Building Conservation
Spotlight
2 Queen Street West
2 Queen Street West has served shoppers on the corner of Yonge and Queen since its construction in 1895. Designed in the Renaissance Revival style in a rare partnership between Samuel Curry and Francis S. Baker, the building first opened as the P. Jamieson Clothier Outfitter. It was eventually surrounded by the rise of the...
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...
Toronto House
Rehabilitated and updated to include office, retail, health club, and residential use, the restored heritage façade of the former Southam Press Building at 19 Duncan Street anchors the new development “Toronto House” at the corner of Adelaide St and Duncan St. One of the earliest warehouses in the area, it is recognized as a fine...
Kiever Synagogue
The nearly century-old Kiever Synagogue in Toronto’s Kensington Market is a stalwart landmark of the historic Jewish community there. Designed by Toronto architect Benjamin Swartz, the synagogue was erected between 1923 and 1927 at the northwest corner of Denison Sq. Park. It is now heritage designated and located within the Kensington Market National Historic Site....
The Webster (121 Scollard)
The three-storey brick building at 121 Scollard Street is designated under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act, as part of the Yorkville-Hazelton Heritage Conservation District. The building was constructed c.1900 as semidetached units and developed by Leeds Sheppard, a prominent landowner in Yorkville. In the 1950s, the building was transformed into one unit. Fast...
480 Yonge Street
The landmark Victorian-era clock tower located on Yonge Street, just north of College Street, has a multi-layered history that links many communities and generations. First built in 1872 as Toronto’s Fire Hall No.3, it was an impressive early punctuation on Yonge Street due to its imposing height and rich architectural detailing. By the 1950s the...
The York Club Landscape
ERA’s Landscape Architecture department was engaged to prepare designs to enhance the York Club’s storied dining courtyard garden and adjacent outdoor spaces. The proposed landscape improvements coincided with the new kitchen expansion and interior accessibility upgrades (also led by ERA). Set amidst a mature tree canopy in the south lawn of the club, and enclosed...
The York Club Renovation
Since 2019 ERA has worked closely with one of Toronto’s oldest private clubs. ERA brought its multivalent expertise to provide full architectural services for the renovation, accessibility upgrades and kitchen expansion of Waveney, the historic (and heritage designated) Romanesque Revival Gooderham Mansion, home of the York Club. ERA worked closely with the Club’s Renovation Planning...
The Brighthouse Farm
The 100-acre Anderson-Brighthouse farmstead contains a farmhouse and barn built in 1867, a series of out buildings, and an eight-acre clearing nestled amongst a dense forest. After a successful interior renovation of the farmhouse, the owners engaged ERA as lead architects to convert the barn into a 100-person multi-purpose event space, that, according to the...
Yonge and Charles (Shoppers Drug Mart)
Rehabilitated and updated for its continued commercial use, the Shoppers Drug Mart building at Yonge and Charles Streets combines a new timber structure with a renewed and rehabilitated heritage façade. The original Barron’s Grocery building has long been part of an established commercial area in central downtown Toronto. Designed by G.W. Gouinlock for grocer Robert...
The Kwong Centre for Mental Health & Wellness
In 2010, ERA was retained by ARK Inc. as Heritage Consultant for the adaptive reuse and integration of the Thomas Wilson House (1889–1890) into a modern-day facility for mental health and wellness. The conservation approach included the retention and restoration of the original portion of the Thomas Wilson House, and the removal and replacement of...
Canadian Pacific Railway Building
ERA is collaborating with Partisans and H&R REIT to envision the reinvention of the 1913 heritage-designated Canadian Pacific Railway Building at 69 Yonge Street, part of Toronto’s first skyscraper ensemble at the corner of King and Yonge streets. Designed by the renowned architects Darling & Pearson, the building housed company offices, a topmost telegraphy floor,...
House in Wychwood Park
This early 20th century Eden Smith designed residence in Wychwood Park had seen many alterations, additions, and conversion to apartments when the new owners purchased it and asked ERA to consult on an authentic restoration. Sited within the Wychwood Park Heritage Conservation District, but also facing a municipal street (Alcina Ave), both the park and...
Loblaws Groceteria at West Block
Opened in 1928 as the office headquarters and warehouse for Loblaws Groceterias Ltd, the building was designed in the Art Moderne style, with brick-and-stone details incorporating repetitive vertical elements, terminating in decorative limestone caps at the parapet, to counteract the long and low building mass. The site was chosen to take advantage of the freight...
