Heritage & Cultural Planning

Ahuntsic College was one of the first twelve colleges of further education (CEGEPs) to be created in Quebec in 1967. The creation of the College was also part of the secularization and democratization of higher education in Quebec during the Quiet Revolution. The creation of these public institutions allowed for free higher education and democratized...

The Rand Estate in Niagara-on-the-Lake, known as “Randwood”, is a treasure among Canada’s historic estates. Some 50 acres large at its height, it was the summer home of the Rand family over multiple generations between 1910 and 2016. The estate holds a vital place in the community’s history and identity, and its magnificent landscape is...

The Douglas Mental Health University Institute occupies a vast campus on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, in the borough of Verdun. Founded in 1890 as Montreal’s first Protestant hospital dedicated to mental health, the institution’s built and landscaped environment bear witness to the major movements that marked the evolution of psychiatry in the...

Located in the heart of the Old Montreal heritage site, the “Îlot Bonsecours” is a group of four historic buildings, notably the Calvet House and its annex, the Davies Store and the Viger House, which have been combined in recent decades to become the Auberge Pierre du Calvet, among others. In addition to those, there...

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...

In partnership with the Algonquins of Ontario (AOO), Canada Lands Company (Canada Lands) is developing a new mixed-use urban community east of Ottawa’s downtown core. Now called Wateridge Village/Village des Riverains, the 310-acre site is on unceded Algonquin traditional territory, located on the former Rockcliffe Airbase, and near surrounding francophone neighbourhoods.   ERA was engaged...

The former Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH), founded in 1893, was designed by the London architect Henry Saxon Snell in the Scottish neo-baronial style. Located on the slope of Mount Royal, it was intended to be a place of healing close to nature and far from the industrial city, in accordance with the theories of the...

The site, once owned by the City of Toronto, operated as a public market from 1837 to around 1900. The Water Works Buildings were designed in the Art Deco style by City Architect, J. J. Woolnough and completed in 1933. The construction project was part of a plan supported by federal, provincial, and municipal governments...

The University College Revitalization project brings new life to the University of Toronto’s central architectural landmark, the Romanesque Revival University College, designed in 1852 by architects by Cumberland and Storm.  The updates to the National Historic Site respond to the demands of 21st century academia, renewing facilities to expand use and create a more inclusive...

Opened in 1984 in Agincourt, Scarborough, Dragon Centre was North America’s first indoor Chinese mall. Its developers — brothers Daniel and Henry Hung, originally from Hong Kong — adapted an old roller-skating rink into a mall serving the Greater Toronto Area’s growing Chinese-Canadian population. Combining Hong Kong’s dense commercial markets and the big box North...

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,...

The University of Toronto’s King’s College Circle is an iconic ceremonial landscape, an important hub of student life, and a beloved public space. Part of the landscape plan produced by William Mundie and William Storm in conjunction with the designs for the landmark University College (1856-1859), King’s College Circle began as a picturesque landscape setting...