Bringing warmth to a 1970s Yorkville condo

A tall, bright green, mobile construction crane stands in as tombstone for the now demolished York Square development at the corner of Yorkville Avenue and Avenue Road. Designed in 1968-69 by Jack Diamond and Barton Myers for “with it” developer Ian Richard (Dick) Wookey, York Square’s quirkiness, charm, and “secret” courtyard could no longer withstand the development pressure facing Toronto’s toniest shopping district.

But, just a few metres to the north, another Wookey development, Hazelton Lanes (now rebranded as Yorkville Village) recalls the red brick warmth of York Square – at least the unrenovated upper portion – since it was designed just a few years later by architect Boris Zerafa of WZMH. It too stitched low-rise heritage homes, this time along Hazelton Avenue, into the new complex, and, to keep the gardens of the homes still occupied by people out of shadow, the residential portion was kept to mid-rise. Despite this, big units with deep terraces (for al fresco dining) meant these were nothing like today’s shoeboxes.