Brandon Donnelly

Daily insights for city builders, delivered every morning at 6 AM ET. I’m Brandon Donnelly — a Toronto-based real estate developer and founder of Globizen. I’ve been writing here since 2013.

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Tag: mural

  • Pine Hill Homes launches call for artists to design new laneway house facade

    My realtor friend Mark Savel tagged me in this earlier today.

    Pine Hill Homes has recently completed a laneway suite here in Toronto and they have now put out a call for artists to come up with something creative for its front facade. I think this is a great / fun idea and so I’m sharing it today on the blog.

    I think it also speaks to one of the differences between laneway suites and the main houses that now host them. Could you imagine a builder doing a call to artists for the front facade of a house not on a laneway? It seems less likely to me. But I think that the laneway side is viewed as a little less precious, and that creates an opportunity for playfulness.

    This, in my mind, is a great thing.

    If you decide to participate and your work is selected, you’ll have all of your materials paid for and you’ll also get an honorarium. I don’t know how much the honorarium is, or where this house is actually located, but I’m sure you can find these things out by contacting Pine Hill.

    I’m looking forward to seeing what ultimately gets selected and put up.

  • birdO, StreetARToronto, and Slate unveil new 10-storey mural at Yonge and St. Clair

    This blog has been a little too serious as of late. So here’s something fun. Last week, Toronto street artist birdO, StreetARToronto, and Slate Asset Management unveiled the new 10-storey mural that I wrote about last month. The large-format art piece is part of the City of Toronto’s StreetARToronto Monumental Program and our (Slate’s) ongoing effort to do things that are great and remarkable at Yonge and St. Clair. Below are some photos of the mural by Riley Snelling. I love how these turned out (birdO in his bird mask, of course, helps make them).

    For the full press release, click here.

    Photos: Riley Snelling

  • New mural coming to Yonge + St. Clair

    A new mural is underway at Yonge + St. Clair by the Toronto-based street artist birdO (aka Jerry Rugg). He started over the weekend and should be finished by next week, depending on the weather. Here is what it looks like so far:

    If you’d like to take a look in person, head on over to 1 St. Clair Avenue East. It’s the building at the southeast corner of the intersection. And if you’d like to learn more about birdO, here’s a short film about some of his work in Detroit. It’s really well done.

    If you can’t see the video above, click here.

  • Emma + Justin

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    Okay, I promise that after this post I will stop talking about the Forever mural that Ben Johnston recently completed at Junction House – at least for a little while. 

    I admittedly don’t know Emma and Justin, but I would like to congratulate them on their recent engagement at Junction House.

    Emma thought they were going to take anniversary photos, but instead Justin proposed in front of Forever. If you can’t see the embedded photo below, click here.

    //www.instagram.com/embed.js

    Forever certainly feels like the right message to me. Congratulations Emma and Justin.

    P.S. Junction House was in the National Post over the weekend. Link.

  • Forever mural now complete

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    Ben Johnston completed his “Forever” mural at Junction House last week. More photos on his Instagram.

    If you would like to see it in person (worth it), stop by 2720 Dundas Street West in Toronto’s Junction neighborhood. Here is a before photo of the wall (along with some directions).

    If any of you have any blank walls in need of art, I would encourage you to give Ben a shout. The wall certainly doesn’t need to be in Toronto.

    Thank you once again Ben. We really appreciate you collaborating with us.

    Image: Ben

  • Forever

    About a month ago, I said on the blog that we had partnered with two local artists for our Junction House project. The first was Leeay Aikawa and the second was a surprise. 

    Well the second one is no longer a surprise. It is Ben Johnston and he started work on his mural this evening. Here is a photo (courtesy of Shanique Small – thank you!):

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    It should be completed this week if you’d like to stop by 2720 Dundas Street West. I am planning to be there this Saturday to take some photos and generally just hang out in the Junction. 

    Stay tuned for more surprises. 

  • The best party in town!

    Friend: Ever go to Jilly’s?

    Me: No, actually.

    Friend: Same.

    Me: What about you? [Addressed to random guy in elevator]

    Random guy in elevator: I’m from Portland. I don’t know what you’re talking about.

    I went to check out the new Broadview Hotel last night in Riverdale, Toronto. (Riverside if we’re being pedantic.)

    Originally built in 1891 and most recently a boarding house with strip club at grade (Jilly’s – the best party in town!), the building was acquired in 2014 by developer Streetcar and turned into a “58-room boutique hotel and charismatic gathering spot.” The soft opening was July 27, 2017.

    Official website here. Lots of interior photos here.

    Besides the pink neon above the lobby bar (which is obviously great), I really like what they did in the stairwells. Credit to Supermilk Studio. Here’s a photo I snapped last night while trying to find the WC:

    Each floor is painted with murals that pay tribute to the building’s history, from the early days of Dingman’s Hall to its most recent iteration as Jilly’s.

    Interestingly enough, the building originally served as an important social hub for the community, though it did not initially house a hotel. On the ground floor was a bank (see, there’s a long tradition of this) and above it were offices and grand meeting halls.

    It wasn’t until the original developer sold the building that it was converted to a hotel and granted a liquor license. It’s worth noting that this conversion is said to have faced stiff community opposition. A hotel that serves alcohol to people? Not in my 1906 backyard.

    With the reopening of the new Broadview Hotel this summer, you could argue that east of the Don River is once again regaining its grand gathering spot. And the feeling I got when I stepped foot inside the hotel last night was that it was time. The demand was latent and, yes, condos wouldn’t have cut it.

    At the same time, this is obviously bigger than the east side. There are many who don’t know this building’s infamous history. Jilly’s? What’s that? Time to go for a walk in the stairwells.

  • PHLEGM video

    This past summer I wrote about the 8 storey mural (by street artist PHLEGM) that was about to go up on the side of a Slate building at the corner of Yonge + St. Clair in midtown Toronto.

    Well, that mural is now complete. It’s been in the news a bunch over the past couple of months, both locally and internationally. designboom (they’re allergic to capital letters) wrote about it last month.

    In case you missed all that press and/or you’d like to learn more about the process, here is a video that the STEPS Initiative published last week. It’s 5 minutes. If you can’t see the video below, click here.

    [vimeo 185861345 w=640 h=360]

    The STEPS philosophy of creating public art in unlikely urban spaces is a hugely interesting one. It’s really the antithesis of the white-walled art gallery.

  • Global street artist paints 8-storey mural in midtown Toronto

    This morning

    (Friday, July 8th)

    at 11AM eastern time, the global street artist Phlegm will start work on a giant 8-storey mural at the corner of Yonge + St. Clair in midtown Toronto. It’s going up on the west elevation of 1 St. Clair West.

    Here’s what it will look like when it’s complete:

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    The piece is intended to be experienced at two different scales. From afar, you read it as a human figure embracing itself. (See it?) Once you get closer, you are then drawn into an intricate interpretation of the Toronto landscape – both built and natural.

    Embedded within are depictions of the Royal Ontario Museum (including Daniel Libeskind’s Crystal), the SkyDome (yes, the SkyDome), the St. Lawrence Market (my hood), the CN Tower (obligatory), as well as other landmarks in the city. It’s going to be awesome.

    The project is a STEPS Initiative and it is being supported by the City of Toronto, Slate Asset Management, CBRE, CIBC, and a few others. They have also setup a great website with a live webcam, so that you can follow along as the artist works.

    At the time of writing this post, nothing yet has happened. But by the time it reaches you (email subscribers) it should be well underway. The hashtag for all of this is #PHLEGMPAINTS. 

    Big things are starting to happen at Yonge + St. Clair.

  • Rotterdam reinvents the urban food market

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    Every now and then a piece of architecture comes along that makes you feel like your city should be more beautiful – or at least very least: bolder. In this case, it’s the new Market Hall in Rotterdam, which has been making the rounds on the internet since it opened last week. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I find it really exciting.

    Designed by Dutch architecture firm MVRDV, the Market Hall is a 1.1 million square foot mixed-use building consisting of residences (102 rental apartments and 126 for sale apartments), a food market, a supermarket, a public space, and a 1,200 stall parking facility. But before I say anymore, here’s the money shot:

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    And here’s what it looks like from the inside of the market:

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    In the middle of the building is the food market. At night when it closes up, it then becomes a well-lit public space. The entire central area is enclosed, but well connected visually to the outside through a big and fancy glass facade.

    The apartments wrap the central market and were constructed using standardized modules (despite the unique form). The spaces that require natural light face outward and all the spaces that do not require natural light (by Dutch law), such as the kitchens, face inward towards the market. 

    There’s a grocery store 1 level below grade (to help supplement the market) and all parking and loading is done underground. This means that the building itself has no real backside. Most buildings typically have an ugly loading and “back of house” area – the building’s ass if you will. In this case, the entire perimeter of the building is urban and accessible.

    Finally, on the ceiling of the market is a massive mega-mural designed by Dutch artists Arno Coenen and Iris Roskam. Click here for a 360 degree panorama. It’s wild. 

    So what do you think of this building? Would you like to have it in your city? And would you consider living in one of its apartments? I would.

    Images: MVRDV