OLD BRUNNY, NEW BRAND
One year after the Brunswick House closed, Rexall is moving in to the old building,
“A city has to be more than a place to live and sleep, more than condos in the sky. It’s the experience on the street, the eclectic nature of business, culture, life and arts.” COUNCILLOR JOE CRESSY
It’s been nearly one year since the Brunswick House hosted its “Last Dance with a Legendary Lady.”
Today, telltale turquoise branding of the Rexall pharmacy chain can be seen, and paper covers the windows where the once-famous Toronto saloon stood.
Previous to this corporate facelift, “the Brunny” was many things in its 141-year history: a watering hole for the working class, the “poor man’s Granite Club,” host to unconventional events and weddings, a venue for jazz and blues acts, the site of a so-called “lesbian riot” and where University of Toronto students went during Frosh Week.
Before declining into little more than a regular noise complaint from neighbours, the space was a longstanding part of the Annex’s community charm. But its future begs the question: Is the corporate takeover part of a trend in Toronto?
Rory Gus Sinclair, who chairs the Harbord Village Residents’ Association, doesn’t think so.
“This is a positive outcome for the community,” he said. “Yes, Rexall came along; yes, they are a cookiecutter chain . . . but they see the historic quality of the place and (are) going to emphasize what the building was (in its redesign).”
Sinclair explained that, in its final iteration, the Brunswick House was a “big problem” for the neighbourhood in terms of public intoxication and a boisterous clientele.
“We were not unhappy to see them go.”
Sinclair doesn’t worry about the Annex maintaining its community character, either.
“If you walk along Bloor, I don’t see a lot of chain-type stuff. (All the stores) are independent,” he said. “The residents are happy.” Edward Skira, of UrbanToronto.ca, holds a different opinion, stressing that the chain-store takeover is pervasive and not just a Toronto problem.
“It’s happening not just on Bloor, but across the city entirely and worldwide,” he said. Owners and developers prefer a “sure thing with a chain they know can pay” for a tenant, as opposed to a “mom-and-pop type place.”
The result, whether it’s big boxed coffee or food, clothing or hardware, is a “loss of charm” to the neighbourhood, he said.
“Where is the local culture? Where is the character? It’s all the same.”
Part of the problem, Skira thinks, is that consumers accept the corporate status quo — buying from the big guys instead of independents. Another is that new developments lease out units with larger floor plans, limiting what type of businesses can afford to operate.
This point is something that Ward 20 Councillor Joe Cressy says the city is tackling with its limited power over who can lease where.
“We don’t want a cookie-cutter approach to retail . . . we want dynamism,” Cressy said. “(The city doesn’t) have the capacity to say, ‘This is the type of business that can go here,’ but what we can do as part of the rezoning plans is stipulate the maximum size of retail floor space.”
Policies like this support small and independent retailers by controlling the size of commerce coming in, he explained.
“A city has to be more than a place to live and sleep, more than condos in the sky,” Cressy said. “It’s the experience on the street, the eclectic nature of business, culture, life and arts. It’s where we live and play. We have a strong role to play to incentivize those spaces.”
While he would have loved to see a boutique hotel with a music venue go in that space, Cressy acknowledged that the Rexall has worked with the community to retain the building’s strong heritage and character.
According to Derek Tupling, a spokesperson for Rexall, the pharmaceutical retailer has completely restored the interior and exterior of the building, working closely with the city’s heritage division.
For Michael McClelland of ERA Architects — responsible for the heritage conservation of the Distillery District, Evergreen Brickworks and the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto project at 158 Sterling Rd. — cities like Toronto should be considering the impact and value of “the third realm.”
Not home or work, “the third realm” represents the places of interest where people go to be social, where the “localness” and history of a place has its benefits.
“I don’t think the city has really caught on to the value of the public place,” McClelland said. “You can’t really hang out in a drugstore.”