 |
Feb 10 - Feb 17, 2002 |
Building real life in the City
Toronto's Colonnade building set a precedent in North America for mixed use
By Mark Curtis
Originally Published: 2002-01-20
 |
|
The Colonnade being built in 1961
|
When Gerald Robinson arrived in Toronto for the first time in 1955, one of the first things he noticed was that the city could have used some livening up. Four years later, the young English engineer and architect responded to this observation of his new hometown by designing the Colonnade, a building which helped to herald Toronto's arrival as a cosmopolitan city and has since become an architectural landmark in midtown Toronto. The Colonnade was the first Toronto building to combine residential, office, and retail space under one roof and it was one of the first such mixed use buildings in North America.
"When I came to Toronto, I thought it was the deadest place I'd ever seen," Robinson, 71, recalled recently in an interview with Tandem. The Ontario Association of Architects presented him with a lifetime achievement award in 2000 and he continues to work on projects such as the renovation of an Ottawa area church and a public garden design for Innis College at the University of Toronto.
In 1955, Robinson was recruited by leading Toronto modernist architectural firm John B. Parkin Associates after earning a Master's degree in urban design from Boston's prestigious Harvard University. Robinson was born and raised in St. Albans, England, a short distance from London. He earned a engineering doctorate from Leeds University and worked in London as an engineer before making the move to Harvard. Robinson worked on hospital and school projects for the Parkin firm but left to go solo in 1957.
In these post-war boom years, Toronto, like many North American cities, was growing quickly and establishing its suburbs. Robinson, who had also lived in Paris, felt that Toronto zoning bylaws which encouraged a separation of residential and commercial areas were a mistake. He felt strongly that cities thrived when they mixed work, leisure, and residential areas in close proximity.
In the late summer of 1957, the young architect was holding forth on his views one evening before a group of friends at Fran's restaurant at Yonge and St. Clair. Prominent Toronto developer Irwin Burns, who had made a fortune and a solid reputation by developing walk-up apartment buildings in the Yonge and Highway 401 area, happened to be sitting in the next booth and overheard Robinson's speech. Burns introduced himself and asked Robinson if he knew of any possible locations for a mixed use development in the city. The architect mentioned the possible development of Victoria University land at Bloor Street and Avenue Road, but thought little more about their polite discussion. Two weeks later, Robinson decided to pace off the two acre Victoria site and he bumped into Burns doing the same. The developer "took this to be a sign," Robinson recalls, and the two men agreed to submit a proposal to the landowner.
Page 1/...Page 2
|
| Home / Back to Top |
|
|
 |
|
|
</ td>
