Public Notice

IN THE MATTER OF THE ONTARIO HERITAGE ACT

R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER O.18 AND

CITY OF TORONTO, PROVINCE OF ONTARIO

215, 217 AND 219 JARVIS STREET

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 215, 217 and 219 Jarvis 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 215, 217 and 219 Jarvis Street are worthy of designation under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for their cultural value and meet Regulation 9/06, the provincial criteria prescribed for municipal designation.

Description

The properties at 215, 217 and 219 Jarvis Street are located on the east side of Jarvis Street, north of Shuter Street, within the Moss Park neighbourhood. Constructed circa 1863, the properties comprise a terrace of three identical dwellings, each three storeys with raised parlour floors, and designed in the Italianate architectural style. Each property was constructed for single-family occupancy, however, were subsequently modified for rooming houses. In 1977 they were renovated to contain individual apartment units to designs by Zeidler Partnership Architects along with the adjacent rowhouses at 207, 209, 211 and 213 Jarvis Street.

The properties were included on the Heritage Register in November 1977.

Statement of Cultural Heritage Value

Design and Physical Value

The properties at 215, 217 and 219 Jarvis Street have design and physical value as representative examples of the Italianate architectural style as applied to the terrace building typology; the properties are also rare surviving examples of this type in Toronto. This architectural style was popular in Toronto through the 1850s and into the 1860s, and was applied to institutional and government buildings, commercial buildings, and housing for those of moderate incomes, as is the case at 215, 217 and 219 Jarvis Street. Features representative of this architectural style included the flat roofs behind simple cornices; the use of classically derived and highly detailed ornamentation; the raised parlour floors; and the segmental-arched window openings.

The properties at 215, 217 and 219 Jarvis Street display artistic merit through the design of the primary (west) façades with highly- detailed and vibrantly coloured two storey bay windows, and the contrasting use of red brick with buff stone and brick lintels and dentils. The property at 219 Jarvis Street retains an entrance canopy supported by large, fluted brackets which further contributes to the artistic merit and design value of this property.

Contextual Value

Contextually, the properties at 215, 217 and 219 Jarvis Street are functionally and historically linked to the adjacent properties at 207, 209, 211 and 213 Jarvis Street, a grouping of four townhouses constructed circa 1879 and which have a similar setback as the subject properties. Collectively, the grouping of properties was part of the 1977 redevelopment designed by Zeidler Partnership Architects during a period when similar historic properties within the downtown east side were being restored and incorporated into affordable and multi-family housing, at which time the subject properties and those to the south were extensively renovated to contain apartments and office spaces.

Situated on the east side of Jarvis Street north of Shuter Street, the subject properties - alongside those at 207, 209, 211 and 213 Jarvis Street - represent the southernmost remaining properties that were part of the initial subdivision of Park Lot 6 to the designs of John Howard and initiated by William Jarvis, and are physically linked to the plan of subdivision which called for narrow lots for the southern portions of the subdivision (Jarvis Street), with larger and undefined building lots for the northern portions.

Heritage Attributes

Design and Physical Value

The following heritage attributes contribute to the cultural heritage value of the properties at 215, 217, and 219 Jarvis Street as being representative examples of a terrace building type designed in the Italianate style and for displaying a high degree of artistic merit:

• The scale, form, and massing of the subject properties, containing three separate units repeating a shared design

• The low-pitched roofs, separated by protruding buff brick part walls and chimneys and behind simple cornices with buff brick dentils

• The red brick primary (west) façades with buff stone and brick details

• The segmental-arched window openings with buff stone keystones and lintels

• The two-storey bay windows with segmental-arched window openings, wood pilasters, metals roofs with standing seams, and carved wood details painted in vibrant colours

• Entrance canopy at 219 Jarvis Street

• The offset principal separate entrances to each unit, located at raised parlour floors

Contextual Value

The following heritage attributes contribute to the cultural heritage value of the properties at 215, 217, and 219 Jarvis Street as being functionally, historically, and physically linked to their surroundings:

• The placement, setback, and orientation of the structures on the east side of Jarvis Street north of Shuter Street

• The three-storey scale of the primary (west) façades, which reflect their original single-occupancy

• The original lot frontage as reflected in the vertical divisions of each unit separating the grouping into three distinct components and indicative of the initial plan of subdivision

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 October 10, 2025, which is November 10, 2025. 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=2025.PH24.10.