Public Notice

TAKE NOTICE that Council for the City of Toronto intends to designate the property, including the lands, buildings and structures thereon known municipally as 1-3 Selby 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 properties at 1-3 Selby Street are worthy of designation under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for their cultural heritage value, and meet Ontario Regulation 9/06, the provincial criteria prescribed for municipal designation under the criteria of design/physical, historical/associative, and contextual values.

Description

The semi-detached house-form building at 1-3 Selby Street is comprised of a pair of 2-storey, brick dwellings constructed together in 1876. Situated on the south side of Selby Street, between Huntley Street and Sherbourne Street, the properties at 1-3 Selby Street help to define and support the character of this block within the historic Upper Jarvis neighbourhood. The pair dates to the earliest period of development in this area, and contributes to a streetscape largely consisting of late-nineteenth-century house-form buildings including row houses, semi-detached and detached properties. The buildings’ scale, form, massing, materials, and roofline are consistent with and complementary to their surroundings, particularly the Queen Anne Revival styling of the heritage property at 15 Selby Street and Rundle Row at 7-11 Selby Street with its combination of Queen Anne Revival and Second Empire styling.

Statement of Cultural Heritage Value

Design and Physical Value

Constructed in 1876, the properties at 1-3 Selby Street are valued as fine representative examples of semi-detached Second Empire style residences. The red brick-clad properties have maintained a high degree of integrity as a pair and retain many intact features that are typical of Victorian architectural design. Their composition features the quintessential Mansard roof with dormer windows contained highly decorative woodwork detailing and a projecting bay of windows on each half of the pair at the first-storey level. Additional details of note include the decorative slate shingling of the roof, projecting cornice below the roofline supported by decorative wooden brackets, the segmental-arched main entrances with transoms and the iron cresting surmounting the projecting bay window at 3 Selby Street.

Historical and Associative Value

The semi-detached pair of residences at 1-3 Selby Street are valued for their association with Hancock & Townsend, a prominent architectural firm in Toronto which also designed the Equity Chambers, the first building in Toronto to incorporate passenger elevators.

Contextual Value

Situated on the south side of Selby Street, between Huntley Street and Sherbourne Street, the two semi-detached properties at 1-3 Linden Street help to define and support the character of this block within the historic Upper Jarvis neighbourhood. The buildings’ scale, form, massing, materials, and gabled roofline are consistent with and complementary to their surroundings, and their integrity as a pair with intact detailing lends them a degree of visual prominence in this context. The properties at 1-3 Selby Street are visually and historically linked to their surroundings. The pair dates to the earliest period of development in this area, and contributes to a streetscape largely consisting of late-nineteenth century house-form buildings.

Heritage Attributes

Design and Physical Value

The following heritage attributes contribute to the cultural heritage value of the properties at 1-3 Selby Street as a representative example of a semi-detached pair of Second Empire style residences:

• The properties’ siting and orientation on the south side of Selby Street
• The properties’ scale, form, and massing as a 3-storey pair of semi-detached, Second Empire style house-form buildings
• The material palette typical of Second Empire residential buildings, including primarily red brick with wood detailing and decorative slate shingling on the roof in a hexagonal pattern
• The mansard roofline on the principal (north) and west elevation (1 Selby Street), defined by its steep slope, wooden dormer windows with their detailed millwork and cornice line below surmounted by decorative wooden brackets
• Bay window projection on the first floor of the principal (north) elevation with its segmental-arched window openings, decorative brickwork including dogtooth brickwork below the continuous sills and cresting atop the bay window roof at 3 Selby Street
• Segmental-arched door opening on principal (north) elevation, including brick keystone at 1 Selby Street

Contextual Value

The following heritage attributes contribute to the cultural heritage value of the properties at 1-3 Selby Street as character-defining structures within a historic residential streetscape:

• The properties’ siting and orientation on the south side of Selby Street
• The properties’ scale, form, and massing as a 3-storey pair of semi-detached, Second Empire style house-form buildings
• The material palette typical of Second Empire residential buildings, including primarily red brick with wood detailing and decorative slate shingling on the roof
• The mansard roofline defined by a steep slope and dormer windows, characteristic of a Victorian-era streetscape

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: hertpb@toronto.ca within thirty days of June 21, 2022, which is July 21, 2022. 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:

http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.CC45.5