IN THE MATTER OF THE ONTARIO
HERITAGE ACT
R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER O.18 AND
CITY OF TORONTO, PROVINCE OF
ONTARIO
119 CHURCH 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 119 Church 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 119 Church 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 the categories of
design/physical, historical/associative, and contextual value
Description
The property at 119 Church Street is located on
the east side of Church Street and adjacent to a public laneway, between Queen
Street East and Richmond Street East.
Rising 4-storeys, the Edwardian Classicist commercial/factory building
was completed in c.1910 for George Sparrow & Co., a Toronto-based company
specializing in the design and manufacturing of appliances and equipment for hotel
and industrial kitchens.
Statement of Cultural Heritage Value
Design or Physical Value
The property at 119 Church Street has design and
physical value as a representative example of an early-20th-century
commercial/factory type building with Edwardian Classicist detailing. Characteristic features of this building type
include its narrow, rectangular massing, four-storey volume, flat roofline,
brick cladding, as well as window openings arranged in a grid pattern expressive
of the internal post and beam structure and manufacturing function evident
along the long southern elevation. The Edwardian Classicist style can be seen
on its principal or west elevation in the tripartite organization, symmetrical
arrangement of flat-headed openings, the Indiana limestone detailing,
pilasters, as well as a heavy denticulated metal cornice and a more subdued
denticulated shop metal cornice that wraps around the southwest corner. The
original storefront entrance was recessed and flanked by large storefront
windows. The original design also included a band of transom windows, four
windowpanes above the storefront windows with three above entrance doorway, and the pilasters continued to the base of the
building. The style is further evident on the south elevation in the rhythmic
arrangement of the segmental-arched openings, the stone sills and
triple-layered arched brick detailing above and the pilasters providing an
organizational structure to the window openings.
Historical or Associative Value
The property has value for its association with
George Sparrow who, in 1909, commissioned the architect John Francis Brown to
design a new manufacturing and commercial building for his company George
Sparrow & Company, designers and manufacturers of appliances and equipment for
hotel and industrial kitchens. Formerly located on King Street East, adjacent
to St. James Cathedral at King and Church Streets, the company remained at 119
Church Street for almost 25 years.
The property is also valued for its association
with Henry's Camera, a business in the Canadian photographic industry
established in Toronto in 1909 by Harry Himelstein,
initially as a watch and jewelry business on Yonge Street and evolving into
Canada's largest independent photographic and digital retailer. Henry & Company
purchased 119 Church Street in 1974 to focus exclusively on the photographic
market and rebranded the company as Henry's with its signature orange logo. As
one of Canada's oldest and successful independent camera retailers, Henry's
operated out of this location for 47 years.
The property has further associative value as it
reflects the work of the Toronto-
based architect John Francis Brown (1866-1942),
a leading and prolific architect who practiced for over 50 years and was the
principal figure of three generations of the Brown family of architects. While
140 works have been credited to Brown's practises, he made a particular
contribution to the design of commercial, warehouse and factory buildings
across the City of Toronto such as 469 King Street West for the Dominion Paper
Box Co. (1907), listed on the City's Heritage Register.
Contextual Value
Situated on the east side of Church Street,
immediately south of Queen Street east and adjacent to the historic alleyway
known today as Ditty Lane, the building at 119 Church Street, together with its
adjacent properties at 121 and 123 Church Street, is important in maintaining
and supporting the late 19th and early 20th century commercial character of the
Garden District neighbourhood through its scale, setback, material qualities,
and design features of Edwardian Classical architectural elements which
contribute to a low-rise, fine-grained, streetwall
condition found along this portion of Church Street.
For over 110 years, the Edwardian Classicist
commercial/factory building at 119 Church Street has been physically,
functionally, visually and historically linked to its
surroundings and the commercial, industrial, and institutional character of
Church Street, sharing the same block with the Robertson Brothers manufacturing
complex, designated under Part IV of the OHA and the Metropolitan United
Church at the northwest corner of Church and Queen Streets, also designated
under the OHA.
Heritage Attributes
Design or Physical Value
The following heritage attributes contribute to
the cultural heritage value of the property at 119 Church Street as a
representative example of an early 20th century commercial/factory type
building with Edwardian Classicist detailing:
·
The setback, placement and orientation of the building on its lot on the
east side of Church Street with a laneway on the south side of the building
·
The four-storey
scale, rectangular form and massing, and flat roof
·
The materials
including red brick cladding with stone detailing and metal cornices
·
On the principal
(west) elevation:
·
The tripartite
organization and symmetrical arrangement of window openings and the central
entrance flanked by storefront window openings
·
The flat-headed
window openings with stone sills and lintels with jambs
·
The heavy
denticulated metal cornice above the third storey window openings and the
denticulated shop metal cornice below the second storey window openings, and
their return on the southwest corner
·
The stone string courses
·
On the south
elevation, the first bay on the southwest corner with the return of the
heavy denticulated metal cornice above the third storey window opening and the
denticulated shop metal cornice below the second storey window opening and the
flat-headed window openings with stone sills and lintels with jambs
Contextual Value
The following heritage attributes contribute to
the contextual value of the property at 119 Church Street as it supports the
late-19th and early-20th-century commercial and industrial streetscape of
Church Street:
·
The scale, placement,
setback and orientation of the building on the east
side of Church Street and adjacent to the historic laneway
· The Edwardian Classicist detailing as outlined above and materials
including brick cladding and stone detailing
·
Its location fronting
Church Street with the return of the detailing on the west elevation continued
onto the first bay of the south elevation
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: RegistrarCCO@toronto.ca within thirty days of December 20, 2023, which is January 19, 2024. 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:
https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2023.PH8.20
Dated at the City of Toronto on December 20,
2023.
John D. Elvidge
for City Clerk