Development & Urban Planning
Spotlight
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...
Evergreen Brick Works
Founded in 1889, the Don Valley Brick Works became one of the largest and most significant brick manufacturers in Canada, relying on locally extracted clay, shale, and sand. Many of Toronto’s landmark masonry buildings, such as Massey Hall, Old City Hall, Casa Loma, and the Royal Ontario Museum, were constructed with Don Valley’s award-winning bricks....
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...
1495 Heron Road Redevelopment Master Plan
Canada Lands Company (CLC) is developing a new mixed-use urban community in Ottawa. The 18-acre (7.3-hectare) site located at 1495 Heron Road, also referred to as the Campanile Campus, is located on unceded Algonquin traditional territory within the Guildwood Estates neighbourhood in the Alta Vista community. ERA was engaged as a cultural heritage consultant to...
556 Yonge St
The property at 556 Yonge, within the boundary of the Historic Yonge Street Heritage Conservation District (HYHCD), was left vacant after a building fire in 2018. The proposed replacement building had to comply with the HYHCD’s design guidelines to ensure a compatible relationship with the existing context. Working in an advisory role, ERA was engaged...
St. Hilda’s Towers Transformation
ERA was the Architect of Record for a multi-phase modernization project at the St. Hilda’s Towers in partnership with the City of Toronto and WoodGreen. St. Hilda’s has been a cornerstone of its community for the past 40 years, providing affordable housing for seniors at the heart of the new Eglinton LRT corridor. Made possible...
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,...
Alma College Square
This significant and historic property is situated on the former grounds of Alma College, an important Victorian-era private girls’ school in St Thomas, Ontario. The College, although cherished by the community and its many alumnae, was closed in the 1980s and the property, along with its fine Gothic Revival building and rustic ravine amphitheatre, was...
Grange Park
Grange Park, a two-hectare public open space south of the Art Gallery of Ontario, is a rare surviving example of an early 19th century former residential estate. Although the grounds have evolved considerably, the terraced, axial and irregular elliptical layout in the Picturesque-Gardenesque style retains a high level of integrity. Today the park serves as...
Victoria University in the University of Toronto
The oldest among the University of Toronto’s federated universities, Victoria University and its campus are an expression of dynamic, complex and current programmatic needs. Following ERA’s assessment of University of Toronto-owned resources across its St. George Campus in downtown Toronto, ERA was retained by Victoria University to undertake a similar assessment to guide the stewardship,...
Lawrence-Orton
Toronto Community Housing’s Lawrence Orton campus is a 336-unit complex completed in 1969, which houses more than 1,000 residents. It was selected by TCHC for their landmark “ReSet” program, which directs comprehensive capital repair and social reinvestment at a campus scale to revitalize the most challenged sites in their portfolio. Since 2014, ERA Architects, in...
Booth Street Redevelopment Master Plan
Ottawa’s Booth Street Complex — bordered by Booth, Norman, Rochester, and Orangeville streets in Little Italy — was acquired in 2012 by Canada Lands Company from the federal government. The conditions of the transfer required that best efforts be made to conserve the heritage character of the former federal heritage buildings, and that the spirit...
Regent Park Commemoration Strategy
Regent Park is the largest social housing neighbourhood built in Canada’s history, with a layered history of development through several eras. Since 2005, it has been undergoing extensive revitalization, moving towards a more mixed-use and mixed-income neighbourhood. To celebrate the neighbourhoods history, Toronto Community Housing Corporation commissioned ERA to design a commemoration strategy. The strategy’s...
4301 Kingston
ERA Architects, in joint venture with SvN Architects and Planners, has completed the deep energy retrofit of 4301 Kingston, a 419-unit complex completed in 1968 in east Scarborough which houses more than 1,000 residents, and owned by Toronto Community Housing. The project improved tenant health, comfort, and safety, while reducing utility consumption and GHG emissions...
