Q Condos (20 Queen St N) | 34 fl | Proposed

[dtkmelissa]

Neither the interior architectural beauty nor the potential future condo development is accessible or beneficial to a medium-income single person like myself. While I have no vested interest in this project, I do hope that future generations are able to appreciate the uniqueness of this property in one way or another. Keeping a heritage building locked up behind closed doors doesn't benefit anyone.

 
Where does the idea come from that this building is/was inaccesible to the public?  I was in it a number of times, including at least once as a casual visitor just to check out the interior.  Iinm, it has also been included in Doors Open.

It's not a public building - it is privately owned so presumably, unless you are a client/customer of one of the existing tenants, most people aren't accessing it. In fact, some of the people speaking in favour of saving the entire building, had never been in it. It was part of Doors Open nearly a decade ago and presenters last night said that about 600 people attended on that day - other than that, it's not really open to the public.

I have a lot of thoughts on this (and did speak to council on this last night) but I'd generally say I struggle to see the value in saving the entire building when so view people can access it. However, if the community decides it is truly worth saving, then perhaps we shouldn't be expecting a private developer to take the lead on that, but we have the city or region invest in, who could then make it completely accessible to residents. They could also offer many of the other things people have suggested is possible, such as housing on top of it. It's been listed on the municipal register for years now - i don't understand why, if this is such a keystone building (and I agree, it really is beautiful), we are only demanding designation now. I feel like we need a much more proactive approach to heritage we may want to protect.