James Cooper Mansion | Approved | 32 st | Downtown

[The 'Sauga]

http://www.tridel.com/jamescoopermansion/info.php

Location: 625 Sherbourne


http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/5333/dsc03656jc4.jpg

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/2930/dsc03657qz6.jpg

[ale26]

Love the building but hate the area...

[VikkyD]

Hm... I like it. What are they doing with the interior of the historical building? making it into residences? cause that'd be alright...

The design reminds me of Cityplace's Montage.... and.. many other condos of the same boring style..... OH well.

[phunky]

Very nice building! Reminds me of 22 Wellesley. Which also makes me wonder.. what is on the hidden side of the render...

[Filip]

Beautiful...

[KGB]

Love the building but hate the area...

mmmm....yea, it's next door to St Jamestown, and has a bit of that east-side scuzzyness to it, but this is just south of Bloor, and if you ask me, that section between Sherbourne and Jarvis has huge potential. I think it's a no-brainer gentrifiction magnet, and so does Tridel, as this is not their only project in the nabe.

Subway practically next doesn't hurt either.





KGB

[urban 2.0]

http://www.tridel.com/jamescoopermansion/info.php

Location: 625 Sherbourne


http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/5333/dsc03656jc4.jpg

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/2930/dsc03657qz6.jpg



... wouldn't it be neat if the foregound photo was the Before and the building behind was the after? ... just a thought.

Toronto a Facade of a City!

[monkeyronin]

Toronto a Facade of a City!

You never run out of dumb things to say, do you?

[Taller, Better]

That is the old Knights of Columbus building. Wonder who came up with the moniker "mansion"?
Hope they don't do the same thing to the old Selby Hotel.... a lot of history there. Sad to see it as a HoJo's, or Clarion or whatever it is now.

[outinleftfield]

Was much more fun when we could dance and drink there, wasn't it, Taller? :banana: :cheers:

[bar1967]

was that the location of the old Boots nightclub? Fond memories!!!

[urban 2.0]

You never run out of dumb things to say, do you?

... actually there's some truth to my statement - this city believes that just saving the facade of a building is good enough.

1 Queen East - the BMO building, 1 King West, inside BCE place - the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

Maybe we should start saving buildings! What a novel idea?!

[monkeyronin]

... actually there's some truth to my statement - this city believes that just saving the facade of a building is good enough.

1 Queen East - the BMO building, 1 King West, inside BCE place - the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

Maybe we should start saving buildings! What a novel idea?!

Well it has space around it, meaning it is ripe for development, except,this one isn't even so bad. The entire building is staying as is, and is just being connected to the new part. Better than all that shitty facadism where they just shave off the front of the building and use that on the new one.

[Taller, Better]

... actually there's some truth to my statement - this city believes that just saving the facade of a building is good enough.

1 Queen East - the BMO building, 1 King West, inside BCE place - the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

Maybe we should start saving buildings! What a novel idea?!


Urban, if you had taken the time to look at the photo you would have seen that the entire Knights of Columbus building is intact. You have your agenda, so please don't let facts get in the way of your grandstanding.

Jasperhouse, this is your cue to pop up and start ranting that it should be a garden or a park and not a horrendous pile of glass and steel. I think I am seeing a pattern here.


Was much more fun when we could dance and drink there, wasn't it, Taller? :banana: :cheers:

Man, if those old walls could talk they would still be blushing!

was that the location of the old Boots nightclub? Fond memories!!!

Boots and Buds!! Ah yes... waaaaay too much fun!! Should be a historical site just for that reason!

[current]

Here are some images from the builders' web site. The restored historical James Cooper Mansion will house amenities and there are floor plans. http://www.tridel.com/jamescoopermansion/

http://www.tridel.com/jamescoopermansion/images/building_440.jpg

http://www.tridel.com/jamescoopermansion/images/masterplan_498.jpg

http://www.tridel.com/jamescoopermansion/images/3d_siteplan_750.jpg

http://www.tridel.com/images/buildings/jamescoopermansion_320.jpg

http://www.tridel.com/jamescoopermansion/images/building_295.jpg

http://www.tridel.com/jamescoopermansion/images/1st_amenity_640.jpg

http://www.tridel.com/jamescoopermansion/images/2nd_amenity_640.jpg

http://www.tridel.com/jamescoopermansion/images/3rd_amenity_640.jpg

This information is from the Toronto Star:

JAMES COOPER MANSION: Linden St., west of Sherbourne St., south of Bloor St. E. Builder: Tridel. A 32-storey building plus four condominium townhouses. The restored historical James Cooper Mansion will house amenities. Prices, fees: unknown. Amenities: fitness centre, parlour, theatre room, billiards. Sales: opening late to mid-August. Status: construction not started. Occupancy: summer 2010. Sales centre: 2 Carlton St., northeast corner of Carlton and Yonge Sts., 416-596-9888; http://www.tridel.com/jamescoopermansion/

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/250820

[CrazyCanuck]

I like this one, a nice addition to the area. The workout room looks really nice.

[urban 2.0]

So will this building be visible from Yonge? - meaning looking down the street

[rapideye95]

I grew up spending a lot of time in the Knights of Columbus building.

My grandfather is a long time volunteer there and was grand knight at one point....It's sad to see what is going to happen.

I knew an old man named Arthur ..who lived there for many years.

Great bar and pool table on the 2nd floor....Great pleace to lounge and chill.



The funny thing was my Dad kept talking about a gay bar/hotel that was close by....Little did I know that is was the Selby....


At least they are going to restore the external part of the building...It will drastically improve the area....Good area to move into if you have kids and you want them to go to a french school.

Sacre-Coeur is right there....

If it IS still there

[urban 2.0]

http://www.tridel.com/jamescoopermansion/images/3d_siteplan_750.jpg

.... look at how Tridel misleads you with the shadow cast! Their half of what all other buildings the same height cast!

[LordMandeep]

nice to some development in that section of the city.

Now if it could more down to Queen and Dundas...

[caltrane74]

East Side Gentrification!!!

[current]

From todays Toronto Star:

Tridel's mansion transfer a $1M deal
This will be Canada's largest and heaviest residential move ever, movers tell architect

Nov 03, 2007 04:30 AM
Blake Purdy
special to the star

You thought your last household move was an arduous task?

Consider the heavy lifting Tridel must do before starting construction of a highrise condominium project in Toronto's core.

When the developer bought the property on the northwest corner of Sherbourne and Linden Sts., just south of Bloor St. E., the site came with a number of buildings.

Chief among those and integral to Tridel's plans is the James Cooper mansion.

Built in 1882 as a single-family home, it later became a centre for treating addictions and was then used for the better part of a century by the Knights of Columbus, which hosted community activities in ancillary buildings they erected.

The three-storey Cooper building is a behemoth. It originally contained eight bedrooms, is 7,000 square feet and weighs in at about 800 tons. Now, Tridel must move it. Not once, but twice. "The mover has claimed it will be the largest residential building move in Canada, the heaviest ever," says Phil Goldsmith.

He has been hired by Tridel as the restoration architect on the Cooper mansion, which will be incorporated into the condo development as its amenities centre, slated for completion in 2010.

"We understood this was not going to be straightforward or easy to do," says Jim Ritchie, senior vice-president of sales and marketing for Tridel. "We like those types of challenges."

The Cooper mansion will be lifted off its foundation, likely in December, and relocated to another part of the lot, which at 175 by 460 feet, doesn't allow for much wiggle room. Tridel will then excavate a portion of the property to start building the parking garage and other underground infrastructure needed to serve the residents of approximately 280 units in the 32-storey tower. The mansion will then be shifted again so the underground work can be finished.

By the time the Cooper mansion is in its final resting place, closer to Sherbourne than it is now, it will be 20 feet from its original spot. Price tag for the move alone: $1 million.

"When Tridel acquired this property in 2005, we understood that the hard way was the best way," company president Leo DelZotto says.

It was the second time the Knights of Columbus had listed the site for sale.

"Many others were interested in the property but they did not follow through, because of the cost and effort (required) to preserve the heritage of the site," DelZotto says.

Tridel felt otherwise and hired Goldsmith. "As restorations go, it's largish but not large," says the principal in the firm of Goldsmith Borgal & Co. Architects.

"The house is quite robust and in pretty good condition," says Goldsmith, who was a primary architect on the National Ballet School's sites on Jarvis and Maitland Sts.

The mansion is "one of the best examples in Toronto" of the Second Empire style of architecture, he says. "Every single element of the building that can be decorated is decorated."

Its exterior features mostly red brick trimmed with golden sandstone, wood and galvanized iron. The building has a slate roof with soaring chimneys, large bay windows with rounded corners and a decorative arch over the front door.

The interior's highlights include what Goldsmith describes as "incredibly fine dark and very rich woodwork that hasn't been painted," a half-dozen fireplaces with "spectacular" mantels and over-mantels, and built-in window shutters that are "remarkable survivors of another era."

"In the 30 years I've been doing this work, this is one of the finest historic interiors I've seen. The quality of the woodwork, the plaster, the molding, the flooring, the other decorative finishes ... it's just gorgeous, gorgeous 1880s work. It's top-quality work.

"We're not altering the appearance of the building," Goldsmith says. Instead, Ritchie explains, "We're going to bring it back to its original glory."

James Cooper was a partner in the firm of Sessions, Carpenter and Co.

"I like to think of him as the Bata of old Toronto – a very successful shoe importer, exporter, manufacturer," Goldsmith says.

After Cooper died, 100 or so years ago, the building became home to the Keeley Institute for Nervous Diseases for the rehabilitation of addicts. The Knights of Columbus acquired the property in 1910 and eventually added an assembly hall and other buildings. The Catholic fraternal service organization used the site until a couple of years ago for charitable fundraising events. Goldsmith says it was "a very active place for a lot of years."

It is expected to be bustling again early in 2010 after Tridel finishes the $91-million condo development, to be called the James Cooper Mansion project. The company says 70 per cent of the suites have been sold already.

Plans for the mansion-cum-amenities centre were unveiled Thursday at an on-site event.

Being connected to the highrise by a glass cube, the amenities centre will include a parlour, a theatre, a billiards lounge and a party room. It will also feature an exercise area and a weight room – for people who really enjoy moving and heavy lifting.

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/272125

[Skybean]

Wow 70% sold already? How long has this project been on the market?

[CrazyCanuck]

1 million for 20 feet, wow.

[LordMandeep]

Wow 70% sold already? How long has this project been on the market?

tidel is known to be a really good builder and add in the fact the project looks good, i am not that surprised.

[tridelwebmaster]

I have photos and a video I made of the first move of the Mansion on the Tridel website: http://tridel.com/jamescoopermansion/construction.php.

The final move to push it towards Sherbourne will take place later this year.

[catcher_of_cats]

Taken last week

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