Category Archives: James Cooper Mansion

52-storey condo tower proposed for site of historic Selby Hotel on Sherbourne near Bloor

The Clarion Hotel & Suites Selby mansion at 592 Sherbourne Street is where celebrated writer Ernest Hemingway and his wife, Hadley, lived in the 1920s while Hemingway worked as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star.

Tower and townhouses: A condominium complex featuring a 52-storey tower with a 4-level podium and 5 townhouses has been proposed for the site of an historic 130-year-old Victorian mansion on Sherbourne Street near Bloor Street.

Designed by architect David Roberts and constructed in 1882 for the founder of Toronto’s Gooderham and Worts Distillery, the mansion is perhaps best known as the residential hotel where Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Ernest Hemingway lived in the 1920s while working as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star.

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City Scene: Four new towers in north downtown

Landscaping and exterior finishing touches underway at One Bedford & James Cooper Mansion Condos

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April 1 2011: The Bedford Road entrance courtyard to the One Bedford Condos building is now being completed.

April 2 2011: Landscaping work is underway outside the Linden Street townhouses at the James Cooper Mansion Condos complex

Yard work: With winter (hopefully) over at long last, two newly-occupied downtown condo buildings are now getting their landscaping and exterior finishing touches. Work is progressing on the Bedford Road courtyard entrance to the One Bedford Condos on Bloor Street, while landscaping and other outdoor property work is underway at the James Cooper Mansion Condos on Sherbourne Street. Below are some recent pics showing what’s been happening at street level outside both condo buildings over the past several weeks.

March 24 2011: South side of the One Bedford tower viewed from Bloor Street

March 24 2011: The One Bedford Condo tower’s signature rooftop design

March 24 2011: One Bedford Condos upper south floors

April 1 2011: One Bedford Condos penthouse level and upper south floors

March 24 2011: One Bedford Condos southeast view from Bloor Street

March 24 2011: Work orders pasted to the windows of upper east side suites

March 24 2011: Glass and steel entrance canopy in the courtyard off Bedford Road

March 24 2011: One Bedford Condos main entrance off Bedford Road

April 1 2011: Landscaping underway in the Bedford Road courtyard

April 1 2011: The brick facade of the studio of noted Toronto architect John Lyle (1872 – 1945) has been incorporated into the courtyard off Bedford Road.

April 1 2011: Landscaping in progress south of the Lyle Studio facade

April 1 2011: The striking Bedford Road entrance canopy

April 1 2011: Landscaping in progress under the glass and steel canopy

February 16 2011: James Cooper Mansion tower viewed from Sherbourne Street

February 16 2011: James Cooper Mansion Condos viewed from Sherbourne St.

February 16 2011: The north side of the James Cooper Mansion condo complex. The exterior construction elevator has since been removed from the tower.

February 16 2011: James Cooper Mansion Condos south side along Linden Street

February 16 2011: James Cooper Mansion Condos south side walkway

February 16 2011: James Cooper Mansion Condos entrance

February 16 2011: James Cooper Mansion entrance at 28 Linden Street

February 16 2011: Landscaping work still has yet to start outside the James Cooper Mansion Condos townhouses along Linden Street

February 16 2011: Some of the James Cooper Mansion townhouses

February 16 2011: James Cooper Mansion viewed from Linden Street

April 2 2011: Landscaping work well underway outside the townhouses

April 2 2011: Southeast corner awaits landscaping

April 2 2011: Walkway along the Linden Street side of the property

April 2 2011: Southeast corner of the James Cooper Mansion Condos property

April 2 2011: One of Eldon Garnet’s “Inversion” sculptures, part of the public art installation at James Cooper Mansion.

April 2 2011: The north side of the property awaits finishing touches

Gravity-defying moose, foxes and wolves bring call of the wild to downtown condo’s front yard

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One of the sculptures in Toronto artist Eldon Garnet’s latest work, Inversion, at the new James Cooper Mansion condo complex on Sherbourne Street below Bloor.

Wild in the city: A moose was the last thing I expected to see while walking past the new James Cooper Mansion condo building on Sherbourne the other day.

I was on the opposite side of the street, approaching from more than a hundred feet away, when a tall stainless steel platform standing beside the south wall of the historic mansion caught my eye. I could see that a sculpture was mounted on it, but I couldn’t tell what it was — a moose walking down the shiny vertical surface — until I got closer. That’s when I noticed that the antlered acrobat wasn’t alone: nearby were sculptures of other wild animals, including a deer and some fierce-faced gravity-defying wolves and foxes.

Entitled “Inversion,” the captivating sculptures are the work of Eldon Garnet, a Toronto-based artist, photographer, sculptor and writer. A heritage plaque explains that Inversion “is a commentary and a reflection on our urban interaction with nature. Not long ago, the wilderness was considered somewhat threatening and something we should fortify ourselves against. Today, our relationship with nature has turned into a nostalgic yearning to embrace something that no longer exists.”

So very true, though I think that, nowadays, some of the sketchy people wandering our downtown streets look far more menacing than the snarling, ferocious wolf hanging upside down on the Sherbourne Street side of the mansion!

Garnet’s sculptures were stealing glances from a few curious and amused passersby on Thursday, but most pedestrians rushed past without appearing to notice the art. But the creatures will be hard to miss once the chainlink fence surrounding the condo property is removed (which should be soon, since building occupancy begins next month).

Below are photos of the mansion and Garnet’s work; at bottom is an adjustable slideshow of James Cooper Mansion condos construction from start to finish.

Look closely to see a moose, two wolves and a doe outside the mansion at the new James Cooper Mansion condos on Sherbourne Street.

Move-in dates approaching quickly for buyers at James Cooper Mansion condos on Sherbourne St.

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James Cooper Mansion condos on Sherbourne Street January 9 2011

Looking good: “If you think it’s nice on the outside, you should see inside. This place is beautiful!”

That’s what a contractor said when he saw me snapping photos outside the James Cooper Mansion condo tower on Sherbourne Street last weekend.

The Tridel condo project designed by Burka Architects Inc. is close to completion, and the contractor said buyers will probably start moving into the building by the end of the month.

Today, I saw workers putting up signs for a rental office and Tridel customer care centre, so at least parts of the building must be nearly ready for occupancy.

Below are photos I’ve taken of the building in recent weeks.

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Tracking Downtown Toronto's Amazing Building Boom.