A relic of Toronto’s past has been unveiled due to demolition for a new condo building.Construction of Halo Residences at Yonge and Grosvenor Sts. this month revealed the entirety of the 19th-Century firehouse tower that once stretched above the St. Charles Tavern, a landmark in the history of Toronto’s LGBTQ community.Gay patrons gathered at the tavern “under the beacon of the clock tower still standing” from the late 1950s into the ’80s, according to a blog post from the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives. For years, the gay bar was also the site of homophobic violence — a place where hateful spectators gathered to pelt arriving patrons with eggs and rotting fruit, and patrons leaving could risk being arrested.The clock tower — which was built as part of the Yonge Street Fire Hall in 1872, and has a heritage designation — will be preserved and integrated into the condo’s design, according to the developer.“We believe that it is a privilege to restore and showcase Toronto heritage, and made sure to include the clock tower to our architecture in the best way possible — to showcase its value and its beauty,” said Maria Athanasoulis, president of Cresford Developments, in an email.Dennis Findlay, president of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, was a patron of the St. Charles in the 1970s. He said the firehouse clock tower is a historic monument, but cautioned against conflating its history with that of the tavern below.“Below that tower there were moments of queer history and those of us that were a part of that queer history don’t want to forget it,” he said. “But we also don’t want to memorialize it, in the sense that it was a step on the road to where we are now and where we’re going to in the future.”There were positives, he said, in that the St. Charles created a “somewhat-positive” space for LGBTQ people to gather. In the early day ...
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