December 14, 2007
There Goes the Neighbourhood
Does the demolition of a grand old house spell the end of Russell Hill Road as we know it?
The well-heeled homeowners on Russell Hill Road, the ravine- hugging street near St. Clair and Avenue that Harry Rosen once called home, are getting their Burberry knickers in a knot about impending condoization. They’ve already suffered the humiliation of losing some of their street’s 19th-century mansions to infill townhouses, but at least those were single-family dwellings. Now a company calling itself Russell Hill Investment is demolishing 200 Russell Hill Road, a mammoth Tudor-style house built in 1910, to make way for a four- and five-storey condo with 22 units combined. Neighbours, who unsuccessfully tried to put a stop to the demolition, are anxious about what the condos will do to their street (not to mention their resale values). Here, a few of the most expensive—and storied—properties on the block. »