Derelict Delights is a weekly series where we look at abandoned buildings begging for revitalization. This week: We find out the latest on the abandoned but still-elegant century-old apartment block at the corner of Sylvan and Havelock.
If you’re one of the many dog-lovers/moms and dads/veggie enthusiasts who frequent Dufferin Grove Park, odds are you’ve passed by the dilapidated, but still stately low-rise apartment building at Havelock and Sylvan.
Though it’s been vacant for years, the L-shaped, yellow brick structure still retains a time-worn elegance, with multi-sided bay windows, a brick parapet, doorways flanked by columns and arched pediments. The City of Toronto liked it so much that it designated the Sylvan Apartments a heritage site in 2006, deeming the 1910 building a “well-designed early 20th-century apartment building with features of Edwardian Classicism by Toronto architect James A. Harvey.”
So why is it boarded up and crumbling in the middle of a vibrant residential community?
The Sylvan Apartments were built in 1910 by real-estate maven Harry Hutson to meet the demand for affordable rental housing in the city. (The original building was only one part of the “L”—the Havelock section was added on in 1927.) Toronto writer Lauren Kirshner, who researched the Sylvan Apartments for a Taddle Creek feature, wrote that the 16 Sylvan apartments were “beautiful and spacious” and “offered working-class renters all the trimmings enjoyed by middle-class homeowners—a 1924 classified in the Toronto Star lists the price of a five-room unit at fifty dollars.” Most units had private balconies or porches overlooking the backyard garden.
The building was owned and operated by the Hutson family until 2003, when Harry’s niece Gwendoline—who was the building’s longtime property manager as well as a resident—passed away at the age of 90. The property was bought by JDC Property Management that same year and, in 2004 and 2005, the new owners filed applications with the city to redevelop the property, according to information obtained from city councillor Ana Bailao’s office. Their plan was to demolish the existing structure and construct a four-storey structure containing 50 stacked townhouses and 61 underground parking spaces. City staff not only refused the application, but also designated the original section of the building as being of cultural-heritage value in 2006.
That designation didn’t save the Sylvan Apartments though—JDC Property Management appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board to overturn the decision and revised their proposal to the city. In the new version of their plan, they would build only 45 townhouse units on the Sylvan site, as well as create 10 suitable replacement rental units for displaced tenants. City Council accepted the proposal in 2007. But the story’s not over yet.
In the years that followed, development on the Sylvan site stalled when the construction of replacement rental units on nearby Dovercourt halted due to the recession. And though the replacements units have now been completed, JDC still have to go through another approval process for their site plan. That approval process is currently underway, says Sarah Phipps, senior planner at the City of Toronto. “They need site-plan approval, that’s where we are now,” she says. The current plan is for 42 units on three storeys.
If the plans don’t get approved, then it’s back to the drawing board. Though it seems highly unlikely at this point the Sylvan apartments could end up wholly preserved, they could sit vacant for a little while longer.
As for the historic aspects of the building, Phipps says Heritage Preservation Services has accepted the owner’s proposal to preserve only a portion of the original building—the corner section with the bay windows. The owner plans to tear the entire structure down and rebuild that corner section with the original brick.
