Category Archives: 200 Wellesley East

Phoenix mural brightens St James Town skyline

August 24 2013: It’s only partly complete, but the phoenix mural being painted on the south wall of 200 Wellesley Street East has already brightened the building — and the St James Town skyline. I shot this photo from three blocks to the southwest at the corner of Homewood Avenue and Maitland Place.

August 24 2013: A view of the phoenix mural from one block east of the building at the intersection of Wellesley and Ontario Streets

Neighbourhood youth initiative: On September 24 2010, thousands of people in the northeast downtown area watched and worried as flames and smoke billowed from windows and a balcony at 200 Wellesley Street East, a Toronto Community Housing rental apartment highrise in St James Town. The intense six-alarm fire destroyed a 24th-floor apartment on the tower’s west side, and displaced more than a thousand building residents from their homes — some for many months.

The damage was repaired and residents returned to their apartments ages ago, but 200 Wellesley is once again attracting attention from people across northeast downtown. This time it’s a colourful giant mural, rather than smoke and flames, that has been turning heads and making people take a close look at the 43-year-old building.

Rising the entire 250-foot length of 200 Wellesley’s 29-storey south wall, the multicoloured painting of a bird soaring skyward will be the tallest public art installation in Toronto, and might even be the tallest in the world.

This rendering provided by The STEPS Initiative shows how the phoenix mural will look once painting is complete. A July 31 2013 report on the Torontoist website features another rendering that includes details from the base of the mural.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Pages: 1 2

External repairs nearly finished at fire-damaged 200 Wellesley St. E. apartment highrise

Leave a reply

Brickwork back in place: Contractors have almost finished repairing the exterior of the St James Town apartment tower at 200 Wellesley Street East, which was severely damaged by a fire last September.

As I reported in a January 19 post, contractors had to remove part of the external walls and brickwork for at least three apartment units affected by the fire. (The photo below, from February 1, shows some of the extensive fire repair work that took place during much of the winter.)

The walls have since been rebuilt, and the brickwork replaced on the exterior. But the plastic sheeting on two balconies indicates that some other work is continuing on the units ravaged most severely by the seven-alarm blaze.

Aftermath of the big fires: Empty lot at 335 Yonge; 200 Wellesley undergoes major structural repairs

Leave a reply

Empty lot where heritage building once stood at 335 Yonge Street

Major structural repairs to three floors at 200 Wellesley Street East

Cleaning up: Two fires that made headlines four months apart have left their mark on downtown Toronto. The heritage building at 335 Yonge Street that was irreparably damaged in a fire early in January has been completely demolished; all that remains is an empty lot where the historic structure used to stand, and scorch marks on the walls of the 10 Dundas Street East entertainment complex and HMV store next door. The only good news — for drivers and pedestrians, anyways — is that the road and sidewalks should be re-opened for full regular traffic soon, for the first time since part of the brick facade of 335 Yonge collapsed onto Gould Street last April. Hoarding that surrounded the site was removed this week, and barricades that restricted vehicular and pedestrian traffic on the east side of Yonge Street should be dismantled shortly. What will become of the property now that the fire debris has been cleared away remains to be seen. Meanwhile, major structural surgery is being performed on the exterior skin of 200 Wellesley Street East as cleanup continues on damage from a September blaze that displaced hundreds of residents from their apartments. A three-storey-tall section of the building’s west wall has been cut away, and crews have been working for weeks on major repairs to at least three balconies. Looks like it will be many weeks, if not months, before several dozen residents will be able to return to their homes (most tenants have been allowed back in). Below are photos taken this week at each of the two fire scenes.

Yonge Street view of 335 Yonge Street fire site on February 3

Gould Street view of 335 Yonge Street on February 3

200 Wellesley Street East fire repairs on February 1

Extensive structural repairs underway to exterior of highrise apartment where Sept. fire started

Leave a reply

Contractors repair fire damage at 200 Wellesley East on January 19 2011

Costly cleanup: Repairing damage from the September 24 apartment fire at 200 Wellesley Street East has become a huge — and, quite obviously, hugely expensive — undertaking.

As I reported in a post on January 13, crews recently started repair work on the outside of the highrise tower. On that day, jackhammering could be heard from an elevated work platform positioned outside the 24th floor apartment where the blaze is believed to have started. Today, the result of all the drilling and hammering was apparent: crews have cut a huge two-storey-tall hole in the tower’s west wall.

In December, it appeared that external building damage had largely been fixed — the fire-charred, smoke-stained brickwork and balcony panels looked freshly cleaned and repainted. But now that a significant segment of the building’s outside wall has been removed, it’s clear the fire damage was incredibly extensive. Below are pics of repair work in progress this afternoon.

Balcony repairs one floor above fire location at 200 Wellesley

Hole cut in outside wall for repairs to fire-damaged apartment

Crew repairs fire-damaged 24th floor apartment at 200 Wellesley

Exterior repairs underway at fire ravaged highrise

Leave a reply

External fire damage repair work at 200 Wellesley St E on January 13 2011

237 tenants still displaced: Three and a half months after a 7-alarm blaze ravaged the 29-storey 200 Wellesley St. E. apartment building in St James Town, major repair work has commenced on the outside of the 41-year-old tower.

The blaze raged for hours on the evening of Friday, September 24, causing extensive fire, smoke and water damage to dozens of apartments in the 711-unit building. Interior repairs commenced a few days after fire investigators examined the site; however, more than 1,200 residents were left homeless for weeks. Most have since been allowed to move back, but nearly 240 tenants are still living in hotels while repairs to their apartments continue.

Smoke and fire damage to the tower’s white exterior brickwork and balcony panels was largely cleaned up by November, and in December workers could be seen performing what appeared to be structural repairs to the ceilings and floors of several balconies close to the 24th-floor apartment in which the fire is believed to have started.

Last week, contractors draped protective green shrouds over two rows of balconies, and installed a platform elevator up the side of the tower. This afternoon, the sound of drills and jackhammers echoed through the neighbourhood as workers toiled outside the 24th floor fire scene. It likely will be weeks, if not months, before the repairs are finally finished and everyone is allowed to move back home.

Local newspaper coverage of the blaze included this story from the Toronto Star, and this report from The Globe and Mail. More recently, the Star published this story about a class action lawsuit being pursued by tenants. Below are photos of fire damage to the building exterior, as well as recent repair work.