Murano Condominiums is a two-tower residential high-rise condominium complex located alongside
Bay Street
Bay Street is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Canada's financial services industry since succeeding Montreal's St. James ...
, near the intersection of College Street in the
Discovery District of downtown
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
. Construction of the North tower (37 Grosvenor Street) was completed in the winter of 2008/9. The South tower (38 Grenville Street) was completed in 2010. The North and South towers are joined by a two-storey podium with planned retail and recreational facilities, including a roof-top garden and glass
public art feature.
Architecture
Designed by
Peter Clewes of
architectsAlliance
architectsAlliance is a Toronto-based architectural firm headed by architect Peter Clewes. It was formed in 1999 with the merger of Wallman Clewes Bergman (composed of Rudy Wallman, Peter Clewes and Ralph Bergman) and Van Nostrand DiCastri Arc ...
, Murano was marketed as a "fusion of art, architecture and glass".
Toronto City Planning stated that the Murano, together with the neighboring
Burano, has "significantly contributed to the improvement of the streetscape and the public realm".
Comparable Toronto structures designed by Clewes include
SP!RE and
Casa Condominio Residenza.
Construction Problems
Since late 2010, panes of balcony glass have shattered and fallen to the street below. An occurrence on one of Toronto's hottest days on record (6 July 2012) resulted in the closure of Grosvenor Street and St. Vincent Lane. The North Tower lobby entrance was condemned by the City of Toronto pending the resolution of this problem. More glass fell on August 1 at 3 am and at midday. Police closed the northbound lane of Bay between Grosvenor and Grenville Streets, expecting the closure to be for a week.
For the first time, glass fell from the South Tower on August 15 at 11:30 AM, injuring a woman by slicing her wrist and leaving a puddle of blood where she was treated. “We don’t know why it’s happening, and continues to happen,” said Jim Laughlin, the city's deputy chief building inspector.
The developers replaced all tempered glass with laminated glass on balconies on both towers, and sealed the balconies. The sealing of the balconies resulted in a $20 million class action lawsuit by residents and owners of the condominiums against the developers, builders and architects in 2012.
References
External links
Official Website
{{Toronto skyscrapers
Residential skyscrapers in Toronto