Tommy & Lefebvre Reconstruction: Part 4

This post is the fourth in a series on the resurrection of the Tommy & Lefebvre store at Bank and McLeod. In this part, we'll look at the demolition of the third building that made up the former store.

The first two buildings were sufficiently damaged by the fire that they could be taken down immediately, but the third portion required a Council-approved permit for demolition, because it's in a Heritage Conservation District. The uncontroversial permit was approved by City Council on 22 April 2009.

This set of photos are a bit more interesting because I managed to get there while they were tearing it down. Here's the front of the building, with the pit of Bank Street under reconstruction at the left:

Toward the back of the site, the debris was being loaded into a large bin. You can also make out some of the second-storey rooms.

This one still had a poster hanging on the wall.

But it had fallen by the next day. I like it when the diggers frame each other like this. The yellow one on the right is from the Bank Street reconstruction.

Here's another angle, showing the pile of debris being cleared. It looks like there may have been some smoke or fire damage near the floor of the front room.

I was rather surprised at the size of the second storey, which was entirely obscured when you looked at it from the ground level. The horizontal windows near the front of the second storey are interesting.

Inside the store. If I recall correctly, this was the cycling department--at least in the summer. They've cut the floor joists and the walls so that the adjoining building doesn't get damaged when the machines pull this one apart.

Looking back toward McLeod.

This is the next building over, at Flora Street. I suppose the façade of this building also dates from when Bank Street was widened, and might be hiding multiple conjoined buildings behind it. The Vietnamese Kitchen put a sign in its window reading "closed for renovations," which was still there last time I checked.

The wall connecting the Vietnamese Kitchen building and the T&L building was at least five bricks thick.

The façade bricks peppered the pavement when demolished, sometimes in intact blocks. The bricks look as though they could be re-used.

I'm not sure if they were, though. Looks like everything was just taken away as quickly as possible. Can't say I blame them; they wanted to rebuild as fast as possible--remember, they're in the business of selling sports equipment, not real estate.

Tune in in another two days at noon for the next installment. For a sneak preview of that one, check out the Google Street View Time Machine (which is to say that the Street View photos taken along Bank Street are from the time of Part 3, but if you click to go down McLeod, the photos are from the time of the Part 5.

Also, the T&L website says that the opening date and details will be posted there on Wednesday: