Czech church site eyed for condos

Yet another church on Annette Street could be destined for condo redevelopment.

Following in the footsteps of the former Victoria Royce Church, which was sold to developers and converted into loft units, the Czechoslovak Baptist Church at Annette and High Park Avenue is being eyed for residential use.

No formal application has been submitted yet, but the church owner and architect have met with city officials for preliminary discussions.

“The project is to convert the church to residential. They are proposing eight or nine townhouse units facing onto Annette,” said city planner Brian Gallagher. “That’s as far as they’ve gotten.”

The church is officially listed as the Annette Street Baptist Church on the city’s heritage inventory list. It was built by John Shelley in 1888.

If a formal redevelopment proposal is submitted, it will require re-zoning from institutional to residential. Heritage staff will be part of a team reviewing the application.

Local councillor Bill Saundercook said he’s pleased the church structure will be retained.

“It’s beneficial to the community to preserve this beautiful building for a new use,” said the Parkdale-High Park councillor.  

The 1890-built heritage Victoria-Royce Presbyterian Church at 152 Annette Street has already been converted into the 38-unit Victoria Lofts.

It’s not surprising, said Saundercook, given the decline in church attendance.  

“As a congregation depletes in numbers, the needed money for upkeep of a building becomes more onerous on people running the church,” said Saundercook.

So, churches are being put up for sale and converted for new use.

“This has been going on all over the city,” Saundercook said.