It's the end of an era for concept venues and the dawn of a new age for feline kind.
The Addisons Residence, a lounge-meets-club space on the quiet stretch of Wellington Street between Spadina and Bathurst, will officially be demolished to make way for the long-awaited "Wellington Cat Promenade" — one of two new, cat-themed public parks in downtown Toronto.
A second cat park will be built nearby on Draper Street in a space that's been vacant since the 1940s.
Travis Agresti of John Doe Group, which owns The Addisons, EFS and Convenience Resto Bar, among other hot spots, confirmed the news by phone on Wednesday.
The venue at 456 Wellington Street West will indeed be torn down to make way for a cat-themed park, he says — but not in the near future.
Montreal-based architecture firm Claude Cormier et Associés are building two cat-themed and cat-friendly public spaces in King West to compliment their popular east-end dog fountain. Image via Claude Cormier et Associés.
"Our lot is designated for the green space," says Agresti, "but we're not going anywhere soon."
Being that the 1,000-square-metre cat park isn't expected to be in place until 2022, and that the building will be one of the last things to go, there's still plenty of time to party at Addisons.
"We anticipate that we have at least this and two more summers to go before we turn it over," says Agresti, noting that his company is already "actively looking for other locations" in Toronto to recreate the concept.
Inspired by a retro home in Beverly Hills (complete with a kitchen area, living room and tons of dope rec room games), The Addisons Residence has become one of the King West club district's coolest spots since replacing the iconic (but much more clubby) C-Lounge in 2015.
Sad as the eventual loss of this unique party and event space on Wellington may be, the project it's been demolished for sounds incredible.
Cormier says the entire park is inspired by a local feline named Dizzy who likes to hang out in the soon-to-be park space on Draper Street. Image via Claude Cormier et Associés.
Montreal-based architect Claude Cormier details some of what we can expect to see at the new Wellington 'Cat Promenade' (and its Draper Street sister park) on his website.
Both parks will feature a series of realistic cat sculptures, just like Cormier's now-famous Berczy dog fountain in St. Lawrence Market.
Two giant cats will stand guard at both ends of the Wellington Park and a small dog will be added in for good measure (to counterbalance the sole cast iron cat who sits among the 27 canines at Berczy).
These new west-end cat parks, built as part of a massive forthcoming development called The Well, will be both feline centric and feline friendly, with tiny drinking fountains, bird houses, and plants like catnip included throughout.
Brick walls with mouse holes at the bottom will surround the space, though it is not made clear whether these holes are meant for the mice to get out — or to get in (a kitty-cat's belly.)
by Lauren O'Neil via blogTO
No comments:
Post a Comment