ACO Toronto - York Square

AT RISK INFORMATION

At risk status

This building is at Risk

Information:

Redevelopment proposal could destroy essence of early Diamond and Myers project, 2018 OMB decision has given permission to destroy all but the front facade. More recent (2020) design retains none of the existing buildings or courtyard.

BUILDING INFORMATION

Name & Location:

York Square
148 Yorkville Avenue
Toronto
Annex

Year Completed:

1968

OTHER IDENTIFICATION

Awards:

1970: Massey Medal for Architecture

Finalist.

Alternate Name:

33-39 Avenue Road

Notes:

At a time when urban renewal was the norm, this project was the first to incorporate older fabric into a new project. Designed by the new firm, Diamond and Myers, it set a new approach for marrying new and old in Toronto and around the world, Published internationally, in the U.S, Japan, and Europe, receiving 8 pages in Progressive Architecture. This complex was a finalist for a Massey Medal for Architecture in 1970. It is currently the subject of a redevelopment application, for a high rise condominium, by architects Zeidler Partnership, which proposes to save only the elevation at the corner of Avenue Road and Yorkville Avenue. Over 75% of the designated heritage attributes are destroyed, and what is left is ridiculed by the scale of the proposal. The building was designated in 2014. OMB Case Number PL150988,

Spring 2020 saw a new design for a 29 story tower by a new developer which retained none of York Square

Status:

Completed

Map:

Loading Map

Companies:

The following companies are associated with this building

Architect - Jack Diamond & Barton Myers <-- More buildings by this architect.
Developer - I.R. Wookey

BUILDING DATA

Building Type:

Shopping centre

Current Use:

Commercial

Heritage Status:

Designated under Part IV Ontario Heritage Act

Sources:

Click to see 27 Source(s)

York Square in Toronto
Author - Baumeister 69
Date - October 1972
Document - York Square in Toronto
Toronto Architecture: A City Guide
Author - Patricia McHugh
Page - 203
Toronto Star
Author - Christopher Hume
Date - July 15, 1992
Page - B2
Notes - Mentions this complex in book review.
City of Toronto Designation Report
Date - January, 2014
More information
Development Proposal
Author - Empire Communities
Date - 2015
More information
Urban Toronto New Proposal
Date - February 10, 2016
Notes - Most Recent Proposal
More information
Planning Application to City of Toronto, submitted February 2016
Date - February 2016
Notes - Link to City of Toronto website where application for redevelopment is posted. Includes plans, perspectives, elevations, heritage report, designation report.
More information
Looks like time's up for Yorkville's old guard
Author - Globe and Mail, John Bentley Mays
Date - June 13, 2013
Notes - In the summer of 1969, when I moved from the United States to Toronto, the intoxicating haze of rock music, incense, pot fumes and flower-power politics hung heavy over the little Victorian streets of the Yorkville district.

Head shops and vintage clot
More information
York Square Toronto
Author - The Canadian Architect
Date - June 1969
Page - 36-38
Document - York Square Toronto
York Square
Author - William P. Kilbourn
Date - 1986
Page - 297-98
Notes - Found in Toronto Observed: Its Architecture, Patrons and History, Oxford University Press
Document - York Square
Inventory of Heritage Properties
Author - City of Toronto
More information
Renovation urbane: Renovation de York Square, Toronto, Canada
Author - L'Architecture d' Aujourd'hui Vol.169
Date - October, 1973
Page - 47-53
Document - Renovation urbane: Renovation de York Square, Toronto, Canada
Urban Supertoy Subdues Renewal Bulldozer
Author - Progressive Architecture 50
Date - 1969
Page - 144-153
Document - Urban Supertoy Subdues Renewal Bulldozer
Stars, Imports, and Other Phenomena, A reflection on an Aspect of the Evolution of Architectural Culture in Toronto
Author - George Baird
Date - 2010
Notes - Found in the Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada (JSSAC) No. 2
Document - Stars, Imports, and Other Phenomena, A reflection on an Aspect of the Evolution of Architectural Culture in Toronto
Toronto's Lost Villages
Author - Ron Brown
Date - 1997
Page - 60-63
Document - Toronto's Lost Villages - Yorkville
Preliminary Heritage Impact Assessment For Working Group Discussion
Author - ERA Architects Inc.
Date - August 27, 2014
Document - Preliminary Heritage Impact Assessment For Working Group Discussion
Toronto 1970 Design Awards
Author - Architecture Canada RAIC/IRAC
Date - April 13 1970
Page - 535
Document - Toronto 1970 Design Awards
York Square Resources Package 1
Author - ACO Toronto
Date - 2016
Notes - Press Materials from the time of the original construction. Can be viewed or downloaded from Google docs, very large file.
More information
Press Publications from 1968-70
Author - Several
Date - 1968-1970
Notes - Compiled by ACO Toronto in 2016
Document - York Square Resources: International Press Publications
Globe and Mail: Stollery's is going. But Toronto should do more to save its heritage
Author - Alex Bozikovic
Date - January 23, 2015
Notes - Discusses the reasons for saving what he calls the anti-tower project "Toronto architects have been working on this sort of pairing since the 1960s. In those days, â€œurban renewalâ€ meant levelling blocks and building isolated new towers; local urbanist
More information
York Square Resources Package 1
Author - Assembled by ACO Toronto
Notes - A document compiling the various applications and reports that are before the City and the Ontario Municipal Board as of summer of 2016.
Document - 1d32f68508fcc9b1ce9452a776343dd1.pdf
Architecture and Urbanism
Notes - Volume 1, Number 11
The article is in Japanese, so additional information (such as author, date, and pages) cannot be translated.
Document - York Square - Architecture and Urbanism
Scanned Photos and Magazine Articles at Higher Resolution
Author - uploaded by Lindsay Wu
Date - August 1, 2017
Notes - These are photos and scanned magazine pages that have been uploaded to Google Drive
More information
A Toast to the Summer of Love
Author - Ibrahim Khider,
Date - September 2017
Notes -
A brief documentary on the Village of Yorkville, Toronto during the Summer of Love in 1967. Also, a piece of property within Yorkville redeveloped during the late 1960's called 'York Square'. Then-emerging architect, Jack Diamond, chose to hono
More information
York Square Video-2020
Author - Old Toronto-ACO Toronto
Date - August 2020
Notes - York Square video, produced by Old Toronto for ACO Toronto. The video is 17 minutes long and gives the history of York Square, its international significance, the cultural context of Yorkville at the time of development, including some wonderful footage of Yorkville in the late 1960's, music, politics and political action to close the street. It also deals with the tax forces that forced closure and sale for redevelopment.
More information
City of Toronto Development Application Documents 2020
Author - Various,
Notes - All of the background documents for the 2020 development application including the Heritage Impact Assessment by ERA Architecture with justification for complete removal of all identified heritage attributes.
More information
Heritage impact Assessment
Author - ERA Architects Inc.
Date - March 10, 2020
Notes - This report has been prepared for 140 Yorkville Corporation and considers the redevelopment of the properties at 33-45 Avenue Road and 136-148 Yorkville Avenue (the “Site”). It assesses the impact of the proposed development on the heritage resources on and adjacent to the Site. The Site is comprised of several buildings and an interior public square, which make up a commercial complex known as York Square.
Document - Heritage impact Assessment

York Square

Sources for York Square

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