Earlier this week we took you inside the ground floor of Freed’s Fashion House, one of the many new condominium developments reshaping the trendy King West strip. The beautifully executed juxtaposition of the preserved Silver Plate Building against Fashion House’s contemporary 12-storey condominium is better understood the further one ascends through the building.
Fashion House, image by Jack Landau
While the ground floor will soon become a hive of activity with its two restaurants, it is the private residential floors above that the building’s future occupants will be most interested in getting a peek at now.
Immediately adjacent to the heritage building’s second floor, the project's first level of condominium units are seeing their final touches applied, as contractors continue to prepare suites for their pre-delivery inspections (PDIs).
Second floor suite at Fashion House, image by Jack Landau
Due to the pronounced offset between the newly built portion and the heritage structure, the first three floors of suites seem to project out from the south side of the property, providing unobstructed corner suite views along King Street. The unique design by Core Architects makes use of stacked boxes to create an highly articulated built form which maximizes corner suites and views, like this view out of a second floor suite with south and west exposures.
Corner view from a second floor suite at Fashion House, image by Jack Landau
It's those windows above King Street where we will see hanging soon enough the project's signature red curtains. Soft LED night-lighting of those curtains will make Fashion House an unmistakable addition to a street that is already one of Toronto's most interesting.
Fashion House, image by Jack Landau
The offset box design of Fashion House creates an interesting terrace effect with multiple roofs. At level 9 the tower steps back substantially from King Street, creating a large terrace which will be home to Fashion House’s step-up pool and its amenity level. At the time of our visit last week, contractors were busy building a temporary roof for the pool, to protect it while its tiles set.
Swimming pool on Fashion House's 9th floor amenity level, image by Jack Landau
Swimming pool on Fashion House's 9th floor amenity level, image by Jack Landau
A construction worker sands down rough edges, image by Jack Landau
Western view from the pool, image by Jack Landau
The exhilarating views will surely make for an exciting splash in the pool, but for the lucky residents of one of the suites on this floor, their own private terrace hot tub will be the place to relax.
Hot tub being built on the west side of the 9th floor terrace, image by Jack Landau
Here's what they'll see from the interior of their suite (that's the hot tub just beyond the windows on the right).
9th floor suite with a hot tub with a view, image by Jack Landau
Arriving at the twelfth floor (and penthouse level!), the building’s exceptional views become immediately apparent. Though only rising to 12 storeys in height, the surrounding mid-rise streetscape allows unobstructed views towards the growing Entertainment District to the south and east, not to mention the views in nearly every other direction.
Panorama of southern and eastern views, image by Jack Landau
The historic commercial buildings which dominate much of the surrounding area are very visible from this elevated vantage point, especially the restored Silver Plate Building below, still awaiting its rebuilt cupola.
Looking down towards the roof of the Silver Plate Building, image by Jack Landau
Up here, precast concrete tiles are now being installed on the terraces. In the second image below you can see low the tiles sit above the uneven waterproofed deck, which allows water to run towards drains. The tiles are raised and levelled with thick foam pieces providing an ever-so-slightly cushioned surface to walk on.
Concrete paving awaiting installation, image by Jack Landau
Terrace paving at Fashion House, image by Jack Landau
That finishes up our tour of Freed’s Fashion House for now; we plan to be back next year to see a completed and landscaped pool terrace, along with fully kitted-out interior amenity and retail spaces! In the meantime, for additional information, including project facts and renderings, please visit our dataBase file, linked below. If you want to get involved in the discussion, you can click on the associated Forum thread links, or voice your opinion in the comments section provided at the bottom of this page.