Imperial Plaza: A Rare Find in Toronto

by Karen Bliss

Jane Mathieson, a security guard at the former Imperial Oil headquarters at 111 St. Clair Ave. W. for the past decade, is hoping the owners of the new “Imperial Plaza” condominiums will view the converted office building with as much warmth as she does.

 

“I’m glad she — I call her a she — is going to be condos. It’s nice to keep her here,” Mathieson says fondly. “It’s historical.”

 

With its limestone-clad exterior, grand marble foyer, 35-foot-high ceiling and giant York Wilson murals flanking the main entrance to the elevators, it’s hard not to fall in love with such a rare find in the midst of all the brand new condo developments sprouting up from the ground throughout the city. 

“I live in the neighbourhood and have always been impressed with the Imperial Oil building — the architecture, the limestone — and the grandeur of the interiors is something from the past,” says Camrost-Felcorp CEO David Feldman, the developer. “It sits on top of this escarpment which overlooks downtown Toronto and the views are spectacular north and south. 

“The mega corporations of the ‘50s and ‘60s such as Imperial Oil were renowned for creating these iconic headquarter buildings. In particular, these plans were originally by Haldenby Mathers and was the proposal for the New City Hall back in the ‘50s. It was felt too grand for the city at that time so Imperial Oil purchased the plans and built this head office. “

Imperial Oil vacated the premise in 2004, relocating to Calgary, and Camrost-Felcorp stepped in to re-imagine it.

In business more than 30 years, Camrost-Felcorp has built more than 7500 residences in Toronto, including 9T6 Condominium Residences and Kings Court downtown; The Savoy in Don Mills; The Palace and Manor Gates in Mississauga; One Glen Park midtown; Village Gate in Forest Hill; and the multi-faceted Mystic Pointe Community and award-winning Marina Del Rey in Etobicoke.

How does Imperial Plaza compare? “We’ve done some very recognized projects, such as The Avenue across the road, which is a flagship project as far as high-end, but this is very special,” says Feldman.

“It’s Italian marble and even the stairwells, the exit stairs, are poured terrazzo which you don’t get today, and limestone buildings are very expensive to build. To replace this building would cost millions and millions of dollars. It’s built to last forever as far as the structure is concerned. They used state of the art technology from those days that was available and that’s what excited me.”

Imperial Plaza will be a much-needed asset to the St. Clair strip from Avenue Rd. to Yonge St., which has nothing but office and residential buildings until you get close to Yonge. It will not be strictly residential. Two ground-floor restaurants and proposed gourmet supermarket, along with an outdoor patio, will open it up to the community. 

“This area needs to be livened up somewhat,” Feldman says. “I equate it to the Manulife building [on Bloor Street] where it’s residential upstairs and commercial downstairs with shops and other retailers.”

The Imperial Plaza condos range from 530 to 3000 square feet at a cost of $300,000 for a one-bedroom to more than $3 million for one of six three-level “Sky Towns” built atop the existing 20-storey structure.  “This price point, you won’t see for a long time,” says Feldman. The condo should be “substantially” completed in early 2013.

“The benefit of that is you can purchase your condo and then you can save and pay for it in 2013,” he says.

While the master architectural plan is being prepared by Hariri Pontarini, the heritage elements, including the murals, a mosaic, a clock, a bank vault and post office box, are being carefully preserved by architect Rod Rowbotham of OneSpace Unlimited. The Designers Guys have been hired to handle the interior design. 

“This building is really the granddaddy of modernism—classic international style architecture, and it is just very exciting to introduce it to a new generation,” Rowbotham says in the marketing brochure. 

There is also 25,000 sq. ft. of amenities space, over two levels, covering a wide range of activities, such as a golf simulator, squash and basketball courts, party room, indoor swimming pool, hot tub, theatre room, gaming room,  and music practice space.

“There’s something for everybody,” says Feldman. “There’s a lot of music lovers and a lot of people love to play their drums, their saxophone, guitar, whatever, so we felt, why not put in music rooms and a green room as well? It’s something different. And for golf lovers we have a golf simulator and my [18 year old] son came up with the idea for the gaming room.”

Most of residential floors are comprised of 18 suites each, one and two bedrooms, with 10 to 15 foot ceilings. On the 9th floor, there will be two-storey lofts and above that the SkyTowns with terrace and gorgeous view.  “On a clear day, you can see the other side of the lake,” says Feldman.  Some units will have recessed balconies.

And for Jane Mathieson, who hopes to still be working security at Imperial Plaza when it officially becomes a home, she will be happy to see families, kids, singles and empty-nesters enjoying the historic building.  

The murals — titled the “Story of Oil” with its progressive depiction of dinosaurs, fish, mountains — even an Avro airplane — can now be appreciated by a range of people who never would’ve had occasion to step into the Imperial Oil headquarters before.

Feldman plans to display in the lobby the original photographs taken of York Wilson as he worked on them for three years. 

“I think it’s very contemporary the way it was done and it’s in the eye of the beholder what they see,” says Feldman. “One of the Group of Seven — in the

history books — said that York Wilson should have been one of the Group of Seven. He was a master.

“So if somebody buys a condo, they’re also buying a work of art, a masterpiece.”

For more information on Imperial Plaza, click here.

For more Information on Camrost-Felcorp, click here.