When Queen Street Partners set out to restore the building at 639-647 Queen St. W., they started with research. What they found were 1907 ads for the F.C. Burroughes Furniture Co. Ltd., which sold carpets, stoves, crockery and, of course, furniture. A century later, the Burroughes Building is filled with hip businesses, from ad agency Hey Harry to the men’s-wear designer Philip Sparks. “We wanted it to serve the community and meet the needs of the city while preserving as much of the character as possible,” says the property firm’s Lee Polydor. To wit, the elevator has been retrofitted to move at 2009 speed but the charming old cab is intact. While raw space provided a perfect backdrop for our shoot, Polydor says 80 per cent of the building is occupied. Ironically, the less furniture, the better it looked. www.burroughesbuilding.com
Amy Verner, The Globe and Mail, Saturday, March 14, 2009
