The Heritage deemed Joy Oil gas station has been sitting idle and fenced around on Lake Shore Blvd. W., for many years.
Some community members are calling for something to be done to two South Etobicoke historic sites that have been sitting idle for many years.
They said great sums have been paid to restore the Joy Oil station, on Lake Shore Blvd. W., and the Mimico Train Station, which are both idle.
Community activist Dan Irwin said the Joy Oil station, at 1978 Lake Shore Blvd. W., at Windermere Avenue, has been sitting idle for about 10 years after being restored by the City at a cost of about $400,000.
“There is a fence around the property and it is still sitting idle for years,” Irwin said. “The entire station is falling apart again.”
Some members of the community want to see the Joy gas station put to use after a $400,000 reno.
The Joy Oil Station was designated as a Historic Site in 1989 by the City of Toronto under the Ontario Heritage Act.
The station, which many will remember because it looks like a castle, was the brainchild of American businessman Charles Austin who, in 1928, had opened the first of his Sunny Service Stations on Joy Rd., in suburban Detroit.
The success of his discount gas business prompted him to open 16 similar stations in Toronto with a few in Montreal.
The station, which was built in the 1936 in the Chateau architectural style, is the last one standing.
The station was built in 1936 and was one of 16 in Toronto and Montreal seen here in better days.
The city renovated the site in 2008 and turned it over to Grenadier Group in 2013 as part of a deal to extend their exclusive rights to sell food to beachgoers until 2031.
The deal fell through and since then motorists and motorists have complained that the unique building with a fence around it has become an eyesore.
Joy gas was popular from the start because it was several cents cheaper per gallon than the prices offered by the local brand name stations. The price was due to cheaper crude oil being brought into Canada by tanker, first from Texas and later from Romania.
The Joy station at the time did good business because it sold gas at a cheaper price than larger outlets.
The company was resold and over the years before being shut down.
There was talk at one time that the station could be used as an information centre, snack bar or a community programming space but that never panned out.
“The City should find some use for the building,” Irwin said. “A lot of taxpayer’s money went to restore it and it is sitting idle,”
He said the City also has to find use for the historic former Mimico Train Station now sitting at Coronation Park at Judson Road and Royal York Road.
The Mimico Train Station is another historic site that is sitting idle and should be put to community use residents say.
The Mimico Station was built around 1916. Originally owned by the Grand Trunk Railway, it was later taken over by the Canadian National Railway (CNR).
It stopped being used as a station in the late 1960’s, and was abandoned in 1989 before being sold by CNR in 2001.
“People had tents set up around the station,” Irwin said. “That place was renovated now it is falling apart.”
The Mimico Station Community Organization (MCSO) was formed to fight the demolition and restore the historic station, which is more than 100-years old.
Members of the Mimico Station Community Organization was formed to restore and make it into a railway museum to no avail.
The MCSO hoped to restore the station and open it as a community hub and railway museum, but multiple setbacks and frustrations at City Hall caused the project to stall and the organization dissolved.
“The station has been partially restored and sitting idle for many years,” Irwin said. “There is not even a fence around it and squatters were living there.”
A developer was to renovate the station but the deal fell apart and it was last used as a condo sales office.