IN THE MATTER OF THE ONTARIO
HERITAGE ACT
R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER O.18 AND
CITY OF TORONTO, PROVINCE OF ONTARIO
80 – 86 LYNN WILLIAMS 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 80-86 Lynn Williams
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 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street
(including the structure address of 130 East Liberty Street), is worthy of
designation under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for its
cultural value and meets 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 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street
(including the structure address of 130 East Liberty Street), also known as the
A. R. Williams Machinery Company Warehouse, is located in
Toronto's Liberty Village neighbourhood, on the north side of Lynn Williams
Street, mid-block between Hanna Avenue and Western Battery Road. The property
contains a 59-metre-long, brick warehouse building constructed in 1928-29 with
a two-storey central mass flanked by one-storey wings. The south half of the
building was renovated for office use in 2005, while the northerly portion is
unused. The property is part of a concentration of listed and designated
industrial heritage buildings within the Liberty Village vicinity and
included on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register.
Statement of Cultural Heritage Value
The property at 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street has
historical, associative and contextual value for being
directly associated with the industrial activity which historically defined the
Liberty Village area throughout most of the late nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. Liberty Village was one of the primary industrial areas in Toronto
from the 1870s until the last decades of the 1900s.
The A. R. Williams Manufacturing Warehouse
contributed to this industrial activity serving as a machinery warehouse for
the company from 1929 until about 1946. It likely served the company in a
manufacturing capacity as well. By 1943 the west wing was being used by other
companies as a welding shop and by 1948 the property had become the Liberty
Storage Warehouse and operated in this capacity into the 1960s.
The 1928-29, A. R. Williams Machinery Company
Warehouse has design and physical value for being representative of a warehouse
building typology of the period. It is a 59-metre-long, rectangular, brick
structure typical of manufacturing warehouses which were constructed at the
time. The building features two-storey central massing flanked by one-storey wings
on the east and west sides. Defining features of the building include its bands
of clerestory windows on the second-storey east and
west walls. A 10-ton travelling crane traversed the central portion of the
building. The interior features exposed steel column with cross braces which
support the structure and crane runway, as well as an open ceiling with steel
trusses.
It is likely that the building was designed for
factory use in addition to warehouse use. The clearstory windows allow for
significant light infiltration suggesting a manufacturing purpose, in addition
to other supporting evidence and research.
The A. R. Williams Warehouse has historic value
as it yields information about the historical institutional character and uses
of the Liberty Village area and specifically the former Central Prison for Men.
The east wall of the warehouse wing is one of only two physical remnants -
along with the former prison Chapel (1877), a block to the southeast on East
Liberty Street - to recall the presence of the former prison at the site from
1873-1915. The east wall of the warehouse is the remnant party wall of an
abutting two-story, former prison building constructed c.1890-1893 and used as
a woodworking and iron-styling shop.
The A. R. Williams warehouse is historically
linked to the area's industrial heritage and anchors the eastern portion of
Liberty Village, an area which is defined by warehouse buildings and industrial
complexes. The form, scale, materials of the warehouse typology further define,
maintain and support the character of the area.
Heritage Attributes
Design or Physical Value
Attributes that contribute to the value of the
property at 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street
being a representative example of an early
Nineteenth Century warehouse type building includes:
Exterior features of the warehouse:
·
The form, scale and
massing comprising a two-storey, gable roof central mass with flanking
one-storey, flat-roof extensions (wings)
·
The multi-pane
clerestory windows forming the east and west facades of the second storey
·
The fenestration,
including doorway openings, and the multi-pane profile of the window sashes
·
The brick cladding
and construction materials; the rough-dressed stone window
sills
·
The ghost signage of
the north and south gables showing "A. R. Williams Machinery Co. Liberty
Street Plant"
·
Four skylights (two
per each one-storey wing)
Interior features of the warehouse:
·
The steel structural
framework including vertical supports and steel roof trusses
·
The travelling crane
and its structural framework
Historic and Associative Value
Attributes that contribute to the value of the
property at 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street for having direct associations with
the industrial activity that is significant to the Liberty Village area
includes:
·
The industrial
character of the property as found in its design and physical features
Attributes that contribute to the value of the
property at 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street for yielding information that
contributes to an understanding of the early institutional character and
function of the Liberty Village area includes:
·
The remnant brick
party wall of the former Central Prison building (c, 1890-1893) which abutted
the warehouse helping to form the east wall and east corner or the south wall
of the warehouse
Contextual Value
Attributes that contribute to the contextual
value of the property at 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street as being functionally and
historically linked to its surroundings:
·
The warehouse
building typology and other design and physical features in contribution to the
historic industrial character of Liberty Village
Attributes that contribute to the contextual
value of the property at 80 - 86 Lynn Williams Street as defining, supporting and maintaining the historic character of the
area:
·
The building's
contribution to the concentration of other industrial heritage buildings in the
area
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:
Registrar 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 (30) days of March 26, 2024, which is April 25, 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=2024.PH10.7
Dated at the City of Toronto on March 26, 2024.
John D. Elvidge
for City Clerk