Public Notice

IN THE MATTER OF THE ONTARIO HERITAGE ACT

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

CITY OF TORONTO, PROVINCE OF ONTARIO

68 FRASER AVENUE

(INCLUDING ENTRANCE ADDRESSES 147 AND 151 LIBERTY 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 68 Fraser Avenue (including entrance addresses 147 and 151 Liberty 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 property at 68 Fraser Avenue (including the entrance addresses of 147 and 151 Liberty Street) 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 the categories of design/physical, historical/associative, and contextual value.

Description

The property at 68 Fraser Avenue (the former S.F. Bowser Company Factory) is located at the southwest corner of Liberty Street and Fraser Avenue in the Liberty Village neighbourhood. The property contains a two-story, red-brick, former factory building with understated classical detailing. The property adjoins the c. 1913-14 S.F. Bowser Company building to the west at 39 Mowat Avenue and is adjacent to the 1905 Arlington Company Factory to the south at 54 and 66 Fraser Avenue.

Statement of Cultural Heritage Value

The former S.F. Bowser Company Factory, constructed 1906-1909, has design and physical value for being representative of a factory complex typology of the period. Like the majority of industrial buildings in the Liberty Village area, the building was constructed of red brick with a focus on utility and function rather than ornament. The street facades are plain in design with detail mostly limited to brickwork detailing. The brickwork detailing comprises a corbelled cornice, building corner quoins and understated window detailing on Fraser Avenue with classical semicircular label mouldings and brick keystone detailing. The understated classical styling was extended to the main doorway surround on Fraser Avenue with pilasters and entablature. Apart from these ornamental embellishments, the building is unadorned in its design, typical of factory buildings of the era in Toronto.

The property at 68 Fraser Avenue has historical and associative value for being directly associated with the industrial use activity which historically defined the Liberty Village area throughout most of the Twentieth century. From the time of its completion in 1909, until the company vacated the site in 1946, the complex served the S.F. Bowser Company in the manufacturing of oil cans and tanks. Subsequently light industry occupied the site, including the manufacturing of bedding and work clothing, the sale of paper products and upholstering and woodwork.

The Liberty Village area is defined by its historic industrial use and its associated extant warehouse buildings and complexes. The former S.F. Bowser Factory occupies a central location of this precinct and helps to form a concentration of former, historic industrial buildings. This concentration comprises adjacent sites designed under the Ontario Heritage Act including the 1899 former Toronto Carpet Factory at 1179 King Street, and the former Gillett Company Factory (built in phases 1911-42) at Fraser Avenue and Liberty Street; adjacent properties listed on Toronto's Heritage Register include the 1906 Arlington Company of Canada factory at 54 and 66 Fraser Avenue and the c.1913-14 S.F. Bowser Company building at 39 Mowat Avenue. The form, scale, materials and building typology of the former S.F. Bowser factory at 68 Fraser Avenue contributes to define, maintain and support the character of the area.

Heritage Attributes 

Design and Physical Value

• The following heritage attributes contribute to the design and physical value of the

  property:

• The form, scale and massing of the building comprising its rectangular, two-storey, flat roof form and rectangular plan with short façade on Fraser Avenue and long façade on Liberty Street

• The red-brick cladding with brickwork detailing; the stone windowsills; the stone "1909" date-stone above the main entrance on Fraser Avenue

• The fenestration with rectangular and segmental-arch openings

• The main doorway and transom light openings on Fraser Avenue with classical surround consisting of pilasters and entablature

   

Historical and Associative Value

The following heritage attributes contribute to the historical and associative value of the

property:

• The industrial character of the property as found in its design and physical heritage attributes

• The presence and location of the property adjoining the former S.F. Bowser Company building at 39 Mowat Avenue and its adjacency to the factory building at 54 and 66 Fraser Avenue, which it shares integral and direct historical association with

Contextual Value

The following heritage attributes contribute to the contextual value of the

property:

• The building's presence in Liberty Village which contributes to the concentration of other industrial heritage buildings in the area

   

 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 November 17, 2025, which is December 17, 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.PH25.14.