UNION STATION RAILWAY CORRIDOR Cherry, Scott & John
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UNION STATION RAILWAY CORRIDOR Cherry, Scott & John Street Interlocking Towers Cultural Heritage Reports Volume 1 FOR METROLINX April 2013 Taylor Hazell Architects Ltd. 333 Adelaide Street West, 5th Floor Toronto, Ontario M5V 1R5 tel 416 862 2694 fax 416 862 8401 contact Mark Wronski [email protected] AND TACOMA Engineers ContentWorks 176 Speedvale Avenue, West 137 Second Avenue, Suite 1 Guelph, Ontario Ottawa, ON K1S 2H4 USRC Interlocking Towers Cultural Heritage Reports Volume 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements Report Description and Intent VOLUME 1 Cultural Heritage Evaluation Report Cherry, Scott & John Street Interlocking Towers VOLUME 2 Statement of Cultural Heritage Value and Building Condition Assessments Cherry Street Interlocking Tower Scott Street Interlocking Tower John Street Interlocking Tower VOLUME 3 Heritage Evaluation Recommendations Cherry Street Interlocking Tower Scott Street Interlocking Tower John Street Interlocking Tower USRC Interlocking Towers Cultural Heritage Reports Volume 1 Acknowledgements Project Team Project Director James Hartley, Metrolinx Project Manager Jill Taylor, Taylor Hazell Architects Heritage Consultant, Historian and Julie Harris, Contentworks Inc. Author Conservation Engineer Will Teron, Tacoma Engineering Conservation Architects Jill Taylor and Mark Wronski, Taylor Hazell Architects Senior Review Jill Taylor, Taylor Hazell Architects Project Support Laura Filice, Metrolinx Site Visit Support Metrolinx Laura Filice and Laura Games TTR Christopher Melo and Warren Ledbetter The author also accessed the research, analysis and insights of Dr. Christopher Andreae, the author of the Metrolinx Heritage Impact Assessment John Street Interlocking Tower, Track A1/B Alignment, November 2012 by Golder Associates as sub-consultant to Morrison Hershfield Limited. USRC Interlocking Towers Cultural Heritage Reports Volume 1 Report Description and Intent This document is the first of 3 Volumes that compile all the Heritage Reporting that Metrolinx had commissioned from Taylor Hazell Architects Ltd and their consultants, historians Contenworks Inc. and heritage structural engineers, TACOMA Engineers, undertaken in the fall and winter 2012 – 2013 for the the three Interlocking Towers within the Union Station Railway Corridor at Cherry, Scott and John Streets. This document, Volume 1 contains the Cultural Heritage Evaluation Report (CHER) for all three Towers. Volume 2 contains the Statements of Cultural Heritage Value (SCHV) and an accompanying Building Condition Audits (BCA) for all three Towers. Volume 3 contains the Heritage Evaluations and Recommendations for heritage significance for each Tower based on the criteria and terms of reference that form part of Ontario Regulations 09/06 and 10/06 of the Ontario Heritage Act. They have been bound as individual Volumes as a convenience due to size, and to facilitate ease of distribution of pertinent information to the wide range of stakeholders within Metrolinx. These documents are intended to be submitted for review to Metrolinx Heritage Committee that has been established as part of the Interim Heritage Process. They compile all relevant heritage and building assessments, establish character defining attributes and elements for the Towers, their current condition, along with evaluations and recommendations in conformance with the MTSC Standards and Guidelines and the Ontario Heritage Act. It is intended to be the prime resource for the Heritage Committee during their review of these properties to arrive at a final recommendation to the Chief Executive Officer of Metrolinx regarding the heritage significance of these assets. This document is confidential and shall not be circulated beyond assigned Metrolinx staff, the Heritage Committee and the Office of the CEO. USRC Interlocking Towers Cultural Heritage Reports Volume 1 VOLUME 1 Union Station Railway Corridor Cherry, Scott and John Street Interlocking Towers Cultural Heritage Evaluation Report Prepared by: Contentworks Inc. 137 Second Avenue, Suite 1 Ottawa, ON K1S 2H4 USRC Interlocking Towers Cultural Heritage Reports Volume 1 Cultural Heritage Evaluation Report Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 3 DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPERTIES ............................................................................................. 4 DATA SHEETS ............................................................................................................................... 5 MAPS ........................................................................................................................................... 11 HISTORICAL SUMMARY AND CURRENT CONTEXT ..................................................................... 14 HERITAGE RECOGNITIONS ......................................................................................................... 16 JOHN STREET TOWER AND ADJACENT HERITAGE PROPERTIES ................................................................ 16 SCOTT STREET TOWER AND ADJACENT HERITAGE PROPERTIES ............................................................... 17 CHERRY STREET TOWER AND ADJACENT HERITAGE PROPERTIES ............................................................. 17 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................... 19 METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................................. 19 DESIGN AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS........................................................................................... 19 APPEARANCE AND FUNCTIONAL DESIGN SUMMARIES FOR EACH TOWER ............................................................. 20 HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS .............................................................................................................. 24 THEMATIC OVERVIEW ...................................................................................................................................... 24 SIGNAL TOWER DESIGNS ................................................................................................................................ 25 INTERLOCKING HISTORY ................................................................................................................................. 26 TORONTO TERMINALS RAILWAY ....................................................................................................................... 27 INTERLOCKING FOR THE USRC ....................................................................................................................... 28 DESIGNER ..................................................................................................................................................... 30 USRC Interlocking Towers Cultural Heritage Reports Volume 1 CONTEXT ....................................................................................................................................... 31 FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................... 34 INTRODUCTION Taylor Hazell Architects (THA), with services by Julie Harris, Contentworks Inc., was engaged by Metrolinx to prepare a Cultural Heritage Evaluation Report (CHER) for three interlocking towers located in the Union Station Rail Corridor in Toronto. The CHER is commissioned as part of the Metrolinx Interim Heritage Process that is currently being undertaken for the agency’s inventory of properties and applies to those that will be acquired in the future. A CHER documents the history, architecture, landscape and context of a property for an evaluation of its heritage value and determination of its heritage attributes. A heritage evaluation is required prior to work or dispositions affecting properties of heritage interest or value. A CHER provides the criterion and framework within which the heritage significance and attributes of the property will be evaluated under the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport’s Standards & Guidelines for Conservation of Provincial Heritage Properties (cited here as Standards & Guidelines) and the regulations of the Ontario Heritage Act. This report includes sections relevant to understanding the history of all three USRC towers and sub- sections specific to each one of the towers. The work follows up on the recent (fall 2012) Heritage Impact Assessment John Street Interlocking Tower, Track A1/B Alignment undertaken for Metrolinx/GO Transit by Christopher Andreae, PhD, of Golder Associates as a sub-consultant to Morrison Hershfield Limited. The CHER integrates sections of Dr. Andreae’s report directly in its text whenever possible, especially with respect to the operational history of the towers. Additional research was undertaken in Ottawa and Toronto by Contentworks in October 2012 on the histories of the Scott Street and Cherry Street properties, and to address other issues that were outside the scope of the Golder/Morrison Hershfield study. The THA team conducted site visits of the three towers on 29 October 2012. In their roles as Project Manager, Conservation Architect, Conservation Engineer and Historian, Jill Taylor, Mark Wronski, Will Teron and Julie Harris conducted a review of each building and its physical context with assistance from TTR staff. An additional site visit to the Towers was conducted by the Conservation