Bloor Street regained its stature as Toronto's grandiose architectural canvas with the unveiling of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal at the Royal Ontario Museum last week.
The last time downtown Bloor Street launched an architecturally-challenging cultural marvel was 1949, when the University Theatre opened just east of Avenue Road. The theatre closed in 1986 to become a parking lot, leaving only its gently curving façade.
In the late 1990s, the theatre site was reincarnated as a dour Pottery Barn next to an adjacent luxury high-rise condominium. Yes, a Pottery Barn is where one of Canada's most striking postwar cinemas once stood. I could not possibly make this up. Right across the street from the Club Monaco in the riveting neoclassical Department of Household Sciences building formerly belonging to the University of Toronto.
The verdict is still out on the spatial qualities of the ROM Crystal and architect Daniel Libeskind's addition. Everybody seems to have a passionate opinion on the piercing ornament one way or the other. The fact that there's actually a debate among the citizenry is heart-warming for the sole reason that Torontonians are no longer prepared to sit idly by and watch their city be defiled by monuments to mediocrity like the Rogers Centre.
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Whatever you think of the Crystal, there is no doubt that it has raised the bar for dramatic design in the Bloor corridor after a drab period. The ROM rebirth is drawing attention to the opportunities to make grand architectural statements on the historic boulevard.
As Globe columnist John Bentley Mays has written in this section recently, the ROM brain trust may be looking to bookend the Crystal with a towering luxury condominium on the south side of the museum, the site of the derelict McLaughlin planetarium.
It would be the second effort to build such a project. In late 2005, ROM and Graywood Developments backed down from a proposed 46-storey super-luxury condominium, with suites sporting an average price of $3-million. Local residents were unimpressed and mobilized a loud and confrontational campaign to stop the tower, and ROM officials have been very sensitive to possible blowback in expressing their high-rise aspirations.
The now-crystallized ROM will soon be at the epicentre of a high-end condominium neighbourhood radiating from Bloor Street and University Avenue. It remains to be seen whether the ROM's fastidious attention to sweeping, cutting-edge design will spill over onto these projects. But you can always dream.
Across Bloor Street from the ROM, two luxury condominiums are planned to replace a jumbled smattering of mid-rise office space, retail and chain restaurants.
One Bedford, a 32-storey luxury condominium by Lanterra Developments, is now under construction after a surviving a tough row with residents' groups opposed to it.
The suites range in price from $591,000 to nearly $2.4-million, so it appeals to those with finer tastes. The glass and limestone exterior, with the tower settling in the middle of an eight-storey podium, does make a striking statement without being obstructive or garish.
Designed by architect Bruce Kuwabara, there is a lot to recommend One Bedford if you have an eye for nice finishes and multiple outdoor terraces and lounging areas.
Museum House, a 19-storey condominium on Bloor just west of Avenue Road, takes the luxury up a notch, with prices starting at $1.6-million and going up to just over $4-million. It's being developed by Yorkville Corp., which is no stranger to super-luxury condominiums in the neighbourhood.
There's only 26 suites, so you won't have to worry about a lot of neighbours, with suites starting at 1,942 square feet and going up to 5,618. On most floors there are only two suites, with access from private elevator.
The interior design team of David Powell and Fenwick Bonnell have lent a Zen flavour to many key rooms, such as the dining room and bathrooms.
The glass-and-limestone exterior, as with One Bedford, does not dominate Bloor Street. It's a long and narrow structure, with the width fronting on Bloor.
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