September 1 2012: Couture Condo’s east side, from Mt Pleasant Road
Glassing in: Window and cladding installation is nearly finished on the Couture Condominium tower under construction at 28 Ted Rogers Way (the northernmost block of Jarvis Street, just below Bloor Street). With glass balcony panel installation currently in progress, the tower exterior should look complete within a few weeks.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
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.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
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: 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: 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
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.
2011 is getting off to a foggy, soggy start in Toronto (it’s 10 degrees Celsius and pouring rain as I write), but the wet weather won’t put a damper on the frenetic pace of building activity across the downtown area. When construction gets back to full speed next week once the holiday season has wound down, numerous projects will start, approach or reach significant stages of construction. At least five towers will make a major mark on the city skyline soon. In Yorkville, The Four Seasons Private Residences and Museum House on Bloor, both of which already have a substantial streetscape presence, will be pouring their top floors during the winter. Several blocks south, on Bay Street, the Burano condo tower is quickly climbing high, while the Living Shangri-La Torontoand Trump International Toronto hotel/condo skyscrapers are adding excitement to the Financial District skyline. Market Wharf is doing the same for the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood. In the next few weeks, streetscapes in several different areas will transform as construction climbs above ground level at 77 Charles Westin Yorkville, The L Tower on Yonge Street, Charlie Condos in the Entertainment District, The Modern at Sherbourne and Richmond, and the Clear Spirit tower in the Distillery District. Not too far behind are Aura at College Park on Yonge Street, Cinema Tower on Adelaide Street West, Three Hundred Front Street West, The Residences of Pier 27 on the waterfront, ICE Condos and Infinity3 Condos in the South Financial District, and Couture Condos on Jarvis Street; foundation work and underground levels are progressing fast at all seven sites. In the area bounded by Bloor, Bay, Wellesley and Jarvis Streets, demolition and excavation work should soon get in full swing for five key developments: U Condos, Five Condos, Nicholas Residences, X2 Condos, and the long-awaited One Bloor tower. Digging will get underway in earnest for the Ryerson University Student Learning Centre at Yonge and Gould Streets, and for the Delta Toronto hotel and Bremner Tower office complex in the South Financial District. Meanwhile, construction should soon conclude at the Sherbourne Common park at the waterfront, as well as for the 18 York office tower and seven major residential structures: the Ritz-Carlton Toronto, Crystal Blu Condos, Uptown Residences, James Cooper Mansion, Lumiere Condos, M5V Condos, and the YWCA Elm Centre. I’ll be taking a closer look at each of the above-mentioned projects — and many more hot construction spots — in the weeks ahead.
