Building Conservation

The Stanley Barracks is the sole remaining structure of the New Fort at York erected in 1841 by the British Army. The ‘New Fort’ was built to replace ‘Fort York’ as the primary Garrison in the Town of York. The Fort buildings were arranged around a central parade square within the grounds of today’s Canadian National...

ERA has been working with Trinity St. Paul’s on an ongoing basis as lead architect in heritage and restoration, and with one of the Church’s main tenants, Tafelmusik, to raise the standards of the venue and transform its acoustics. Trinity-St. Paul’s, designed by Edmund Burke and Henry Langley and completed in 1889, is a remarkable...

One of the earliest European settlements in the Province of Ontario, Sainte Marie among the Hurons is a site of national heritage significance and international interest. The challenge of assembling a conservation plan for three fireplace ruins at this important historic site offered an opportunity to approach conservation by first asking how to best interpret...

The Drake Hotel is a cultural landmark within Toronto’s Art and Design District. In 2001, the original 1890’s building at Beaconsfield and Queen Street West was reinvented into a unique mixed-use hub where sleeping, dining, nightlife, concerts, retail, and art events collide. Continuing on this success, the Drake Hotel is growing to include the storefront...

The Sheppard Estate includes a collection of four buildings located in the Sheppard’s Bush Conservation Area in Aurora. The Residence and outbuildings were built in 1920 for timber company executive Charles H. Sheppard. The Residence is an early product of prominent Toronto architect A.S. Mathers, and is a rare Ontario example of English Arts and...

The Munk School for Global Affairs at the University of Toronto is an interdisciplinary academic centre on global issues that integrates research with teaching and public education. ERA is working with KPMB, the prime architects, to undertake an expansion project for the School. The project involves the adaptive re-use of the 1908-1909 Dominion Meteorological Building...

Allandale Station is located along the southeastern edge of the city of Barrie, Ontario. Designed by the Detroit architectural firm of Spier and Rohns for the Grand Trunk Railway, the complex consists of three discreet but connected turn-of-the-19th-century buildings. Completed in 1905, the architects combined the dominant characteristics of modern railway architecture with Italianate style...

The Sony Centre (known as Meridian Hall since 2019) is a modernist concert hall built in 1959-60 and designed by Toronto architect Earle C. Morgan and Peter Dickinson of Page + Steele Architects. The property is designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act by the City of Toronto. ERA was engaged to provide...

Five Corners is a development by Concert Properties for the site at Front Street and Church Street, incorporating a 19th century industrial building into a mixed use loft development. Five Corners is a designated heritage property. ERA wrote a Cultural Heritage Adjacency Impact Statement, Heritage Impact Statement, Conservation Plan and assisted in drafting the Heritage...

Located in downtown Toronto, Osgoode Hall is a National Historic Site, which has been the centre of legal activity in Ontario for more than 170 years. The building is named after the first Chief Justice of the province, William Osgoode. The east wing of the building was built in 1829-32 and remodelled in 1884-46 by...

John Lyle originally purchased this site for his architectural studio in 1919 and he built a two-storey office/studio in the following year. He remained here until his retirement in 1943. The studio has been heavily altered since its construction but many heritage elements remain, including the three-bays of the south façade and the fireplace on...

ERA provided a Heritage Impact Statement and Conservation and Restoration Plan for a high-end 48-storey residential condominium development above the neo-Gothic inspired former McLaughlin Motors Building. Designed by Hutton and Souter Architects and constructed in 1925, the City of Toronto designated the property in December 1999. The building was methodically dismantled stone by stone, removed...