IN THE MATTER OF THE ONTARIO
HERITAGE ACT
R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER O.18 AND
CITY OF TORONTO, PROVINCE OF ONTARIO
339 QUEEN STREET EAST
NOTICE OF PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO
DESIGNATION BY-LAW 715-2017
TAKE NOTICE that Council for the
City of Toronto intends to amend By-law 715-2017 being a by-law designating the
property known municipally as 339 Queen Street East 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, to amend the Reasons for Designation, Heritage
Attributes and Statement of Cultural Heritage Value pursuant to Section 30.1 of
the Ontario Heritage Act.
Proposed Amendment to Designation By-law
The purpose and effect of the
proposed amendment to the designation by-law are as follows:
To amend the Reasons for Designation within the 2017 City of Toronto By-law
715-2017 to include within the property's description reference to the direct
association of the property with Cecil B. Tadman's nearly 50-year ownership of
the property as the Home Furniture Company Limited and to further clarify the property's value
as a representative example of Chicago School style architecture, and to
include the historic post and beam timber frame construction as a heritage
attribute.
339 QUEEN STREET EAST - STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
(REVISED REASONS FOR DESIGNATION)
The property at 339 Queen Street East 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 all three categories of
design, associative and contextual value.
Description
The property at 339 Queen Street East is located
at the south-west corner of Queen Street East and Parliament Street. Built in
1907, with an extension in 1925-1926, the building is a three-storey,
brick-clad store and warehouse, with curtain wall cladding on the first two
storeys of the principal north and east façades. The property continuously
operated as a furniture store for over a century. The property was originally
owned by the Home Furniture Carpet Co. Ltd. from 1907 until 1928 and was sold
to an employee, Cecil B. Tadman, who renamed the business “The Home Furniture
Company Limited.” Both businesses offered store credit to their customers.
Tadman continued to own and operate the store for nearly 50 years until his
death in 1976. The property was then owned and occupied by Marty Millionaire
Ltd. from 1978 until 2014. The rehabilitation of the building was completed in
2017.
Statement of Cultural Heritage Value
The former Home Furniture Carpet Co., Ltd.
building, at 339 Queen Street East, has design value as a fine representative
of the Chicago School which was a dominant architectural style for commercial
buildings between 1895 and 1910 and was a precursor to 20th century steel and
glass skyscrapers. The chief characteristics of the style found at 339 Queen
Street East include the building's structure which is a combination of
load-bearing masonry, timber frame, and steel curtain wall construction. The
1925-1926 extension was faithful in repeating the original style and
architectural detail.
The property is valued for its association with
John Francis Brown, founder of J. F. Brown Co. and subsequently the Home
Furniture Carpet Co., Ltd., a department store business in operation in Toronto
for over 40 years (1885 until 1928) and present at this location starting in
1907. The property is also valued for its association with John Franklin Brown
who extended the building in 1925-6 to create the Home Bowling Club, later
known as the Riverdale Bowling Alleys, which occupied the building extension
for over 50 years. The property is also associated with the Home Furniture
Company Limited, which occupied the property for nearly 50 years (1928-1976).
The property is also associated with Marty Millionaire Ltd., a well-known
furniture sales and rental emporium which provided props to Toronto's film
industry from 1968. This business was located in this building at 339 Queen
Street East for over 35 years (1978-2014).
The property is valued as it demonstrates the
work of Henry Simpson (1864-1926), an innovative and prolific Toronto
architect, who was eulogized as "one of the best known Toronto architects
in the era of building expansion." (Obituary, Henry Simpson, Toronto Star,
17 December 1926) Simpson began his career as an intern of the architect E. J.
Lennox, and then practised in New York, before returning to practice in Toronto
by 1889. He is credited with designing over 120 buildings including the Metallic
Roofing Co. showroom, a National Historic Site. Simpson also designed J. F.
Brown's first retail building, at 193 Yonge Street, which is designated under
Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act.
The property's location, the south-west corner
of Queen and Parliament, is valued for its historical association with the
evolution of the Corktown neighbourhood from being situated on the outer edges
of the original town of York and the adjacent sites of the town's first
institutions, to its transformation as an important intersection where
Parliament St. connected waterfront industry with northern residential
communities and Queen St. became a significant artery connecting the city with
the communities of Riverdale, Leslieville and beyond.
The property at 339 Queen Street East has
contextual value as it supports the historic character of this important
intersection of Queen and Parliament streets. The Chicago School style building
has been a distinctive local landmark within the predominantly Victorian Style
Corktown neighbourhood for more than a century.
Heritage Attributes
The heritage attributes on the exterior of the
property at 339 Queen Street East are:
·
The original location
of the building at the south-west corner of Queen Street East and Parliament
Street
·
The form and massing
of the three-storey rectangular volume with a flat roof
·
The north and east
elevations including the following:
·
The pattern of the
curtain wall glazing at the first and second floors including:
·
The pairs of large
panes of glass between structural supports at the first and second floors
·
The pairs of transom
lights above each large pane of glass on the Parliament Street elevation (n.b.
these are currently covered with board panels)
·
The pairs or triplets
of transom lights above each large pane of glass on the Queen Street elevation,
with the pair over the recessed entry (n.b. these are currently covered with
board panels)
·
The original spandrel
panels below the glazing, divided to match the pattern of the transom lights
above
·
The original narrow
band for signage between the first and second floors
·
The moulded brick
entablature band which runs between the second and third floors
·
The bricks pilasters,
with their narrow capitals, rising two floors to the brick entablature between
the second and third floors
·
The third floor level
including:
·
The window openings
with their segmental-arched headers
·
The pattern of
paired, double-hung, single-pane sash within the window openings
·
The moulding strips
connecting the window heads
The heritage attributes on the interior of the
property at 339 Queen Street East are:
·
The historic post and
beam timber frame construction
The rear, east façade of the 1925-6 extension,
and the fire escape stairs on the south façade are not identified as heritage
attributes.
Notice of Objection to Proposed Amendment to Designation By-law
An owner may serve a notice of an objection to
the Proposed Amendment to Designation By-law 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 June 26, 2026, which is July 27, 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 Proposed
Amendment to Designation By-law is available from the City of Toronto at:
https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2026.PH31.14.
Dated at the City of Toronto on June 26, 2026.
John D. Elvidge
City Clerk