Adaptive Reuse, Accessibility & Additions

In the 1840s, a row of buildings known as the Elgin Block was constructed along Yonge Street. The block’s tenants over the next century included tailors, tanners, and tobacconists. Holt Renfrew and Company extensively renovated one of the buildings and operated in this location from 1910 until the 1950s. While much of the Elgin Block...

As part of a long-term planning strategy to rejuvenate downtown Windsor, several heritage buildings have been adapted to house the facilities for a new downtown campus of the University of Windsor including the copper and stone-clad Windsor Star building and the art-moderne Greyhound Bus Depot. The Windsor Armouries was chosen as the site for the...

As part of a long-term planning strategy to rejuvenate the city’s downtown, several heritage buildings are being adapted to house the facilities for a new downtown campus of the University of Windsor. The Windsor Star building is a finely crafted example of Beaux-Arts design with details in copper and carved stone. ERA is working with...

As part of a long-term planning strategy to rejuvenate the city’s downtown, several heritage buildings are being adapted to house the facilities for a new downtown campus of the University of Windsor. This fine Art Moderne design, built in limestone and granite in 1940, is notable for its rounded corners, semi-circular ribbon windows, and circle...

Designed for the Canadian Bank of Commerce in 1905 by architects Darling & Pearson, 197 Yonge Street housed the bank’s Queen and Yonge branch. A fine example of the firm’s remarkable output of Classical Edwardian bank branch designs, it is today designated under Ontario Heritage Act.   The landmark building is the historic focus of...

7 St Thomas integrates a sleek, undulating fritted-glass mid-rise office building designed by Hariri-Pontarini Architects with a block of heritage townhomes. The site inhabits a transitional zone between the retail and corporate fabric of Bloor-Yorkville and the quiet, leafy collegiate campus to the south. ERA was responsible for full Heritage Consultation services, from heritage planning...

Carleton Village School was declared surplus by the Toronto District School Board and, with no protection through heritage listing or designation, slated for demolition in 1998. This local landmark, however, represented great symbolic value for community members of Carleton Village, the Junction neighbourhood it had served since 1913. In collaboration with Toronto Police Services (TPS)...

“Building 16” at the Brick Works housed several massive kilns built in the 1960s for firing and drying bricks. The kilns were fascinating artifacts, but their sheer size — 600 linear metres occupying three-quarters of the building — made the space impossible to use. From 2010–2013, ERA was involved in dissecting the kilns to reveal...

For this project, sited on King near John St. in Toronto’s entertainment district, David Mirvish and Frank Gehry propose a three-building residential and mixed-use complex including OCAD University’s “Princess of Wales Centre for Visual Arts,” as well as a new public art gallery. The new gallery will make available for the first time David Mirvish’s...

Numbers 26–34 Lombard St., which date to the 1890s, are fine examples of the Romanesque Revival style popular in France and North America in the late 19th century. The structures are soundly constructed with red and buff brick loadbearing masonry perimeter walls, heavy timber and steel interior structure, and many large window openings to maximize...

Coliseum Complex is a 410,000 sq ft group of five buildings constructed in 1922 to showcase the Canadian National Exhibition’s Winter Fair. An example of restrained Beaux Arts style design, these buildings feature vast, symmetrical, masonry façades; extensive classical brick detailing; unusual sculptural ornamentation in stone; and hundreds of large, finely framed windows. Having worked...

7 Austin Terrace was part of the estate of Canadian publisher John B. Maclean, founder of Maclean’s Magazine. The main section of the house was never completed, leaving the intended gatehouse to become Maclean’s primary residence. Architect John Lyle, known for his designs of the Royal Alexandra Theatre and Union Station, was the architect on record for...