West40 is the name of a residential building project in Toronto that is repurposing an empty Anglican church in the middle of the city.

Seventeen different shaped condomiums are being carved into the brick on beam structure, a century old church located at 40 Westmoreland St.

One of the hottest residential condominium properties on the Toronto real estate market today is 40 Westmoreland St, a historic Anglican church that was the center of the community when it was built one hundred years ago.

Today this property must have appeared like an uncut gemstone to the architects and engineers (and financiers) at Dog Day Developments who cut and polished seventeen unique addresses into the shape.

The Toronto movers descended the property at noon on Tuesday Oct 5 2013.  They were there to collect some things.

My knowledge of the history came from the blog of an anonymous parish priest with the Anglican Diocese of Toronto, serving the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Toronto (www.stmarymagdalene.ca)

and his post

http://lostanglicanchurches.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/st-mary-the-virgin-dovercourt/

The history of the church is an interesting look back at howToronto grew. He writes,

"In 1888, St. Mary the Virgin was set apart from St. Anne’s on Dufferin Street to the south.. A new church was erected at Bloor and Delaware in 1889. The new facilities were designed by the architectural firm Langley & Burke, and included a school house to be used temporarily as a church and a rectory. The parish was known as St. Mary the Virgin, Dovercourt. Its parish boundaries were the area encompassed by Ossington, Dovercourt, Dufferin and Bloor. 

in 1912 St Marys of the Virgin Built a Larger Church at 40 Westmoreland

In 1912, vacant land fronting on Bloor Street was sold and a site was purchased two blocks west on Westmoreland, just north of Bloor Street, in order to build a larger church. The cornerstone was laid in 1913, the first service held in the basement in 1914.

Builders are busy today transforming into 40West, a 17 unit condominium urban housing development.

The pavement out front f the property is very busy with the constant shuffling of men, machines and equipment.

The diocesan archives contains a good series of photographs of the interior of St. Mary the Virgin.

This shows how the footprint of the building will be divided into the seventeen units.

Sometimes property developers are like gemologists cutting up a rough stone into a multifaceted gem.