Developers have threatened to tear down Toronto's 115-year-old Hotel Waverly in recent years, and this impacts music fans as it could also result in the demolition of the adjacent Silver Dollar Room. Luckily, it now seems that the venue is safe for the time being, since it has been granted heritage designation from the city.
The bylaw was passed today (January 13), and it recognizes the bar at 484 Spadina Avenue as "being of cultural heritage value or interest."
This doesn't protect the Hotel Waverly, but it does mean that the Silver Dollar Room — which was originally built in 1958 as the Hotel Waverly's cocktail lounge — is unlikely to be demolished without a whole mess of red tape.
As blogTO points out, developers had previously proposed to tear down both the hotel and the venue and build a 20-story student housing tower. This was to include a rebuilt version of the Silver Dollar on the ground floor.
As it stands, expect the venue to continue with business as usual. See the Silver Dollar's upcoming live schedule here. Upcoming concerts include Slim Twig, Calvin Love and Crosss.
The bylaw was passed today (January 13), and it recognizes the bar at 484 Spadina Avenue as "being of cultural heritage value or interest."
This doesn't protect the Hotel Waverly, but it does mean that the Silver Dollar Room — which was originally built in 1958 as the Hotel Waverly's cocktail lounge — is unlikely to be demolished without a whole mess of red tape.
As blogTO points out, developers had previously proposed to tear down both the hotel and the venue and build a 20-story student housing tower. This was to include a rebuilt version of the Silver Dollar on the ground floor.
As it stands, expect the venue to continue with business as usual. See the Silver Dollar's upcoming live schedule here. Upcoming concerts include Slim Twig, Calvin Love and Crosss.