The strange thing about heritage in Toronto is that we don't really appreciate what we've got until it's neglected, threatened, or already gone. By the time we get around to caring, it's frequently too late to preserve anything. Yet somehow, perhaps despite ourselves, Toronto is blessed with a sizable complement of heritage buildings scattered throughout the city. The urge to preserve our built heritage stretches back at least 130 years; the York Pioneers, who claim......

Photo by citydweller from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. The Congress for the New Urbanism, North America's leading organization dedicated to urban restoration and renewal, released a list of the ten elevated highways it would most like to see dismantled today. Our much-battered Gardiner was the only Canadian thoroughfare to make the cut, coming in at number nine. Titled "Freeways Without Futures," the report zeroes in on the ten highways whose removal would provide the......

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve. futureBox BY N+S......

Photo by mama loo from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Cities can, should, and may need to start producing much of their own food. Four panellists—a farmer, an historian, an architect, and an activist—collectively presented a vision of cities as centres of agriculture at the From the Ground Up lecture, held Wednesday night at the Gardiner Museum. Urban agriculture provides, according to these speakers, a raft of environmental, social, and economic benefits, and ought to......

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve. Concrete wall near Atkinson Housing Co-op. BY MARCO BUONOCORE......

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve. Untitled BY UWAJEDI......

Last week, Torontoist reported that the Alliance Atlantis–owned Cumberland Cinemas were going to be demolished to make room for a condo development, based on information from the Greater Yorkville Residents' Association (GYRA). In an effort to get some sort of initial confirmation before publishing last Tuesday's article, we tried to call Alliance Atlantis, but had no luck and decided to run the piece with the one source we had. Doing so was an error......

Every Saturday morning, Historicist looks back at the events, places, and characters—good and bad—that have shaped Toronto into the city we know today. Chorley Park, residence of Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, 1923. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1231, Item 79 Visitors to Chorley Park in northeast Rosedale may notice a cul-de-sac roadbed off Douglas Drive that seems out of place with the surrounding greenery and serenity of local residents enjoying a rest on a bench.......

The Cumberland Cinema is being demolished to make room for another towering condo development. We don't know yet when it is going to happen, but we do know that this is a terrible shame: while the loss of the theatre isn’t significant from an architectural or stylistic standpoint, it’s a saddening blow to independent movie fare in the downtown core. The Cumberland is one of the only cinemas in the city to get films that......

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve. Crystallized BY TOMMS......

A month ago, Torontoist noticed a poster showing an interesting building that was supposed to go up over the Berkeley Church. Sadly (for some), this place was not meant to be. City bylaws got in the way of that stacked behemoth, but have no fear, architecture enthusiasts! The building pictured above has complete city support and will be an undeniably controversial sight at Richmond and Widmer streets on the former lot belonging to Joker......

Built in 1890, this elegant Victorian building has been home to just three restaurants since 1921. It has been operating as Peter Pan Bistro since changing owners some thirty-two years ago. Though Peter Pan has received good and bad reviews, it offers vintage tin ceilings and a great view into the heart of Queen Street West. Illustration by Kevin McBride. This is the final installment of Illustration Sunday. Thanks for reading.......

Once home to the railroad-guarding CN Police, this 1920's building sits at the lonely intersection of Cherry and Front Streets. In recent years, it has served as a location for film and television shoots, including the Oscar-winning Chicago. As part of the West Don Lands project, the CN Police Building and the former Canary Restaurant building have been recommended for preservation. Illustration by Kevin McBride.......

King Street East is known for its high-end furniture retailers like Roche Bobois and UpCountry, so it's a bit of a surprise to see the logo for everyone's guilty pleasure, IKEA, on a classy King Street storefront. Torontoist reader Sofi Papamarko asked us to investigate this mysterious downtown presence of the eco-conscious Swedish giant, suggesting that it could be an office furniture location or a boutique IKEA (similar to the Leon's planned for the......

Continuing a popular series from earlier this year, Illustration Sunday will explore some interesting local buildings over the next few weeks. Completed in 1897, this building on the southwest corner of Queen and Sherbourne started out as a hotel. Cited for its "design value as a representative example of a late 19th century corner hotel," the Kormann House is included in the Toronto Heritage Property Inventory. Though vacant for the past few years, this......

Every Wednesday, Torontoist receives transmissions from the travel log of Gleebax, the alien Urbanaut, as he explores the foreign land of Toronto.......

Students of George Brown College are about to get some premium lakefront property. Waterfront Toronto has announced that the college will build a new campus within the upcoming East Bayfront development on a .83 hectare (two-acre) site at the south side of Queens Quay Boulevard, flanked by Lower Jarvis and Lower Sherbourne [map]. The centre is scheduled for completion by 2011, and will house George Brown's Centre for Health Sciences. According to George Brown......

There's a real estate company called Prestige Living, founded earlier this year by 22-year-olds Philip Sywash and Casper Larski. As the company name suggests, it's an upscale-only kinda deal, with houses—well, mansions—starting at $1 million. A vast majority of the houses offered are classy and sophisticated, just what you'd expect and hope for on the outskirts of Toronto for the deep-pocketed. And then there's 2400 Doulton in Port Credit, Mississauga. Currently on the market for......

Continuing a popular series from earlier this year, Illustration Sunday will explore some interesting local buildings over the next few weeks. The property northwest of Black Creek Drive and Eglinton Avenue was once home to the Canadian Kodak Company. Building nine was the Employees’ Building, and it remains the only structure on site. This industrial building provided a cafeteria, gymnasium, weight-lifting facilities, and change rooms for company employees. Although the property has been purchased......

The wheatpaste of Fathima Fahmy was the first to go up just over a month ago. Two stories tall, it stands on the side of a newly-vacant apartment building slated for demolition in the heart of Regent Park. Since then, ten other larger-than-life portraits of other residents like her—those living in the fleet of low-rise buildings that are to be torn down and built on top of as part of Toronto Community Housing's $1 billion......

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve. Sky Pilot BY METRIX X......

When Phase 1 of the National Ballet School was completed just north of Jarvis and Carlton Streets, the "Grand Jeté" project was lauded for its modern but neighbourhood-appropriate design, as well as its restoration of incorporated heritage structures like the former Havergal Ladies' College and Northfield House. Once the flagship school was complete, a less ostentatious but just as impressive renovation was quietly conducted on another property owned by the NBS at Maitland and......

According to the National Post, the Berkeley Playing Fields—the high-rise condo development that Torontoist reported on recently—is not going to happen. The report states that the $100 million project wasn’t feasible for a number of reasons, mainly that the new building would reach over the church, which is a historic building. There were also some issues with overhang above the sidewalk. The Post article implies that the City believes that any sort of new-fangled......

If writing about music is like dancing about architecture, then there's probably no easy way to write about dancing choreographed to music composed about architecture. Except, perhaps, by making comparisons to movies.......

Every so often a building is unveiled that causes Torontoist to twitter with preteen enthusiasm: "OMGz!!! WTF is that!? That is sooooo cool!!!" The ROM Crystal is one of them, the AGO is too, and so is the building pictured to the right. That building wasn’t so much unveiled as stumbled upon by Urban Toronto Forum member current, who saw the poster and thought it seemed pretty neat. But wait just one second—where’s the......

As far as people's choice awards for architecture go, the Argyle Authentic Lofts (above, top) were all but a shoo-in. Old and new, pretty but reserved, the project was predictably named the most-loved entrant in this year's Pug Awards on Wednesday night, with an overwhelming 91.4% of the more than 50,000 voters saying they loved it. And why not? As Philip Preville put it this morning, the building is "pure heritage preservation." Though Preville......

Two weeks ago there was the unveiling of a new jittery logo, and now an end to the Art Gallery of Ontario's seemingly never-ending state of construction is finally near. A public opening date of November 14 has been announced for the museum, which has been under various states of transformation since 2005 and closed since October 2007. That first day in November, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will be inaugurating the building with a......

After more than twenty months of renovations that saw the building completely gutted, the S. Walter Stewart branch of the Toronto Public Library is finally reopening tomorrow. If you grew up in East York, you're probably familiar with the building. Named after a long-serving member of the East York Public Library Board and now part of the amalgamated Toronto Public Library, S. Walter Stewart was originally opened in 1960 as the Borough of East......

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve. dance BY JHCCHENG......

Destruction of the line of gorgeous 19th-century houses on the corner of Charles and St. Thomas is now fully underway, their demolition the final step to make way for the construction of The St. Thomas, a twenty-three storey condo tower. It will be the third tower at the intersection, just north of 77 Charles Street West, a sixteen-storey condo (that will necessitate demolishing Lycée Français de Toronto, a french school); and just west of......