77 Yorkville defies the times
The amazing thing about Yorkville is how it manages to retain such a strong sense of neighbourhood despite the damage inflicted by property owners.
As what could well be the single greatest concentration of bad ’70s renos in Toronto, the old Village teaches us many lessons; first among them is that heritage buildings are not improved when they are given new facades and buried in brass plate. Other lessons are that basement shops don’t work well and setting storefronts back from the property line creates empty space.
Unlike many Toronto neighbourhoods, Yorkville has the traffic to sustain retail at the second and third levels above the street. This is because of pedestrians, not parking lots. Except for Cumberland Park, which remains one of the finest examples of landscape architecture in the city, there’s not much room for the kind of sidewalk life the area pioneered back in the 1960s. Those days are long gone, of course, and Yorkville has been gentrified beyond recognition.
What’s interesting, though, is that the problem’s not height as much as what happens at grade. That’s where the interest is. That’s where we experience things.
The closing of the Four Seasons Hotel this week will also change the feel of the neighbourhood. Once this towering condo conversion is complete, Yorkville will be a little less cosmopolitan, and a lot more residential.
Then there is 77 Yorkville Ave. Dating back to the 1860s, this humble yet elegant structure is one of the oldest in the area. A simple neo-classical building set a metre or so below street level, it possesses the dignity of symmetry and exudes a wonderful sense of Georgian restraint. The only decorative details are the shutters, which also serve a purpose. With its gently sloped roof and prominent row of arched windows, it stands in contrast to what’s left of the mostly Gothic neighbours. Today, this heritage gem houses a clothing store, Pink Tartan, and before that it was an antique shop. In its 21st-century context, 77 Yorkville has acquired an air of defiance; its rightness has never been more apparent. chume@thestar.ca