Posts Tagged ‘Guild Inn Studio’
Toronto Star’s The Fixer on the Guild Inn
Jack Lakey is more effective than most in getting information out of City Hall. His columns have placed very public pressure on the right people to get things done. Lakey has written a number of times on the state of the Guild Inn, a torn Canadian flag left flying at the site, a flooded Studio basement left to freeze over the winter and cause damage, and now about a barricade that is blocking access to the Guild Inn for non pedestrians.
Last night I took a walk to the Guild Inn to see the site for the first time since my visit on Christmas Afternoon. There was a security guard sitting in an idling Jeep (probably just to keep warm) in front of the barricade who I asked for permission before entering the site. It so happens Lakey’s article today was about the barricade, but what is more important the status of the Guild Inn Studio as it current stands.
It is important to remember that the Guild Inn Studio is a listed heritage building. According to Lakey’s article the Ontario Fire Marshal has decided an investigation wasn’t necessary… No? Do abandoned buildings really just light up on their own? To me this seems like the complete wrong way to go. Workers were in the building the day before it burned. A resident heard an explosion just before 5am when the fire started. We all know the City of Toronto has neglected the site for years, that they denied funding to maintain the main Guild Inn building so that they could make way for demolition. To me, there seems to be enough to investigate.
The next part of Lakey’s article that is concerning is that it appears the City of Toronto is allowing it’s insurer is conducting an investigation to “determine if there is any chance of saving the studio”. With the greatest respect to folks who work in the insurance industry, this is a heritage building and therefore surely it is not as easy as it is to determine the viability of salvaging other kinds of buildings. What I saw yesterday was not promising. It is clear that the fire has gutted much of the more ornate portion of the building. The second floor is entirely collapsed and there is no roof left over at least one third of the building. The damage is certainly bad, but the decision should not be made by an insurer, considering it’s unique heritage status.
Here is the link to Lakey’s article from today’s Toronto Star. “
No Comments »Globe and Mail Guild Inn Coverage
Globe and Mail reporter Amanda Truscott wrote an article in today’s paper Locals worry art studio fire will hold back area revitalization. I am biased as I was interviewed for the piece, but I was happy to see that the President of the Guildwood Village Community Association and I share a similar sentiment about the Guild Inn being a Scarborough treasure and not a City of Toronto treasure as being part of what is holding back it’s redevelopment.
It’s New Years Eve, a day I’d perfer to not devote to anything political, so I will stop here, but I did want to share the post fire coverage.
No Comments »More Guild Inn Studio Pictures and Commentary
I received two additional pictures of the Guild Inn Studio I promised to share. They are both of the a fireplace in the Studio. I also want to share a comment that was made to me regarding the fire on Christmas morning. A resident who lives near the site reported hearing an explosion just before 5am when the fire is said to have started. I do hope Toronto Fire Services does a proper investigation into the causes of the fire and that those results are shared publicly.
The Scarborough Mirror also wrote an article about the Guild Inn Fire that included some commentary by Councillor Ainslie. My biases are known in this regard, but one of his comments seemed particularly ridiculous and completely without any factual merit.
“It’s a piece of the Guild Inn I would have liked to have seen preserved…It seems we keep taking two steps forward and one step back.” - Councillor Paul Ainslie
By way of simple facts, Councillor Ainslie supports the demolition of the main building – the Bickford Inn and has since at least 2005. He has supported up to 200 private, individually owned condo units operating as a hotel, and has supported the long term lease (read privatization) of 7.5 acres of parkland that would include some if not all of the garden area to a developer.
I strongly believe that the Guild Inn site should be preserved and serve a public and community use. I do not support any demolition of heritage buildings and find it laughable that a guy would honestly try and say ‘shucks that building burned… it was the only one I wanted to preserve’ while the Bickford Inn building, which is arguably more significant by way of heritage is likely to be demolished, and that is something he has and does fully support.
By way of taking two steps forward and one step back, if we explore this for a moment we will see his stint as Councillor has seen nothing but total failure to move the Guild Inn file forward. Councillor Ainslie was elected at a time when Westinde – an Ottawa based developer with considerable experience building Denny’s and strip malls in Ontario, was basically ready to go but could not find a site operator. Plans were drawn up, the necessary approvals were there, everything but demolition, sales of the condo units, and the construction had happened. In January 2007 – two months into his term, they walked away from the site, putting it back to square one. That same winter the Studio flooded and water was allowed to freeze causing damage and mould within the building the City was prepared to preserve. This September the City announced that Centennial College was interested (they have also been interested before) and agreed to enter into discussions with them. No plan has taken shape, no approvals have been given from Council, no money allocated, no timelines given and now a heritage building has burned down. So plans are farther behind then they were when he took office and the site is down a heritage building, and he supports the demolition of the more significant heritage building.
Does anyone see any steps forward?
Finally, back to the pictures. Below are a before and after of the fireplace in the Studio. Notice the round top of the fireplace in the first picture and then look beyond the stairs in the second picture and see the round top in the bottom right hand corner.
Fire place inside Studio, Summer 2008
Studio Stairs and Fire Places, Winter 2008
Photos by Jeanette Mahon, Guildwood Resident
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