KCRag Forum

I was in Toronto a few years ago and almost every old building that is the site of new taller construction has the old facade saved and restored and incorporated into the design. I like it, at least compared to the alternative.

Danger. Danger! Facadectomy.

Looking northwest from W. 11th.



Looking east from Central.



Looking southeast from Central.

Ararat Shrine Temple being constructed in 1926. It later became the American Red Cross, then later The Playhouse, then Victoria Theater, then Capri Theater, then finally the Lyric Theater before it was sold to be reconfigured for the YMCA.









Ararat Shrine Temple in the 1940s.



KMBC TV Playhouse.



Victoria Theater.



Capri Theater.



The Lyric and KMBC Channel 9. Appears to be early 1970s.





Appears to be sometime after 2000.

Lovely view of the old fire station across the street

Looks like they're building the pool

Really impressed to see the progress on this one, thanks for sharing!

A facade sample. Not sure where on the building this is supposed to go.....

Not a lot of progress here

Much different than I expected. They are basically just keeping the facade in what will be an overall much smaller building? Will there be an accompanying surface lot? Seems like they've created empty space on the former Lyric site.

Highlander wrote: ↑Sat Nov 02, 2019 6:15 pm Much different than I expected. They are basically just keeping the facade in what will be an overall much smaller building? Will there be an accompanying surface lot? Seems like they've created empty space on the former Lyric site.

There will be a green space/park area in the void between the Y and the school (See page 13).

The fact the new annex doesn't extend completely to the alley, and to the north, makes those parts of the building look terrible. I'll bet in 15 years, the Y will come back and say they need additional space.

The missing bays are a bit frustrating. If an expansion is planned, I hope it completes the geometry of the original structure. Not sure why that wasn't done with the current design, but whatever.





Regardless, I hope we can all agree the current plan is way better than the original scheme...

I'm surprised how much smaller this is than previously proposed. Had no idea it changed--did that happen during construction? Could have sworn it was planned to be much larger as recently as the beginning of construction.

There is not one overweight person in those renderings. Goes to show ya!

smh wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2019 11:58 am I'm surprised how much smaller this is than previously proposed. Had no idea it changed--did that happen during construction? Could have sworn it was planned to be much larger as recently as the beginning of construction.

I’ve never seen anything to suggest it used to be larger

TheLastGentleman wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:17 pm

smh wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2019 11:58 am I'm surprised how much smaller this is than previously proposed. Had no idea it changed--did that happen during construction? Could have sworn it was planned to be much larger as recently as the beginning of construction.

I’ve never seen anything to suggest it used to be larger

I thought the new building extended further into that (now) grass lot. Perhaps I was mistaken.