People collide, buildings collapse

So they’re knocking down the building across the street from my old house. A few weeks ago, fences and concrete barricades surrounded the sidewalk, and suddenly I couldn’t park my bike there anymore.

Then, sometime over the past couple of days, they started knocking it down. Last night, on our way to the Imperial, I took some photos with Jenna’s camera:

I don’t know much about this building, despite living across from it for the better part of a year. I vaguely recall it being labelled on maps as the St. Michael’s Hospital Annex, but I can’t seem to find anything to back that up. The city’s online map list 209 Victoria Street as a “Hospital, Private and Public.”

There’s a recent thread over on the Infiltration board about

a 3 or 4 story building on the Northeast corner of Shuter and Mutual Sts. in Toronto. I am of the understanding that it has now been converted to some kind of housing: either lofts (unlikely, given the neighbourhood) or low income units (much more likely).

Prior to the renovation’s completion, two friends and I made our way into the building. It had a lovely front lobby, large holes in floors where a freight elevator may once have operated, a basement full of a cork-like material, which I believe may have been used in walk-in refrigeration (a suspicion validated by the discovery of a large wooden, insulated door with a freezer style latch attatched to it), and a fantastic view of Yonge St. to the West.

Sounds cool. I wish there were photos.

So what will take the mystery building’s place? According to this city staff report,

Eastern Construction Company Ltd. is building a 9-storey research and healthcare education centre at 26-38 Shuter Street and 209 Victoria Street, on the north side of Shuter Street between Victoria Street and Bond Street.