Yorkville residents say a heritage coach house will “destroy” their neighbourhood
In the annals of Toronto NIMBYism, this one is destined to become a classic. In a clever inversion of the usual script (wherein pitchfork-waving townsfolk complain about a developer’s plan to tear down an old building), some Yorkville residents are objecting to a businessman’s bid to move a heritage building into their community.
The coach house in question, a 125-year-old heritage property that currently stands at 119 Isabella Street, is home to Casey House Foundation, an HIV/AIDS charity. To make way for a new treatment centre, the foundation plans to level the property next fall. In a last-ditch bid to save the building, Ward 27 councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam has been offering it for free to anyone willing to pay for it to be moved off-site.
At first, the offer seemed like a nonstarter, but the Star reports that Wong-Tam has found a taker. Robert Hiscox, a Toronto entrepreneur, has agreed to spend around a million dollars to move the whole building to a spot on Molson Street, in north Yorkville.
But there are complications. For one thing, the move would require the city to make all sorts of complicated exceptions to its by-laws; for another, neighbours say the introduction of the historic building would utterly decimate their way of life. “It’s just plain ugly,” Peter Rehak, one of several participants in a recent community meeting about the proposal, told the Star. “It would destroy how the neighbourhood is set up.” The site is currently occupied by a three-car garage, as God apparently intended.
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/yorkville-residents-say-heritage-coach-house-will-destroy-neighbourhood/&title=Yorkville residents say a heritage coach house will “destroy” their neighbourhood&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/119-isabella-street-624x395.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_268636" align="alignnone" width="656"] (Image: Google StreetView)[/caption]
In the annals of Toronto NIMBYism, this one is destined to become a classic. In a clever inversion of the usual script (wherein pitchfork-waving townsfolk complain about a developer's plan to tear down an old building), some Yorkville residents are objecting to a businessman's bid to move a heritage building into their community.
The coach house in question, a 125-year-old heritage property that currently stands at 119 Isabella Street, is home to Casey House Foundation, an HIV/AIDS charity. To make way for a new treatment centre, the foundation plans to level the property next fall. In a last-ditch bid to save the building, Ward 27 councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam has been offering it for free to anyone willing to pay for it to be moved off-site.
At first, the offer seemed like a nonstarter, but the Star reports that Wong-Tam has found a taker. Robert Hiscox, a Toronto entrepreneur, has agreed to spend around a million dollars to move the whole building to a spot on Molson Street, in north Yorkville.
But there are complications. For one thing, the move would require the city to make all sorts of complicated exceptions to its by-laws; for another, neighbours say the introduction of the historic building would utterly decimate their way of life. “It’s just plain ugly," Peter Rehak, one of several participants in a recent community meeting about the proposal, told the Star. “It would destroy how the neighbourhood is set up.” The site is currently occupied by a three-car garage, as God apparently intended.){kind=link}
Please give us the option to stop the annoying commercial videos after 3 seconds. Thank you very much.
I know! The auto-play is insanely annoying. My visits to Toronto Life have decreased since they added it.
Molson St. is solid Rosedale- I’ve never heard of “north Yorkville” before.
This is idiotic.
this is ugly?? dude is clearly blind. heritage is not ugly. its historically significant.
Garages > Heritage coach house?
Maybe because of the quarter-million dollar cars in them.
It is not Rosedale. It’s Summerhill. The building is large and ugly. The developer wants to sever the lot in order to make a killing.
And ugly
Move the heritage building to the site of the lousy garages and restore the architecture. Those people are LUCKY that this investment is being made in their neighbourhood instead of another generic condo tower.
The historical value should surpass whatever ‘killing’ the developer will make on it. Regardless after spending $1Million on the move, he should be allowed to make it back.
Hey “Author/idiot”. Welcome to Toronto. Shut the fuck up. You have the brains of a farmer. Your article is digital, so I can’t wipe my Toronto ass with it. Be thankful. You think you are a journalist? The only thing you have journaled is your chemical imbalance. See a doctor and buy a map. I know farmer-bred twits like you come into the big shiny city, but stop mislocating key items in the Big Shiny City and making demands on YOUR expectations on other people’s property. Rob Hiscox isn’t moving his own money, but you don’t know that. Rob, if you are reading this…DGH, and Ed is a complete moron. Rob, bet on his wife banging other neighbourhood bank accounts. You’ll make a fortune.
Farmers talking about “classic” in Toronto make me laugh. Fucking hipsters should turn their TV off. Otherwise they turn into Roger Rai and their epic fetish with Madonna.
There is no god. Wake up.
What is being missed here — including by the author of the original story — is that the developer is asking to sever the property into two undersized lots. He is free to demolish the standing house and replace it with the coach house. The severance would bring him and handsome profit.
As a Neighbor, I looked at the PPR the Lot is 150 x 27 , so the 2 lots will be around 75 x 27, good sized lots for the area. And it save a Historic and Heritage Building, thus is good for the environment as our history does not go into land fill. Seems like a good idea and the City should look at doing more!
The minute it’s moved, it ceases to be a heritage building. Whichever way you slice it, they are small lots and the so-called coach house would look odd despite their nice drawings. The motive here is greed, Not historical preservation.
Steve, it is Heritage, and it is environmentally friendly (vs land fill and/or a new build… which I bet would happen as an alt.) plus it looks soooo much nicer than the current 3 garage house… Greed? after of the risk, time and costs if they make any thing good for them. So, your basic argument is you don’t like heritage, you do not like the environment and you don’t like capitalism… Okay, I am going to enjoy the nice weather. I hope balanced people will approve the move.
“Robert Buyer?’ Have you been bought? Just asking. It’s not the building that’s the issue but the severance. He wants to double his money. That’s fine but don’t do it in an underhand way by “saving” a crappy building.
What a great idea to save and reuse this lovely building. What is wrong with a few of these neighbours??