IN THE MATTER OF THE ONTARIO
HERITAGE ACT
R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER O.18 AND
CITY OF TORONTO, PROVINCE OF ONTARIO
81 ISABELLA 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 81 Isabella 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 81 Isabella Street (including
entrance address at 83 Isabella Street) is worthy of designation under Part IV,
Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for its cultural heritage value and
meets Regulation 9/06, the provincial criteria prescribed for municipal
designation.
Description
The "Merlan Apartments", located at 81
Isabella Street (including entrance address 83 Isabella Street), is situated on
the south side of Isabella Street between Church Street and Jarvis Street in
the Church-Wellesley Village neighbourhood. The two-storey with raised
basement, flat-roof, long narrow courtyard, “U”-shaped building with basement
was constructed in 1927 and designed in the Period Revival style with Edwardian
influences. The property continues to serve its original use as a multi-unit
residential building.
Statement of Cultural
Heritage Value
The property at 81 Isabella has design and
physical value as a representative example of a 1927 apartment building
constructed in the Period Revival style with Edwardian influences.
Characteristic of the style, the building's principal (north) elevations are
symmetrically arranged containing two wings detailed with ornamented window and
door openings. The principal (north) elevations of the wings have a dignified
rusticated base, which follows with rugg brick, a quoined section located at
the first and second storeys, then topped by a cornice and brick parapet
(currently overclad with flashing). Other defining classical elements include
the twin main entrance doorway surrounds with their pilasters and entablatures,
a limestone belt course that separates the ground floor from the upper levels,
and limestone block quoining defining the outer perimeter of the twin principal
(north) elevations.
The property has historical value for recalling
the socio-economic and development history of the Church-Wellesley Village,
surviving as a part of a collection of remaining apartment residences in the
area. The property serves as defining a role in the historic transition of the
Church-Wellesley Village neighbourhood in the first few decades of the
20th-century from an area of single-family residences to a zone containing a
concentration of nearly forty extant apartment houses between Bay, Bloor,
Carlton, and Sherbourne Streets. Due to the area's proximity to downtown, it
was one of the first areas of the city to be redeveloped into an area dominated
by apartment buildings. By the mid-1900s, many early 20th-century house-form
buildings in the area had become rentals, boarding houses, and some were
replaced by apartment buildings, attracting single people who would come to
define the demographic make-up of the Church-Wellesley Village.
The property is also valued for its association
with the architect Norman Alexander Armstrong, who designed the Period Revival
style building with Edwardian influences. Armstrong started his architecture
firm in 1919 and completed a variety of projects that included apartment
buildings, commercial and retail operations, and single-family residences. The
Merlan Apartments at 81 Isabella Street represents one of his first designs in
the multi-residential walk-up apartment typology. Armstrong subsequently designed
the Mayfair Apartments (1928), the Haddon Hall Apartments (1928), and the St.
Edmunds Apartments (1929-1930).
Contextually, the Church-Wellesley Village
contains a significant number of early 20th-century apartment houses leading to
a distinct and notable concentration of nearly forty buildings in this typology
between Bay, Bloor, Carlton, and Sherbourne Streets. The majority of these
apartments, generally six storeys or less in height, were developed in the
1920s and early 1930s. On Isabella Street, between Church and Sherbourne
Streets, the Merlan Apartments is adjacent to the Aughisto Apartments (built
1917) at 72 Isabella Street, and the Isabella Arms Apartments (built 1926) at
96 Isabella Street that exemplify the concentration of early-20th-century
apartment buildings in the Church- Wellesley Village area.
Heritage Attributes
Design and Physical Value
The following heritage attributes contribute to
the cultural heritage value of the property at 81 Isabella Street as a
representative example of the Period Revival style with Edwardian influences:
·
The form, scale, and
“U”-shaped building
·
The decorative
masonry details on the principal (north) elevations including limestone
surrounds, pilasters, entablatures with dentils and cornices surrounding door
openings; limestone key jambs, bracketed sills and bold lintels with cornices
surrounding window openings; limestone belt course; limestone quoins
·
The flat-roof
profile, cornice (currently over-clad with flashing), and brick parapet
·
The fenestration
comprising symmetrically arranged rectangular window openings on the principal
(north) elevations
·
The fenestration
comprising symmetrically arranged segmental arch window openings with brick
voussoirs on the flanking elevations
·
The main entrances on
the twin principal (north) elevations, which are placed in stone surrounds with
classical detailing that includes an entablature containing “The Merlan” text adorned directly above
with dentils and a deep cornice, including also the doorways’ assemblies of
leaded sidelights with wood-panelled base and glazed and leaded wood panel door
Contextual Value
The following heritage attributes contribute to
the cultural heritage value of the property at 81 Isabella Street as helping to
define, maintain, and support the historic early 20th-century character of its
context:
·
The building's
setback, placement, and orientation on Isabella Street between Church and
Jarvis Streets in the Church-Wellesley Village neighbourhood
·
The building's form,
scale, and “U”-shaped massing
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 July 28, 2025, which is August 27, 2025. 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=2025.CC32.24.
Dated at the City of Toronto on July 28, 2025.
John D. Elvidge
City Clerk