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ERA Architects

Projects

Jack Layton Ferry Terminal Signage

The Toronto Island Ferry Terminal was recently renamed in honour of the late Jack Layton. As part of needed modernization to the facilities, the City of Toronto also built a new ticket pavilion. It needed a sign. ERA was invited to propose signage options that would lend a friendly tone to the park, and one that echoed the family-oriented activities...

The Roxy Theatre

...ground floor windows and exterior lobby, repair to the terrazzo floors and intricate scalloped ceiling of the exterior lobby. The ticket booth was also restored and much of the sign boxes were re-built based on historic photographs. The conservation of the Allenby Theatre has brought about a much needed re-investment to a slightly neglected section of Danforth Avenue. The restored...

night photo of hotel in 2016 King Edward Hotel

Toronto’s King Edward Hotel (“The King Eddy”) opened in May 1903 as the city’s first “palace hotel” to rival hotels in New York and London and boasted “absolutely fireproof” construction. Two notable architects, American Henry Ives Cobb and Toronto’s E.J. Lennox, were responsible for the design of the original 8-storey hotel building, which features a bold, Beaux Arts design in...

Senate of Canada Building

...were in poor condition at project start-up. Investigations and testing of a number of panels were undertaken to determine their strength and typical failure mechanisms. As no appropriate North American plaster conservation precedent existed, experimentation with conservation products from the United Kingdom was undertaken to determine suitability. After multiple mock-ups and tests, a conservation strategy was developed and implemented without...

Union Station Train Shed

The Union Station Train Shed, designed by A.R. Ketterson, a Toronto Terminals Railway Assistant Bridge Engineer, was built in 1929-30. The design was a variation on the Bush train shed invented by American Engineer Lincoln Bush in 1904. Bush sheds replaced the large, expensive, and difficult-to-maintain balloon-framed sheds that were common in 19th-century Europe. Smoke ducts directly above the tracks...

Pan-Am Athletes’ Village

The 2015 Pan/ Parapan American Games took place in Toronto, and were used as a catalyst to help drive the development of Toronto’s waterfront lands. The West Don Lands were developed as the athletes village for the duration of the games, and for later use as a residential neighbourhood. ERA was retained to serve as the heritage consultant to help...

Crangle’s Collision

Crangle’s Collision (the former International Harvesters’ Building) has been an Art Moderne accent at the corner of Bathurst and Wellington since its construction in 1940. This two-storey commercial building, designed by architect Neil A. Armstrong, served as headquarters for the American producer of agricultural equipment, and more recently as an auto body shop. A listed heritage property, ERA was retained...

Dragon Centre Stories

Opened in 1984 in Agincourt, Scarborough, Dragon Centre was North America’s first indoor Chinese mall. Its developers — brothers Daniel and Henry Hung, originally from Hong Kong — adapted an old roller-skating rink into a mall serving the Greater Toronto Area’s growing Chinese-Canadian population. Combining Hong Kong’s dense commercial markets and the big box North American shopping mall, Dragon Centre...

Rotman School of Management

...Annex Style, a blend of American and British architectural influences often associated with the well-to-do. The building places an emphasis on elaborate masonry and incorporates a prominent gable, woodwork and dormers. In 1929, the Canadian School for Missions enlarged the building with a two-storey addition to the south in the Collegiate Gothic style. ERA was retained by the University of...

Selma Göteberg

ERA and Arup collaborated to join a number of European firms in a parallel commission to reimagine the Swedish suburb of Selma Göteberg. Surprisingly, the neighbourhood bore a number of interesting similarities to Toronto suburbs, including post-war modernist planning strategies (Toronto’s inspired in part by Swedish thinkers, in fact), aging 1960s infrastructure, a diverse resident community of newcomers, and a...

What lies beneath: Article series by Scott Weir

Toronto has a huge stock of Georgian, Victorian, and other heritage homes. It is not uncommon for these fine structures to have had many of their original qualities removed or obscured by generations of renovations and repairs. This series of National Post articles by ERA’s Scott Weir explores a number of ideas surrounding heritage homes, and instructs on a number...

King Edward Precinct Study

The residential buildings within the King Edward precinct of Ottawa were constructed between 1880 and 1921. A large number of these structures has been identified by the city of Ottawa as contributing to the heritage character of the neighbourhood. ERA was retained by the University of Ottawa to prepare a heritage impact report with respect to proposed development sites within...