IN THE MATTER OF THE ONTARIO
HERITAGE ACT
R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER O.18 AND
CITY OF TORONTO, PROVINCE OF ONTARIO
180 QUEENS DRIVE
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 180 Queens Drive 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 180 Queens Drive is worthy of
designation under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for their
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 180 Queens Drive contains a
substantial three-storey house designed in the Shingle style in 1911and
historically known as the Oliver Master House. The red-brick house is
distinguished by its multiple, shingle-clad gables, broad verandah, and stone
corner tower. The property is located at the northeast corner of Queens Drive
and Pine Street in the Weston neighbourhood where the house is deeply set back
on its large corner lot.
Statement of Cultural Heritage Value
The property has value for yielding information
that contributes to an understanding of the community's history, being among
the earliest to be constructed in a large area of Weston east of Pine Street,
between King Street and Lawrence Avenue. The property was commissioned for
Oliver Master, a prominent insurance broker, village councillor (1912-13) and
civic leader. Its grand design and context recall local 1856 subdivision plans
calling for much of the core of Weston to develop as suburban estates for villas
and large houses. The property was one of the few to develop in such a way,
thereby representing this aspirational aspect of Weston's history.
Constructed in 1911, the Oliver Master House is
valued as an eclectic composition representative of the Shingle style of
residential architecture that originated in the United States in the 19th
century. Characteristic of the Shingle style, the house is distinguished by its
profile of prominent multiple front gables containing shingle-cladding, a
distinctive gable overhang, its crenelated tower, and broad verandah with
rough-dressed stone detailing. Brick cladding comprises the wall surfaces of
the first storey and the side, and the rear of the house below the cornice.
While sharing similarities with the more common Queen Anne Revival style, the
form and detailing of the subject property aligns with the more uncommon
Shingle style, making the house a rarity for this architectural character.
The property at 180 Queens Drive is one of five
properties in a grouping on Queens Drive and King Street which are visually
linked to their surroundings with their large lots, and/ or large setbacks,
containing grand, early-20th century houses. The other four properties in the
grouping are 190, 200 and 204 Queens Drive and 175 King Street. Together the
houses comprise a visually cohesive grouping with their historical and grand
architectural character and contextual attributes. This contextual character
reflects the ambitious historic development aspirations and subdivision plans
for the community, dating to 1856, historically linking the subject property
and the others to their surroundings.
Heritage Attributes
Design and Physical Value
The following heritage attributes contribute to
the design and physical value of the
property as a representative example of the
Shingle style:
·
The grand
three-storey form, scale and massing of the house (deeply set back on its large
corner lot)
·
rectangular form with
rear two-storey extension (with upper-storey sleeping porch) and rounded tower
(front corner)
·
complex roofline
comprising multiple front and rear gables and cross-gambrel roof and gabled
dormers; hipped roof rear extension (sleeping porch)
·
materials including
red-brick exterior cladding; rough-dressed stone finishes comprising the tower,
the verandah supports, window sills and lintels; wood-shingle cladding of the
gables, dormers, and rear sleeping porch
·
window openings; main
entrance and side (west) doorway openings; the bay and oriel windows; the
stained-glass window sashes of the west oriel window
·
front verandah and
surviving elements of the original wraparound configuration; the open balcony atop the front
verandah
·
bracketed doorway
hood of the side (west) doorway
Historical and Associative Value
The following heritage attributes contribute to
the historical and associative value of the
property for its potential to yield information
about the ambitious historical aspirations for the area comprising large,
suburban estates:
·
The grandness and
architectural design of the house and its placement on its large lot with
substantial street setback
Contextual Value
The following heritage attributes contribute to
the contextual value of the property which is visually and historically linked
to its surroundings:
·
The setback,
placement and orientation of 180 Queens Drive relative to the four adjacent
early-20th century houses at 190, 200 and 204 Queens Drive and 175 King Street
·
The scale, form and
massing of 180 Queens Drive relative to the four adjacent early-20th century
houses at 190, 200 and 204 Queens Drive and 175 King Street
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 May 25, 2026, which is June 24, 2026. 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=2026.CC41.16.
Dated at the City of Toronto on May
25, 2026.
John D. Elvidge
City Clerk