In a case of space defining culture, the new Leslieville wine bar
Skin and Bones is taking not only its aesthetic, but also its name from the former industrial property the restaurant partners first spotted in July.
The owners, both formerly with Pizza Libretto and Enoteca Sociale, used the skeleton of a stout, industrial-era brick building as a jumping off point to design the new open-concept space on the norht side of Queen Street at Carlaw.
The former Trusty Automotive double-wide space at 980 Queen Street East was built about a century ago, and according to Skin and Bones managing partner Harry Wareham, it looks like it was built as a high-end factory with no expense spared.
“The costs to put in the steel I beams originally must have been astronomical,” Wareham says of the now-exposed 12” x 24” beams that form the 16-foot-high ceiling. When Wareham and his partner, Daniel Clarke, were inspecting the place, a consulting engineer told them that, though there were at the time several interior walls, none was load-bearing. This meant that the entire structure is supported by the beams and the four exterior walls, and that they were free to hollow it out to their hearts’ content.
Wareham says the whole project, which involved polishing the original concrete floors and installing the kitchen, took four months and cost just under $1 million.
The contractor was PT Construction.
Though the basic idea of the place, including the menu and the wine list, had already been decided on, what they were able to do with the space moved them to name it as they did. In addition to the bare aesthetic, the name also refers to the skins of the grapes, and bones, which according to Wareham, “are the basis of all good cooking.”
Skin and Bones opened in December.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Harry Wareham
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