Toronto Star

When an architecturally significant row of Georgian townhouses came tumbling down in Toronto's city core last month, local historian Bruce Bell shuddered. Walnut Hall, as it was called, was completed in 1856 and was considered a wonderful example of 19th-century housing – functional yet elegant. But after being neglected 35 years by land speculators who refused to maintain the Shuter St. buildings, they crumbled, brick by brick, on May 19. The next day a demolition crew was summoned to put the building out of its misery and ensure nobody was injured. Bell said it "killed" him when he heard the news, but even before he could really start mourning his thoughts turned to the old Pretzel Bell tavern – an even older example of Georgian architecture – sitting boarded up, neglected and endangered on the northeast corner of Adelaide St. W. and Simcoe St.