Renovation is erasing the many layers in Chinatown
Buildings, if they can avoid being torn down, can have many lives. Sometimes they can change so much they’re unrecognizable — and if they’ve become landmarks, it can be a shock.
Such was the case when the green construction mesh was removed from the former Bright Pearl restaurant at 346 Spadina Ave., revealing a renovation that dramatically altered the look of the building.
“I’m really disappointed they just ripped out the Chinese architectural features,” says author Arlene Chan. “There were animal symbols on the eavestroughs. When it was first opened, the whole design was by Taiwanese restaurateur Yen Pin Chen, who brought in artisans and created a real landmark in Chinatown.”
Chan has written seven books on the history and culture of the Chinese in Canada and often leads tours through Toronto’s Chinatown. Chen’s “Yen Pin Place” restaurant didn’t fare well when it opened in the 1970s, and a series of different restaurants followed. Of late, the Bright Pearl was here the longest.
“The building hasn’t had any good luck,” she says of this supposedly haunted structure. “There’s been exor- cisms, and feng shui masters (were) brought in to bring more luck.” Currently, the only visual “Chinatown” elements that remains are one of the two guardian lions that was on Spadina, and a new mural depicting one of the lions out back. Chan says she hopes they return the other lion to the front as “there are always supposed to be two.”
“When I lead my tours people ask me why Toronto’s Chinatown doesn’t look like San Francisco’s, with all of its architecture features,” she says. “I remind them that San Francisco’s was rebuilt after the 1906 quake and done in a style that imagined what a Chinatown should look like, with exaggerated and unusual details. The Bright Pearl was one of the few buildings we had like that here.”
Chan points out that after they were evicted from Toronto’s first Chinatown where the new city hall was built, the Chinese community didn’t build from scratch, instead moving into existing buildings at Spadina and Dundas. Previous to this move, the Toronto Labour Lyceum was located in the building, a centre for both the labour movement and the city’s Jewish community for years.
It’s a place with many layers, but the renovation has erased much of it, OPINION
turning it into something that looks like a generic condominium podium.
Real estate brokerage firm Metropolitan Commercial is behind the renovations and intends to rent the four-storey building to a single office tenant. To launch the new space, the realtor partnered with former AGO curator David Moo and staged “The Invitational,” a four-day art exhibition in late October. While the renovation shocked and saddened some, this event angered many in the arts community.
“‘The Invitational’ has branded itself as an ‘international art exhibition’ but is in fact a poorly disguised real estate ad,” reads an open letter signed by dozens of artists and arts organizations. “The organizers say that this space is ‘open to the public’ while it’s actually being claimed for the wealthy.”
In an email, Ming Zee of Metropolitan Commercial lamented the bad press they’ve received before the project is done and did not want to discuss it in detail until it’s complete.
“The female lion was damaged beyond repair and basically fell to pieces while we were assessing the damage,” he added. “We have plans for two new lions.”
Zee said the lion mural on the back and a mural on the front facade is by artist Kwest, who will also be completing more exterior artwork.
Kwest, who has worked with Drake, also painted a mural around the entry to 310 Spadina Ave., a warehouse building recently renovated by Metropolitan Commercial in a similar black and white style.
The Invitational seems to have come and gone without much of a mark — even its Instagram account has been shut down — but the fear remains that the slickness of this renovation, and the excitement the realty company is trying to incite around it, will drive up area rents in what remains a relative-for-Toronto affordable area downtown.
“We’re in the early transition,” Chan says of the process of Chinatown gentrification. “It’s bound to happen, but so far isn’t happening as fast as other communities.”
She notes some of the many Chinese family associations in the area — organizations formed around people with common surnames — are feeling the pinch of rising costs. She’s largely hopeful though, noting there have been many older Chinese businesses in the area replaced by new ones owned by younger Chinese entrepreneurs.
“I don’t see them being changed over to non-Chinese,” she says.
“I find that very promising. With all the new condos going in at end of Spadina, it’s bringing in a whole new group of potential customers back into the city.”