied large-scale houses. The George
Gooderham Mitchell House is significant in context with the three additional
large Edwardian homes directly to the north, and other surviving house form
buildings along St. George Street that were originally owned by members of the
Gooderham family and/or designed by prominent Toronto architects and recognized
on the City’s Heritage Register.
Heritage Attributes
The
heritage attributes of the George Gooderham Mitchell House at 226 St. George
Street are:
·
The
setback, placement and orientation of the building on its lot on the west side
of St. George Street south of Bernard Avenue
·
The
scale, form and massing of the 2.5-storey plan above a raised basement
·
The
materials, with the red brick cladding and the stone and wood detailing
·
The
combination of hipped and gabled roofs including the oversized gable on the
principal (east) elevation with its two symmetrically-arranged openings with
double-hung sash windows, the gabled dormer windows and the brick chimneys, all
on the north and south slopes
·
The
deep profile of the eaves at the roofline on the principal (east) and north
elevations and corner tower with the wood soffits, moulded fascia and
decorative brackets
·
The
principal (east) elevation, which is organized into three bays plus 2.5-storey
corner tower at the south end, a 2-storey bay window in the north bay and the
centrally-positioned main entrance
·
The
main entry located on the principal (east) elevation, which is elevated and
protected by a flat-roofed porch with banded stone detailing on the columns and
surmounted by a brick parapet
·
At the
southeast corner, the 2.5-storey octagonal corner tower with its conical roof
topped with a decorative metal finial
·
On the
south side, the single-storey, rectangular, projecting bay with its arched
parapet roofline and rectangular end walls
·
On the
east, north and south sides, the fenestration with the stone detailing that
incorporates broad flat-headed openings, double-hung sash windows, and a single
fixed pane window in the central opening of the first-floor bay window at the
north end of the principal (east) elevation
·
On the
north and south sides, the round-arched openings and their round-arched stone
headers in the gabled dormers
·
The
decorative glass transom above each window opening at the first-floor level on
the principal (east) elevation including on the corner tower
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 April 2,
2019, which is May 2, 2019. The notice of objection must set out the reason(s)
for the objection, and all relevant facts.
Dated
at Toronto this 2nd day of April, 2019
Ulli
S. Watkiss
City Clerk