Former factory now heritage site

A building that once housed a heating and plumber supplies company is being reborn. Catsol Investments plans to rebuild the old Pease Foundry Company Building on Laird Drive and use it for commercial purposes.

The developer had originally applied to tear down the building on the southeast corner of Laird and Vanderhoof Avenue but the city wants to protect elements of the property for heritage reasons.

Architect Earle Morgan designed the Art Moderne style building in 1951. Pease Foundry used the site to manufacture heating and plumbing supplies in Leaside.

Morgan is known for designing the O’Keefe Centre on Front Street (now the Sony Centre) in collaboration with brother-in-law E.P Taylor.

North York councillors took city staff’s advice and voted to designate the building as a heritage property.

“Its rounded corner is specifically placed to draw attention to the building as it overlooks the intersection of two streets, one of which was laid out as the primary corridor through Leaside’s industrial area,” states a city planning report.

This site is just one among several in a once booming industrial sector in the former town of Leaside that included York Land Company, the World War I era Leaside Munitions Company, Canadian Wire and Cable Company and Durant Motors.

The current owner of 211 Laird has applied to construct a new two-storey commercial structure for a bank, retail store or offices.

There will be 26 parking spaces on site.

Community council approved the redevelopment application and heritage designation Jan. 12. It will go for a final vote at city council in late January.

Redevelopment on Randolph

A Randolph Road homeowner who wants to replace an existing house with two single detached properties is facing opposition from the local councillors, who fear it would set a precedent for building smaller lots in Leaside.

Property owner Tony Paglialunga is appealing directly to the Ontario Municipal Board for permission to tear down the dwelling at 218 Randolph Road and build two new homes.

City planners and North York Community Council are recommending city oppose the redevelopment at the OMB.

The impact of the proposal to create two properties on a site that currently has one “would result in a development, which is out of character with the neighbourhood,” according to a city staff report.

This site north of McRae Drive has mostly single-family homes that have lot sizes of almost 275 sq. metres with a lot frontage of nine metres or more.

If this application is approved it would result in smaller lot sizes of about 240 sq. metres and a frontage of six metres.