The Vincennes

A new look for the Annex

Known as the Vincennes, 35 Walmer Road was built in 1966 and signified a new type of apartment building in the Annex. Uno Prii’s designs were a new take on apartment buildings and added a fresh style to the neighbourhood. In contrast to the big and boxy-like buildings that came before it, the Vincennes was flowy, sculptural, and made of poured concrete.

Rising 15 stories, the building represented the aspirations of city living. Zoning laws in the city required tall buildings to be set well back on landscaped lots, inspiring Prii to create the Vincennes’ large sculptural flare we see today. The futurist sense of Prii’s designs have been described as a symbol of hope and optimism for the future.

The Vincennes

Reaching for the sky

Between the 1950s and 1970s, new high-rises were built in clusters along Spadina Road, lower Walmer Road, and along St. George Street. Many of the Annex’s grand old mansions were demolished to make room for these new high-rises, changing the look of the Annex from that of an elite neighbourhood to a denser urban centre.

However, residents pushed back against the increased density the high-rise buildings brought to their neighbourhood, resulting in several low-rise housing developments. As opposed to Prii’s futuristic designs, these developments looked back to the nineteenth-century architecture of the Annex: adapting what were once single-family homes into multi-unit complexes.

In 1981, the Huron-Madison Project at 25 Madison Avenue was completed. Operated by City Housing, the original house at 27 Madison, built in 1893, was incorporated into a four-story development, masking the dozen separate units behind it.