[Doppleganger]

Everyone - don't worry - this ain't getting built in this market.

I suppose what worries me most is the seeming alacrity with which the city approved this. The precedent was set long ago and is based on a false premise of historical/architectural conservancy that has now become dogma at city hall, namely that by preserving a facade or two or incorporating a portion of an existing structure into a new build, we are somehow paying stewardship to our past. Taken to its extreme, this same disregard for our built heritage is what led to the loss of some of this city's finest architectural treasures, including the old art deco 'Toronto Star Building' in 1972, the Georgian terraced 'Walnut Hall' in 2006, and now, potentially, even the 1958 mid-century modern 'Shell Oil Building' at 505 University Ave.

 

[Dark Tower]

I suppose what worries me most is the seeming alacrity with which the city approved this. The precedent was set long ago and is based on a false premise of historical/architectural conservancy that has now become dogma at city hall, namely that by preserving a facade or two or incorporating a portion of an existing structure into a new build, we are somehow paying stewardship to our past. Taken to its extreme, this same disregard for our built heritage is what led to the loss of some of this city's finest architectural treasures, including the old art deco 'Toronto Star Building' in 1972, the Georgian terraced 'Walnut Hall' in 2006, and now, potentially, even the 1958 mid-century modern 'Shell Oil Building' at 505 University Ave.

Yes this is a bad result caused by City Hall, but not in the way you are suggesting. By restricting new density to a few small pockets of the city under the banner of “protecting” low-density neighborhoods, they’ve created a perverse incentive. Demand for housing becomes so high that eventually it becomes accretive to build on top of already dense properties because that is the only place the CIty will allow new density. At some point we have to accept that time moves forward and old buildings will need to be torn down to build new ones. We have to decide as a city if we want stuff like this to keep happening or lose a few victorian semis.