While some may have considered The Palace Arms’ castle-like architecture and crumbling pink exterior an unusual outlier among the buildings of King Street West — perhaps even an eyesore — many locals are disheartened by the historic landmark’s recent demolition for a new residential tower.
The Romanesque Revival facade of the old hotel-turned-rooming house has defined the corner of King Street and Strachan Avenue for 135 years, remaining one of the few authentic examples of such 19th-century architecture left in the city.
But, the property has long been eyed for redevelopment after being permitted to fall into a state of disrepair that, it now turns out, experts say made its preservation virtually impossible.
While various proposals aimed to incorporate the Palace’s unique exterior into the base of something new, they all appeared to fall flat with the public, largely due to their Frankenstein-like designs that not only failed to honour the original architecture, but seemed to almost insult it.
But, the plan eventually approved by the City has also proven to be a problem now that the Arms is completely gone, with many asking how a structure that has been listed among Toronto’s heritage properties for decades wasn’t better protected, and was allowed to be leveled completely.
“That the city allowed this is a pretty good indicator of the absence of any real political will for historical preservation at city hall,” one person wrote on the topic on Facebook.
“We all know heritage designation doesn’t mean f*** all when there are *UNNAMED DEVELOPERS* and their fire-happy goons around town,” another wrote.
Yet another called on the Toronto Historical Society after spotting pieces of the building littering the parking lot across the street — the lot of a gas station that closed last year, also for the construction of a new residential tower, interestingly enough.
The last vestige of the historic building is sitting abandoned in a defunct parking lot across from the 950 King Street West site.
“This Pissed me off. THIS WAS The Palace Arms, a beautiful old hotel. This shouldn’t have happened. If ya wanna build up, cool, but keep the facade,” the disgruntled passerby wrote, sharing photos of one of the conical roofs from the Arms’ turrets sitting in the abandoned lot.
Commenters on that post found it extra problematic that the official City notice posted outside the building to alert residents to the future changes — which were based on earlier proposals for the lot — insinuated at least part of the older exterior would be retained.
One of many posts on social media from community members who are discouraged with the way this development was allowed to push forward, along with the lack of preservation of Toronto’s historic buildings in general.
The tower replacing the Arms will, for what it’s worth, be rebuilt using a small amount of the original materials that can still be salvaged. Other heritage elements will be reconstructed in their image.
These are requirements that come from the City (in lieu of more extensive conservation) after a heritage consultant hired by the developer concluded that the condition of the pre-existing masonry “would not allow for sufficient retention of original material and would not represent a meaningful conservation treatment of the Palace Arms facades.”
The new build will also be a rental complex with some affordable units, which most would say is an improvement to earlier proposals of yet another investor-geared, likely overpriced condo tower.
