Renovation of 95-109 James Street North

[Hawrylyshyn]

This is turning out to be a beauty restoration project. Hopefully the white corner building will get something done in the not so distant future.

[ScreamingViking]

Looks great! Deserves a bump to this page.

Originally Posted by MeIsThomas

Building Restoration - June 13, 2015, by Cable 14, on Twitter

Originally Posted by matt602

I walked by this afternoon after they'd taken half of the scaffolding down and while I'm sure it's a nice restoration all throughout, it does look a bit too sterile and sticks out like a sore thumb against its un-restored neighbors. The red brick that they went with almost gives it an ugly, sururban replication look that doesn't really jive well with the dormers and window details that they chose to keep.

Is that new brick, or did they just remove the paint and repoint the mortar? (I would guess the latter given the variations in tone that are visible, but I'm just judging by the photo)

[SteelTown]

Based on the CHCH interview it's new brick, but it was made to look old.

I like it! Looks nice.

[thomax]

New façade James St. N. by Joe, on Flickr


New façade James St. N. by Joe, on Flickr

[ScreamingViking]

What a contrast between the two.

[matt602]

Yeah, thats pretty harsh.

[davidcappi]

I almost find the contrast a bit symbolic.

[Katrillion]

Sucks that they had to have like 4 gutters running down the front face of the building because they wanted to make the dormer windows larger. Also, why didn't they add an ornamentation to the dormers? Other than that, eveything is goooood.

[matt602]

Originally Posted by Katrillion

Sucks that they had to have like 4 gutters running down the front face of the building because they wanted to make the dormer windows larger. Also, why didn't they add an ornamentation to the dormers? Other than that, eveything is goooood.

The new dormers appear to be about a third wider than the old ones and obviously taller since they cut into the building more so I'd imagine they couldn't have just replaced the old pieces without it looking weird. At least it looks like they used them for the rest of the windows and they do look pretty good.

I'm hoping that LIUNA will do something similar with whatever they build behind the Lister Block but I'm afraid that they didn't do as well a job of saving the pieces from the Balfour building (before it like, collapsed)



Er wait, they didn't.

[Beedok]

I really hope they manage to do something to fix up the Eatons Centre. It majorly cramps North James' style.

[davidcappi]

The ornamentations are recreations, not the originals. The old ones were tin, and the new ones wood.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

It shames the owner of the corner unit. Do we know who that is? I'm gonna guess a bank...

[davidcappi]

My friends brother used to live in the end unit. The apartments inside are pretty brutal. My guess is a slum lord.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^Yep, a bank.

Does the Bank of Nova Scotia not own the building at King and James?

[flar]

It's a shame about the dormers, but overall it looks really good. I'm very happy with the windows, I feared the worst.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by davidcappi

I almost find the contrast a bit symbolic.

Very symbolic, I'd say.

[thomax]

James Street Restoration by angelune, on Instagram

[interr0bangr]

work has started on the other buildings

[davidcappi]

The building on the right looks like it doesn't need a whole lot of work, outside of aesthetics.

[interr0bangr]