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 7-11 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.

RUNDLE ROW

Reasons for Designation

The properties at 7-11 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 value.

Description

Rundle Row at 7-11 Selby Street is comprised of three, 2-storey, brick residential row houses constructed together in 1880. Situated on the south side of Selby Street, between Huntley Street and Sherbourne Street, the properties at 7-11 Selby Street help to define and support the character of this block within the historic Upper Jarvis neighbourhood. The row 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 varied roofline are consistent with and complementary to their surroundings, particularly the Queen Anne Revival styling of the heritage property directly east at 15 Selby Street and the Second Empire features directly west at 1-3 Selby Street. Of the eight late-nineteenth century residential buildings fronting onto the south side of Selby Street, four were designed by the firm of McCaw & Lennox (1876-1881), which included eminent Toronto architect, E.J. Lennox, and owned/built by one of the architecture firm's seemingly favoured contractors, Arkless H. Rundle. These include the heritage property at 15 Selby Street (A.H. Rundle House, 1888) and the subject properties at 7-11 Selby Street identified in this report as Rundle Row (1880). The small scale and compact nature of the row house typology at 7-11 Selby Street represents an interesting example of residential design by Lennox that departs from his more typical, large-scale, single-family detached dwellings.

Statement of Cultural Heritage Value

Design and Physical Value

The properties at 7-11 Selby Street constitute a well-crafted and rare example of a late-nineteenth century residential row designed in the popular Queen Anne Revival style with Second Empire influences. They are particularly distinguished by the combination of a dichromatic slate mansard roofline with dormer windows broken with asymmetrically-arranged gables containing pebbledash infill or wood shingling. Alterations to the principal (north) elevations, including the wooden cladding at 7 and 9 Selby Street, and the east addition to 11 Selby Street with its excavated below-grade garage, adds to the eclectic and evolved design landscape of the street.

Historical and Associative Value

The row of three properties at 7-11 Selby Street are valued for their association with Arkless H. Rundle, a builder and land speculator who owned 7, 9, and 15 Selby Street as well as a number of lots on the north side of Selby Street. A.H. Rundle owned and occupied 9 Selby while his brother, Charles Rundle, a leading contractor in Toronto who worked with architect E. J. Lennox on various architectural projects, owned and occupied the attached property at 11 Selby. The Rundles are reported to have built at least nineteen homes in the Upper Jarvis neighbourhood during the late nineteenth century.

Rundle Row is also valued for its associations with the eminent Toronto architect E. J. Lennox who is attributed with the design along with his business partner at the time, William Frederick McCaw. While Lennox is best known for local landmarks such as Toronto City Hall (Old City Hall) and Casa Loma, he also received numerous commissions for residential buildings in Toronto's upscale neighbourhoods, including the Part IV Designated A. H. Rundle House (1888) located directly east of the subject properties.

Contextual Value

Situated on the south side of Selby Street, between Huntley Street and Sherbourne Street, the row of three attached dwellings at7-11 Selby 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 7-11 Selby Street are visually and historically linked to their surroundings. The set dates to the earliest period of development in this area, and contributes to a streetscape largely consisting of late-nineteenth century house-form buildings.

Historical or Associative Value

• Historical connection to original architect and owner A.H. Rundle (1847-1909) who along with his brother Charles bought and developed several nearby plots in the area including 7-11 Selby Street
• A.H Rundle occupied 63 Huntley Street between 1876-1877 and 1884-1886 before moving into two successive new homes designed by E.J. Lennox at 9 Selby Street then 15 Selby Street (1888)

Heritage Attributes

Design and Physical Value

Attributes that contribute to the value of the properties at 7-11 Selby Street as a rare example of a residential row typology combining Queen Anne Revival and Second Empire styling include:

• The properties’ siting and orientation on the south side of Selby Street
• The properties’ scale, form, and massing as a set of three, 2-storey house-form buildings
• The material palette typical of Victorian Era buildings, including primarily red brick with stone and wood detailing, including buff brick detailing at 7 and 11 Selby 
• The varied roofline defined by alternating and asymmetrical mansard roofs, gables and a pyramidal roof at 9 Selby
• Roof dormers on the principal (north) elevation with their wooden millwork and matching roofs
• At 7 and 11 Selby, the triangular arch window opening in splayed brick face with dichromatic brick above
• Box gable on the principal (north) elevation of all three properties with wood brackets and bargeboard; decorative half-timbering with masonry chip nogging on the north elevation and east return at 11 Selby
• At 11 Selby, the projecting wood-framed vestibule with millwork detail, main entrance with decorative transom and a flat roof

Contextual Value

The following heritage attributes contribute to the cultural heritage value of the properties at 7-11 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 set of three, 2-storey house-form buildings
• The material palette typical of Victorian Era buildings, including primarily red brick with stone and wood detailing, including buff brick detailing at 7 and 11 Selby 
• The varied roofline defined by alternating and asymmetrical mansard roofs, box gables and a pyramidal roof at 9 Selby

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