Toronto is getting an impressive new flatiron building

A new flatiron-shaped building is quickly rising on Toronto's King St. West, a rare and welcome departure from the box-shaped towers that have dominated the development scene in recent years.

A fast-rising residential building at 1071 King St. W. will mark the latest entry to an ultra-exclusive club of wedge-shaped buildings in a city known for its boxy, uninspiring architecture. 

Bucking the trend of luxe condo towers, the 17-storey build from Hullmark, First Capital, and Woodbourne Canada is being constructed as a purpose-built rental building — a trend expected to ramp up considerably in the coming years as buyers step back from a struggling condo market.

Construction for the BDP Quadrangle-designed development kicked off in early 2024 and has been rapidly advancing above street level since this past spring, on its way to an eventual height of just over 62 metres.

Crews are now forming the 16th floor as the tower approaches its final height. 

Meanwhile, installation of the building's brick panel cladding and punched windows now reaches the fourth floor.

So, why are flatiron-shaped buildings so rare in Toronto?

Owing to Toronto's rectilinear street grid, there are few intersections in the city that support flatiron-style designs.

Hullmark/First Capital/Woodbourne Canada

The 1892-built Gooderham Building at 49 Wellington Street E., the structure most associated with the term Flatiron Building in Toronto, set the modern standard for development on wedge-shaped blocks in the city (though it was not the first wedge-shaped building at this location).

Toronto's next major flatiron building came over a century later with the 33-storey condo tower at 25 The Esplanade, completed in 1989.

There was hope that a third flatiron-style tower would be constructed at 10 York St. in the early 2010s, though the project was ultimately constructed with just its podium levels hugging the lot's wedge shape.

And there could be even more projects of this style joining the local urban fabric in the years to come, as more irregularly-shaped lots are put in play.