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 72, 74, 76 and 78 Berkeley 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 72-78 Berkeley 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 all three categories of design/physical, historical/associative and contextual value.

Description

Anchoring the northwest corner of Berkeley Street and Adelaide Street East at the north edge of the historic St. Lawrence neighbourhood, the properties at 72-78 Berkeley Street comprise a 2.5-storey row of four attached Bay-and-Gable type house-form buildings completed together in 1883. The subject properties were identified as having cultural heritage value in the King-Parliament Area Secondary Plan Review (2019) for their contribution to the area's Urban & Industrial Expansion (1850-1914) Period of Significance and were listed on the City's Heritage Register in 2020.

Statement of Cultural Heritage Value

Physical and Design Value

Built together in 1883, the four attached properties at 72-78 Berkeley Street have design and physical value as remaining representative examples of late-19th century, Victorian-era row housing, which proliferated in the King-Parliament area during the second half of the 19th century. As a row or terrace of four attached house-form buildings, the subject properties represent a key building typology in King-Parliament, which originated in the 1800s as a residential and institutional enclave where the side streets and many of the main streets were lined with detached, semi-detached and row houses. The subject properties survived the replacement of much of the residential building stock in the area during the 20th century. The row at 72-78 Berkeley Street is distinguished by its Bay-and-Gable type defined by two bays, one containing the main entrance with the other capped by a cross gable above a projecting bay window. This late Victorian era design is considered quintessentially Torontonian, and a significant building typology found within the King Parliament Secondary Plan area.

Historical and Associative Value

The attached row of four Bay-and-Gable type house-form buildings at 72-78 Berkeley Street is valued for its historic association with Berkeley Street as the original eastern boundary of the ten-block Town of York established in 1793, and for its association with the history and development of the broader King-Parliament area during its Urban & Industrial Expansion (1850-1914) period of significance, as an urban townscape combining industrial, commercial and residential functions. 

Contextual Value

Contextually, the late Victorian era row is valued for its role in defining, supporting and maintaining the historical character of the King-Parliament neighbourhood which contains the historic 1793 Town of York with Berkeley Street defining its eastern boundary, and reflecting the area's evolution from a 19th-century residential and institutional enclave and one of Toronto’s manufacturing centres in the first half of the 20th century, to its current status as a mixed-use community.

The row at 72-78 Berkeley Street is historically, visually and physically linked to its setting in the King-Parliament community where it stands among a significant collection of surviving late-19th century residential buildings along both sides of Berkeley Street between King and Richmond, including 56 Berkeley (1845), 55-79 Berkeley (1872), 106-112 Berkeley (1884-1890) and 111-115 Berkeley (1882 and 1872), all of which are recognized and included on the City's Heritage Register.

Heritage Attributes

Design or Physical Value

Attributes that contribute to the value of the row at 72-78 Berkeley Street as being a representative late Victorian era, Bay-and-Gable example of the type are:

• The setback, placement and orientation of the row on its corner lot at the northwest corner of Berkeley Street and Adelaide Street East
• The 2.5-storey scale, form and massing of the attached properties on their rectangular plans and side gable roofline with cross gable on the principal (east) elevations
• The principal (east) elevations, each organized into two bays, one bay containing the main entrance and the other bay containing a projecting bay window at the first-storey level and surmounted by a cross gable
• The brick cladding (currently stuccoed) on the principal (east) elevations of the row and south elevation of 72 Berkeley Street fronting onto Adelaide Street East
• The original arrangement of the window and door openings on the first and second storeys

Contextual Value

Attributes that contribute to the value of the row at 72-78 Berkeley Street in defining, supporting and maintain the historic character of the area and being historically, visually, functionally and physically linked to its setting:

• The setback, placement and orientation of the row on its corner lot at the northwest corner of Berkeley Street and Adelaide Street East
• The 2.5-storey scale, form and massing of the attached properties on their rectangular plans and side gable roofline with cross gable on the principal (east) elevations

Note: the rear (west) additions to the properties are not considered heritage attributes

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 to 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 February 14, 2023, which is March 16, 2023. 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=2023.PH1.6