Toronto's King Street castle is no more — and locals aren't happy about it

Michael Smee · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 24, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

A section landmark astatine King Street and Strachan Avenue has been razed, raising concerns among neighbours astir whether the city's doing capable to support practice structures.

The turreted, 135-year-old Palace Arms Hotel is scheduled to beryllium reconstructed utilizing galore of the structure's archetypal materials — one of the conditions the metropolis placed connected the developer successful speech for support to teardrop down the practice hotel.

But a rebuild of the archetypal is acold comfortableness to Gene Threndyle, who's lived successful the neighbourhood for decades. He wonders whether the metropolis did capable to guarantee the edifice was preserved.

"It looked similar a small castle ... it did adhd thing to the streetscape," helium told CBC Toronto. "There should beryllium much than oversight. There should beryllium a unit that's really invested successful this."

The archetypal Palace Arms Hotel and Tavern was a neighbourhood fixture for implicit 100 years, according to a 2023 unit report, and has been connected the city's database of practice properties since 1984.

A practice listing makes immoderate operation successful the metropolis challenging — but not impossible — to demolish. The Palace Arms property, owned by a improvement consortium that includes Greenwin Corp., Intentional Capital and Windsor Private Capital, has been the taxable of a redevelopment exertion since 2018, erstwhile the owners revealed plans to redevelop the site.

Council gave the developer the close to physique the project connected the information that the Palace's archetypal facade beryllium saved.

In 2021, the consortium unveiled plans for a 14-story mixed use apartment building, to see 231 rental units, 40 of which are to beryllium designated affordable.

However by the extremity of 2023, it had go apparent to some the developer's consultant, Bousfields Inc., and metropolis readying staff that the brickwork was excessively acold gone to beryllium saved.

"While the demolition/dismantling of a practice gathering is regrettable, unit hold with the applicant's practice advisor that the information of the masonry does not let for capable retention of archetypal worldly and would not correspond a meaningful conservation attraction of the Palace Arms facades," a metropolis unit study from 2023 says. 

Council agreed to power gears and let the owners to demolish the gathering — with immoderate conditions.

The institution pledged to salvage and re-use a twelve elements from the archetypal building.

The developers person lived up to each 12 conditions, "either done salvage and reinstatement successful the reconstructed building, oregon done reconstruction," Jocelyn Deeks, a spouse with Bousfields, told CBC Toronto successful an email.

"The features that person been salvaged and volition beryllium reinstated: conical turret roof, the bay window, the chromatic banding, columns, dentil moulding and lintels, the signage, the pressed metallic brackets and cornices, and stained-glass windows," she said.

"The features that volition beryllium reconstructed: the historical ceramic arches and openings, arsenic good arsenic the wood elements."

Adam Wynne, seat of the city's Toronto and East York Community Preservation Panel, said helium and different practice advocates are little than pleased with the outcome. 

"I deliberation determination is simply a capableness possibly to person a longer play for dialog with these projects to find a solution that's much amenable to preservation of the building," helium said.

Wynne besides said the Palace is not alone. It's conscionable 1 of respective redevelopment projects successful which the archetypal operation was wholly torn down and replaced, helium said, utilizing arsenic galore of the building's archetypal materials arsenic possible.

He points to a artifact of Victorian homes connected Shuter Street in the Garden District. The homes were to beryllium afloat retained during redevelopment, helium said, but were demolished aft structural issues were discovered.

On Markham Street, different Victorian location was demolished and rebuilt recently, aft issues with the operation and masonry were uncovered. And connected Market Street, a practice gathering was demolished but rebuilt utilizing the aforesaid bricks, retaining immoderate of the structure's practice attributes.

"Whether the metropolis needs to tighten its policies astir the demolition and reconstruction of this benignant of gathering - that whitethorn beryllium thing worthy exploring," helium said. "There could person been much intensive practice masonry exploration done for retaining the gathering successful situ alternatively than the implicit demolition and reconstruction."

As overmuch arsenic these older buildings mean to a neighbourhood, rebuilding older practice properties utilizing salvaged materials is simply a overmuch much analyzable process than the mean person might think, said Michael McClelland, a practice designer and subordinate of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.

"It truly needs to beryllium handled by skilled conservationists," McClelland said of practice preservation projects generally. "The trades are the astir important people."

And portion each facets of a practice revival task are complicated, helium says the toughest occupation is astir apt rebuilding ceramic and masonry, due to the fact that it's truthful hard to lucifer the styles that were fashionable successful the past.

Professionals request to measure whether a operation is unchangeable capable to withstand a restoration project; whether a wall, for instance, is truthful damaged by decades of h2o that it's nary longer salvageable,.

"It's a hard telephone to make," McClelland said. "It's besides precise expensive."

Materials tin besides beryllium hard to travel by, helium said. "There are bricks with rounded corners - they're not made anymore."

Some are arguing that arsenic overmuch arsenic the edifice volition beryllium missed, Torontonians request to travel to grips with a much pressing problem: The request for housing.

Mark Richardson, with the affordable lodging advocacy radical HousingNOWTO.com, raises a conception that's unthinkable to galore past buffs: Heritage buildings whitethorn person to beryllium sacrificed successful favour of affordable homes, if the metropolis is superior astir providing affordable housing.

"These neighbourhoods person to alteration and immoderate of these aged ceramic buildings person to go," Richardson told CBC Toronto. "And sometimes they're not going to travel backmost due to the fact that our prime is ... clasp the aged bricks or bash different half-a-dozen, twelve affordable lodging units.

"I'll marque that commercialized each time of the week," helium said.

Threndyle says he's connected committee with the thought that we request housing. But helium says determination should beryllium country for some caller builds and a consciousness of past connected the city's streets.

"We should inactive person neighbourhoods that are not alienating," helium said. "We should inactive person absorbing architecture. We should inactive person a lively, viable city."

CBC Toronto has reached retired to metropolis readying unit for their thoughts connected the Palace Arms project. So acold they person not responded.