place

Grand Harbour (Toronto)

EtobicokePostmodern architecture in CanadaResidential skyscrapers in Toronto
Grand Harbour, Toronto
Grand Harbour, Toronto

Grand Harbour is a lakefront condominium community in the Etobicoke district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It consists of three condominium towers and several dozen townhouses. Grand Harbour is located on the shore of Lake Ontario just west of Humber Bay Park and Mimico Creek. The site was originally home to the Mimico Motor Hotel and the Westpoint Motel and Restaurant, two of the many motels along the Lakeshore strip that became a prominent landmark in the 1950s due to the prominent advertising of the motels competing for travellers on the main highway west of Toronto. Beginning in the 1960s, Highway 401 rose to become the primary east-west route and the motel strip lost business, eventually becoming best known for its somewhat seedy side. In 1988, at the height of a property boom, the prime waterfront real estate was purchased by Rylar Development Ltd for $15.5 million. Larry Boland and Richard Weldon, principals of Rylar, opted to build a set of luxury condominiums designed by Matsui Baer Vanstone. They opted for a distinctly Neo-Eclectic and Postmodern style. Christopher Hume, architecture critic for the Toronto Star, described it as "a hybrid of classical, neo-gothic, and Georgian...mixed together and applied - incongruously but felicitously - to 20th-century-sized structures." Its most striking feature is the 14-storey archway that connects the two tallest towers. Buildings containing a pastiche of historical styles were at their most popular in the late 1980s an early 1990s, but that coincided with a sharp downturn in the Toronto real estate market that saw few buildings erected. Thus the Grand Harbour is one of only a few such condo towers in Toronto from that era. The early 2000s saw more such towers built, but the style had declined as New Modernism became more mainstream. One other example from its era is the Flatiron-shaped 25 The Esplanade, also designed by Matsui Baer Vanstone. The entire project consists of three towers, the tallest being 27 storeys. It is connected by the archway to the shorter 20-storey tower. These buildings contain 276 units, while a third 17-storey tower contains 109 units. At ground level there are 55 townhouses. The original sales went well, and construction began with some 80 per cent of the units sold. However, the recession caused many buyers to abandon the project and the remaining inventory could not be sold. Construction continued, and the complex was completed in 1991. But Rymark was unable to finance the project; banks and court-appointed receivers took control of it in 1994.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Grand Harbour (Toronto) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Grand Harbour (Toronto)
Lake Shore Boulevard West, Toronto Etobicoke

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Grand Harbour (Toronto)Continue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 43.618707 ° E -79.485204 °
placeShow on map

Address

Lake Shore Boulevard West 2301
M8V 4A2 Toronto, Etobicoke
Ontario, Canada
mapOpen on Google Maps

Grand Harbour, Toronto
Grand Harbour, Toronto
Share experience

Nearby Places

Ontario Food Terminal
Ontario Food Terminal

The Ontario Food Terminal is the main produce distribution centre for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 165 The Queensway at Park Lawn Road, north of the Gardiner Expressway, and west of the Humber River. The U-shaped building occupies 1,740,000 square feet (162,000 m2) of a 40 acres (16 ha) site and includes 80,000 square feet (7,400 m2) of cold storage and is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for deliveries. Annually some one million vehicles arrive at the centre delivering produce from across North America or leave to distribute it to stores and restaurants across the city. It is the largest such facility in Canada, and the third largest in North America after those in Chicago and Los Angeles.The Ontario Food Terminal was completed in June 1954 and replaced the Wholesale Fruit Market located west of St. Lawrence Market at The Esplanade. The land had been purchased in 1946 but plans to build on the site were shelved in 1950 due to the scarcity of building materials. It cost $3 million and took two years to build. The architects were Shore and Moffat and Soules Construction Limited built the facility. It included space for 400 trucks. Previously the main distribution centre for Toronto was located in buildings in the five-acre block of King Street East, Market Street, Front Street and Church Street, northwest of the St. Lawrence Market market building. In 1954, it was considered one of the most congested car and truck parking districts in downtown Toronto. Fifty-six wholesale and related firms moved to the new terminal from the old block.When it opened, most shipments arrived by rail with tracks branching off the Canadian National Railway line on the east and south sides of the complex, but the rail tracks have since been removed and today most arrive by truck, while some are flown in via nearby Pearson Airport and delivered via Highway 427 and the Gardiner Expressway. The fruits and vegetables are shipped to the terminal from Ontario farms as well as more distant locales such as Florida, California, and Mexico. At the terminal, local buyers meet the sellers and negotiate prices. It is thus the main market for establishing produce prices in the region. The majority of the produce eaten in Toronto moves through the terminal, though some of the largest grocery store chains such as Loblaws contract directly with growers and do not use it. The Ontario Food Terminal is owned and operated by the Ontario Food Terminal Board, an agency under the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The Ontario Food Terminal Board leases space in the market to vendors and distribution companies. The board members are appointed by the provincial government, legally through the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario on recommendation from the Minister of Agriculture and Food. The terminal is entirely self-funded from fees charged to the users of the facility. Normally, The Ontario Food Terminal is not open to the public and is a wholesale-only facility. However, on September 22, 2012, it opened its doors for Fresh Fest a community event which offered entertainment, cooking demonstrations, food and informational exhibits. On May 25, 2013, it hosted a second similar event called Taste of the Food Terminal which benefited FoodShare Toronto, a not-for-profit charity organization which focuses on providing healthy food to low-income communities in Toronto.