Style Sleuth: On the market and behind the scenes

Style & Decor Blog

leon’s at the roundhouse

by brett
September 23rd, 2009

Think you know Leon’s? You may want to take a peek at the new Leon’s location at Toronto’s historic John Street Roundhouse to see what the big box furniture and appliance behemoth has been up to on its centennial…

l-layout2

l-layout3

l-layout4

l-layout1

My colleague Lauren McPhillips and I were invited down to see how the epic-scale reno of this old locomotive service shed (a National Historic Site built way back in 1929) was progressing, and we were in awe of the painstaking attention to historic detail. Under the supervision of heritage architect Don Loucks, those raw Douglas fir beams were beautifully restored, blasting away 80 years of locomotive steam exhaust buildup. What I love best about the space is that the structure wasn’t compromised in any way to accomodate Leon’s needs – the supersexy polished concrete floor actually “floats” above the train servicing pits, and lighting is clipped to supporting rafters to avoid unnecessary drilling.

I also love dressing up in hardhats. (Not required for normal Leon’s shopping.)

hardhats

And why is it actually called the Roundhouse, you ask?

Well, the showpiece of the little park in which Leon’s is situated is a fully operation locomotive turntable – a lazy-susan type carousel that could rotate steam engines 360-degrees depending on which of the service bays it was to enter. We got to go for a spin (sorry, couldn’t resist) on this historic gem, and it was absolutely amazing… I was actually so cited I didn’t think to take a picture. Here’s a shot from the Toronto Railway Historical Association.

roundhouse