CONDO CRITIC

Bohemian Embassy, 1169 and 1171 Queen St. W.: This is the complex that provoked a firestorm of protest when first announced back in the days of David Miller’s mayoralty. This was the project that was going to push out the creative types who had colonized the neighbourhood around Queen St. W. and Abell St. and opened it up for the very developers that would steal it from them. Nothing new about that, of course, though what made it maddening was that local residents wanted development to happen — but in their way.

It’s too early to say whether the new mixed-use complex will be a success. The architecture is less than exciting, but the scale is midrise and appropriate for the context. These buildings, with their four- and five-storey podiums, pick up on the historic configuration of Queen, but do little to update it or bring it into the 21st century.

The designers here have opted to keep it low-key, generic, and even anonymous. They clearly didn’t want to attract attention. That’s usually an excellent strategy, though there was an opportunity here to do something that complemented the architectural exuberance of earlier buildings, but in a contemporary vocabulary. After all, the Gladstone and Drake hotels, with their artist-designed rooms, are across the road, as are any number of wonderful street buildings from the 1800s. Still, it’s neither an eyesore, nor a dead zone. Compared to, say, the south end of the Eaton Centre on Queen, it is a marvel of urbanity. That’s something to cheer about. Grade: B