Mimico Secondary Plan and Ormsby-Franceschini Estate designation approved by Etobicoke York Community Council
The following Twitter message is from Councillor Mark Grimes:
Mimico-By-the-Lake Secondary Plan gets approved unanimously@ Community Council today. Big thank you 2 the Community & Planning Staff #Mimico
The following message is from Michael Harrison:
Today at Etobicoke-York Community Council (EYCC) the intent to designate report recommending designation of the Ormsby/Franceschini Estate buildings and landscaping features (Dunington-Grubb designed garden and stone wall along Lake Shore Blvd West) was considered.
EYCC adopted the staff recommendation.
At the same time they also adopted, with amendments, the staff recommendation on the Mimico Secondary Plan. The plan contains site specific policies related to the concentration of heritage buildings on the former Ormsby/Franceschini estate.
It has been a long two year battle but we have been successful in ensuring the protection and preservation of these important heritage buildings and landscaping features.
Thank you everyone for your support!
The item will now go forward to full Toronto City Council on July 16th.
Michael
[End of message from Michael Harrison]
Background about these topics can be found here.
A Dec. 22, 2021 CBC article is entitled: “Hidden behind buildings, the last of Mimico’s opulent lakefront estates is still standing: Myrtle Villa was owned by businessman James Franceschini from 1925 to 1950.”
An excerpt reads:
McCreath’s grandfather was James Franceschini, an Italian immigrant who founded Dufferin Construction and bought the Mimico property in 1925.
Naming it Myrtle Villa after his only child — McCreath’s mother — Franceschini made the estate an opulent hub for entertaining, complete with a dance floor on the edge of the lake.
“He would have bands play, and entertainers, so it was really an event when you came here,” McCreath said.
But despite the fortune he built up through his business, Franceschini’s life wasn’t easy, McCreath continued.
Moving to Canada at 15, Franceschini felt pressure to be accepted by the English-speaking business community in Toronto, and caused “quite a stir” when he married McCreath’s grandmother, Annie Pinkham.