The Sovereign Building at 71 Bank Street was designed by C.P. Meredith for real estate entrepreneurs Robert Blackburn and George Bryson in 1910.
The ground level McDonalds has just re-opened after a speedy makeover.
The Sovereign's chief architectural virtue is its terra cotta facade and deeply coffered casement windows, still in their original bronze frames.
When the old golden-arched McDonald's sign was taken off some dusty ventilation grilles were revealed. Projecting a foot or so in front of the building, it had also obscured some of the building's stylized egg-and-dart mouldings.
The new storefront has been neatly fitted back into the building wall.
In its previous version the McDonalds front was a Mondrianesque arrangement of squares and rectangles in muted greys.
It's now almost fully glazed (except for the vent) and the primary signage is updated with dimensional lettering, minimizing the golden arches to a small appearance on the overhanging sign beside the door.
The store stayed open for business during the first phase of the renovations.
Finally the contractors moved in for the gut rehab of the interior, and the front disappeared behind a hoarding.
Which was removed to reveal this. With careful editing, it's a sleeker hip look tailored to fit the limited frontage.
The designers have managed to deploy all of the design elements in McDonalds re-branding, the tri-colour panels and the faux-wood siding.
Despite the odd street-level nicks and remnants of something that had been applied with mortar, the Sovereign's century old terra cotta has weathered well.
Except for the five arches above the top floor and a cornice which was likely water damaged and replaced with metal siding long ago.
The Sovereign Building at 71 Bank Street was designed by C.P. Meredith for real estate entrepreneurs Robert Blackburn and George Bryson in 1910.
The ground level McDonalds has just re-opened after a speedy makeover.
The Sovereign's chief architectural virtue is its terra cotta facade and deeply coffered casement windows, still in their original bronze frames.
When the old golden-arched McDonald's sign was taken off some dusty ventilation grilles were revealed. Projecting a foot or so in front of the building, it had also obscured some of the building's stylized egg-and-dart mouldings.
The new storefront has been neatly fitted back into the building wall.
In its previous version the McDonalds front was a Mondrianesque arrangement of squares and rectangles in muted greys.
It's now almost fully glazed (except for the vent) and the primary signage is updated with dimensional lettering, minimizing the golden arches to a small appearance on the overhanging sign beside the door.
The store stayed open for business during the first phase of the renovations.
Finally the contractors moved in for the gut rehab of the interior, and the front disappeared behind a hoarding.
Which was removed to reveal this. With careful editing, it's a sleeker hip look tailored to fit the limited frontage.
The designers have managed to deploy all of the design elements in McDonalds re-branding, the tri-colour panels and the faux-wood siding.
Despite the odd street-level nicks and remnants of something that had been applied with mortar, the Sovereign's century old terra cotta has weathered well.
Except for the five arches above the top floor and a cornice which was likely water damaged and replaced with metal siding long ago.
You can see the previous look in Google Street View also: http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=bank+and+sparks&hl=en&ll=45.420903,-75.701112&spn=0.003803,0.009645&sll=45.421135,-75.701330&sspn=0.006295,0.006295&layer=c&cbp=13,61.96,,0,0.8&cbll=45.42084,-75.70106&z=17&panoid=uAQMa_9SKRCojlOAMmyJvQ
ReplyDeleteThe former sign had "McDonald's" and the Golden Arches on a sign that curved in a horizontal arc with the middle away from the wall, anchored at the sides.
And the point I meant to make: I think the "Mondrianesque" look is also relatively new, as I seem to recall it looking much less clean when I used to pass by it now and then in the early '00s.
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