Crass additions sink stately old building - Canadian Architecture News

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Crass additions sink stately old building

Archiseek / Canada / News / 2004 / July 10

As one of the finest examples of 19th-century industrial architecture in Toronto, the Massey-Harris Building (915 King St. W.) deserved better. Newly renovated and condo-ized, the stately three-storey red brick structure has become the victim of one of the clumsiest remakes seen in recent years. Though one should be happy the building was saved, especially here in Toronto where heritage preservation laws are so weak, it has been seriously compromised. For example, the two-storey addition that now sits on top of the former headquarters of what was once one of Canada's largest manufacturing concerns is a bad joke. Ill-conceived, utterly unsympathetic and wrong in every way, the new feature is completely at odds with the original building.

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