Adaptive Reuse, Accessibility & Additions
Spotlight
1 Spadina Crescent
Originally home to Knox College, and eventually occupied by one of the world’s first insulin manufacturers and a military hospital, the Gothic Revival building at 1 Spadina Crescent has a rich history and is a major city landmark, terminating views north from Spadina Avenue. ERA worked with NADAAA between 2011 and 2017 to oversee the...
Bridgepoint Health: The Old Don Jail
Completed in 1864, the Old Don Jail was the last work of one of Canada’s most respected early architects, William Thomas, and the largest building project in Toronto’s history at the time. Like much of Thomas’s late work, the jail was conceived in the Renaissance Revival style popular during the mid-1800s which draws inspiration from...
Parliament Street Supportive Housing
The transformative rehabilitation and retrofit project of 504–508 Parliament Street adapts Second Empire-style townhouses into supportive housing for individuals experiencing homelessness. This initiative, led by Dixon Hall Neighbourhood Services in collaboration with Toronto Community Housing (TCHC) and the City of Toronto, provides dignified, supportive housing within a heritage context. The project includes 31 rooms with...
Rose Avenue Supportive Housing
The comprehensive renovation of 41 Rose Avenue transformed a vacant building into a vibrant multi-unit rooming house within the Cabbagetown Northwest Area Heritage Conservation District. This initiative, led by Dixon Hall Neighbourhood Services in collaboration with Toronto Community Housing (TCHC) and the City of Toronto, provides seven self-contained rooms, each equipped with a private washroom...
Biidaasige Park: Firehall 30
Originally constructed in 1922, Fire Hall No. 30 was part of a wave of fire halls that were built in response to Toronto’s rapid growth and the development of its eastern waterfront industrial district. It is a notable example of the Edwardian Classical style that characterized the early institutional buildings along Toronto’s waterfront. Fire Hall...
Westinghouse
The Westinghouse Building at 355 King Street West is a robust and carefully articulated example of early 20th-century commercial architecture in Toronto. Originally designed and constructed in the late 1920s by Bernard H. Prack as the Toronto district office of the Canadian Westinghouse Company, the building was later enlarged in the early 1930s by Prack...
Charles Levey House
In collaboration with Tricon, ERA has completed its redevelopment with an innovative approach that conserves and reintegrates the historic south façade of 6–8 Gloucester into a new mixed-use development. The semi-detached Victorian building was constructed in 1869, nearly two decades before the iconic Gloucester Mews (originally the Masonic Hall Buildings) were built just to the...
The Royal Hotel
The Royal Hotel has been a landmark in Picton since 1881, a Victorian-era hub for travellers and community life in Prince Edward County. After decades of decline, the building faced significant degradation, threatening its historic presence on Main Street. The revitalization project aimed to rehabilitate the three-story heritage building while adapting it for contemporary use....
444 Logan Avenue Net Zero Renewal
The Ray McCleary Towers, located at 444 Logan Avenue, opened in 1967 as the first housing initiative from WoodGreen Community Services. Named for Reverend Ray McCleary (1907–1967), WoodGreen’s founder and a respected community figure, the building honours his legacy of charity in Toronto’s Riverdale neighbourhood. The 444 Logan project, led by WoodGreen Community Housing and...
Pilkington Glass Complex
In 2010, ERA’s heritage planning services were engaged for the redevelopment of 15–35 Mercer Street, a downtown site of three heritage buildings that housed the Pilkington Glass Company from 1895 to 1969. Following a lengthy approvals process, the final plan included the partial retention and adaptive reuse of all three heritage buildings, integrating them into...
Drug Trading Company Building
Constructed between 1942 and 1946, the Drug Trading Company office building at 25 Ontario Street features a brick and stone façade designed by Margison and Babcock Engineers. Their façade design reflects both Art Deco and Streamline Moderne influences. In 2011, ERA was engaged to oversee the heritage planning and approvals process for the building’s adaptive...
Pickering Museum Village
The Pickering Museum Village is one of Ontario’s largest community museums, featuring 19 heritage structures spread across 25 acres along Duffins Creek in the city’s east end. Between 2023-2024, ERA, working with Tacoma Engineering and B.A. Construction, undertook the rehabilitation of two heritage buildings, which had been previously relocated to the site: the Log Barn,...
Deer Park Church
The Deer Park Presbyterian Church building was designed by Sharp and Brown Architects and completed in 1912, with later additions in 1931 and 1961. The congregation vacated and deconsecrated the church in 2008, and a redevelopment process was initiated in 2010, with approval in 2015. Designated under part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act in...
The University of Toronto’s FitzGerald Building
The University of Toronto’s FitzGerald Building is a 1927 Georgian Revival-style heritage building situated on the south end of St. George Campus. Originally built as a state-of-the-art facility for the Faculty of Medicine and the newly created Connaught Laboratories, the uses have subsequently moved to other locations. ERA was engaged as the heritage architect for...
