towards the most ideal new balcony which would be to propose for thin metal railings that would appear light and discreet, while being compatible with the Mission Revival Style. However, these thin railings (potentially of ¼" balusters and thin guards) are not available unless custom fabricated, which would require an Engineer to prepare the drawings and specialized fabrication. This option was not preferred by the Owner due to associated costs and was not explored.

In August 2019, the Owner instead provided two options with either an Aluminum Railing systems through Ironex or a Durarail Glass railing system that would be available pre-engineered/fabricated. Based on information about pricing, the owner had then further indicated a strong preference for the aluminum railing system.

The Ironex aluminum railing system is a regular railing system which would be very visible due to the width of each baluster (5/8") at a height of 3'6" above the balcony floor, and Code requirements for the balusters to be no more than 4" apart, with top guard of 1.5". Approximately 12" of the balcony vertical guard would be hidden behind the parapet.

The Durarail glass railing, while inevitably would introduce a modern look to the property and reflection from the glass, but could be considered more discreet due to its transparency, therefore more recommended than the aluminum railing system. The posts for the glass railing system however are 2.5" by 2.5" (not reflected to scale on the drawings), which would be visible from the street. The number of posts required between glass panels are also not reflected to scale on the drawings. A topless glass railing system was also sought but the owner informed that discussion with the railing supplier indicated that a topless glass railing system was not suitable for the subject property due to wind concerns.

The owner was accepting of railings with a dark bronze colour or a colour closely matching the main stucco walls. While it may be recommended that the colour of the railing system be matching with the new colour for the main stucco wall in order to be camouflaged to some extent, it will have to be confirmed through samples to be finalized on site.

Although the options provided are not the most preferred ones, at the time of designation this building had a form of balcony which was not original to the building, and not up to Building Code safety standards. The proposal now could be considered a replacement of the former non-original balcony. (The formerly white coloured thin metal balcony was removed in recent months.) This new work would be done to meet the Ontario Building Code.

The proposed new work, if removed in the future, would still allow the heritage attributes of the property to stay in-tact.

RECOMMENDATION V

Reverting back to original, this option is more respectful of Heritage Standards although is undesirable from the perspective of the owners. There may be unresolved Building Code issues that would need to be resolved with the Building Department if this option is selected.