Technique & Material

The Colours of the Allandale Train Station

by ERA Architects

As part of the strategy to restore the Allandale Train Station, ERA is working to identify the exterior paint scheme, as it would have appeared in 1905. At the office social hour last Friday, Alana described how preliminary research uncovered clues to the original building colouration from a variety of sources including; archival photographs, newspaper...

Marble Madness

by ERA Architects

[Unfortunately, not this kind of Marble Madness] A number of ERAers got together to do a group order of reclaimed Carrara marble from First Canadian Place. All 45,000 2′ x 4′ marble panels are currently being removed from the tower, and will soon be replaced by larger glass panels. A slick animation of the process...

MLG in Canadian Architect

by ERA Architects

Conceptual collage of overlapping 1930s and contemporary MLG streetscapes at the corner of Church and Carlton (including Humphrey Bogart biking by, just for good measure). William MacIvor, ERA Architects. The on-going adaptive reuse of Maple Leaf Gardens is featured in the June edition of Canadian Architect. ERA Architects has signed on to deal with the...

Glass & Glazing in the 21st Century

by ERA Architects

Andrew recently attended the Glass & Glazing in the 21st Century: Design and preservation of Contemporary and Historic Architecture conference at MIT, and gave us an overview of the highlights at this week’s Friday social hour. The conference presenters were a diverse group including architects, engineers, designers, manufacturers and fabricators working on projects that explore...

Dispatchwork

by ERA Architects

Though perhaps not exactly in-line with the Ministry of Culture’s Ontario Heritage Tool Kit procedures or the guidelines set forth in the Burra Charter, these temporary masonry repairs in Bocchignano, Italy are a series of wonderfully playful gestures. photographs via Jan Vormann ps: How do you write a spec for Lego?

Don Valley Brick Works

by ERA Architects

Wednesday morning’s design forum took a slightly different approach this week. The ERA team went on a field trip down to the Don Valley Brick Works, a site ERA has been working on since 2002, to meet up with the George Brown Masonry students. ERA has been performing site review to the masonry students who...

First time buyer, beware.

by admin

Round One: Get It Livable… One of ERA’s own goes through her first home purchase and improvements. In a little alley near Dundas and Trinity Bellwoods, a row of 1870’s houses have been minimally touched and altered. With a simple construction of balloon framing and one layer of bricks; the house is modest and functional;...

Window and door openings

by ERA Architects

UC at the University of Toronto. Building designed by Cumberland and Storm, 1856-7. This past Friday Scott gave an internal presentation about the different types of window and door openings in masonry construction, how to write about and describe each element correctly, and how these elements can help to locate a building within a specific...

Colour Washing, Stopping, and Penciling

by Andrew Pruss

We have observed that on many buildings from the Victorian period in Toronto there is a finishing application that is often original to the building construction. This finish includes a coloured pointing of the joints (stopping), a staining of the surface (colour washing) and the application of a slim and regular representation of mortar joints...

The Carlu, before and after

by Scott Weir

In this line of work, there’s often nothing more satisfying than a juxtaposition of the historic, the as-found (generally neglected and derelict), and the restored. For your viewing pleasure, we present a few of these moments from the rejuvenation of the Carlu. The Round Room at the Carlu – when it first opened in 1931,...

Can’t order those from a catalogue..

by ERA Architects

The interior of the Carlu is the wealth of small, custom details – from the lights to the central fountain to the return-air grilles. The grilles especially are miniature art-deco treasures, and demonstrate an artful way of elevating a necessary ‘building-systems’ component into an element which helps define the atmosphere of the larger space. Historic...

Tub Restoration

by admin

Scott’s “standing waste” and corner tub restoration is now completed and functional. The project started with Scott separately purchasing a ca 1910 salvaged standing waste assembly and a glazed cast iron corner tub for installation into his house. The tub finish was damaged and needed to be reglazed. The standing waste needed a complete overhaul,...

299 Queen St. W

by admin

In December of 2007 ERA completed the terracotta restoration of 299 Queen Street West, the home of Canada’s MuchMusic. Undertaken in four phases over five years, the project included new structural steel work, repair of the terracotta tiles, and the installation of new precast elements.

Cambridge City Hall

by admin

ERA is pleased to announce that Phase 1 of the exterior restoration work at Cambridge City Hall has been completed. We had the pleasure of restoring the tower and the slate roof. The highlights of the restoration work were the installation of the missing original concealed gutter on the main roof, the reintroduction of the...