Interpretation, Studies & Strategies
Spotlight
Creemore Village Green
In the heart of the Village of Creemore, an underutilized park and adjacent building were transformed into a cultural landmark and vibrant green space. Initiated by a local advocacy group, ERA worked with them to reach their vision by shepherding a public consultation program, including extensive research, community engagement, and preliminary design work. Over two...
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...
Historic Gardens of the “Cité-des-Hospitalières”
An iconic Montreal landmark, the convent of the “Religieuses Hospitalières de Saint-Joseph” (RHSJ) is a valuable testament to the city’s history. Associated with the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, it highlights the significant contribution of the RHSJ to Montreal society, from its inception to the present day. In 2017, the City of Montreal acquired the “Cité-des-Hospitalières,” recognizing the...
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...
Kìwekì Point—Big River Landscape
Kìwekì Point is an urban park on a scenic promontory overlooking the Kichi Zibi/Ottawa River, adjacent to the National Gallery of Canada and connected to Major’s Hill Park via Pìdàban Bridge. Originally opened as Nepean Point in the late 19th century, this park has inspired countless visitors with its sweeping views of the national capital...
Canada Malting Silo
The iconic Canada Malting Silos have stood at the western entrance to Toronto’s harbour for nearly 100 years but have been out of use since the 1980s. Together with the City of Toronto, Brook Restoration, and Moon-Matz Engineers, ERA worked to transform the former industrial site into a new civic and cultural landmark. The Canada...
Architectural ceramic finishes of the Montreal metro
Study for the conservation of the architectural ceramic finishes of the Montreal metro stations In collaboration with Docomomo Québec, ERA is conducting historical and technical research on the many ceramic finishes of Montreal Metro stations to better understand and appreciate them as well as to encourage their conservation where this infrastructure is subject to modernization....
Halton Hills Cultural Heritage Strategy
The town of Halton Hills is a layered landscape of small and large urban settlements and crossroads communities, rural agricultural landscapes, river valleys and hills, with the Niagara Escarpment running through its northwestern corner. Nestled between the urban municipalities of Milton to the south and Brampton to the east, Halton Hills is a town on...
Exploratory typo-morphological study of Île-d’Orléans
Protected since 1935, Île-d’Orléans is one of the 13 declared heritage sites, the highest heritage status given by the Quebec government in recognition of its importance as a cultural landscape, its insular character and 400 years of agricultural activity, and as a place of great symbolic value and identity. Under the revised Cultural Heritage Act,...
Bleau residence – Adaptive re-use study
An architectural significant example of 19th-century farmhouses in Montreal, the Bleau residence was erected on the footprint of an older house. It was home to several generations of the Bleau family, who shaped the house and its surroundings to meet their needs over the years. In addition to farming, the family also operated a ferry...
Adaptive re-use study in Bois-de-la-Roche
The agricultural estate Bois-de-la-Roche is a site of exceptional heritage value, with parts of its landscape and architectural elements recognized by municipal, provincial, and federal authorities. When senator and businessman Louis-Jospeh Forget established his estate between 1886 and 1908, the site already had several structures built on it. He added new buildings, some conceptualized by...
Collège Ahuntsic Heritage Background Study
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...
Douglas Mental Health Institute Heritage Background Study
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...
Îlot Bonsecours – PHI Contemporain
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...
