The Trust recognizes the many ways that heritage conservation supports urban regeneration, providing opportunity for creativity and innovation in our communities.
One of the ways in which this can be achieved is through the adaptive reuse of heritage properties for new purposes while retaining their heritage attributes. Through the continued use and reuse of our historical structures, we realize their contribution to the sustainability and the economic and cultural energy of our urban and rural communities.
Our e-magazine, Heritage Matters, shares many examples from across North America of communities that have found economic and cultural renewal through the revitalization of heritage structures and historical spaces.
There are hundreds of old buildings around Ontario that have been adapted to new uses — for housing, business and commercial purposes, as well as institutional and community uses. Schoolhouses have become private dwellings, train stations have been developed as breweries, and churches have been turned into restaurants and community centres.
Check out the following examples of some adaptive reuse success stories. See what they were in the past and how they have been adapted for continued use today.
Workers Arts and Heritage Centre (Hamilton)
One of the oldest remaining federal public buildings in Canada, the Hamilton Custom House is an architectural landmark in the city. In 1995, the Workers Arts and Heritage Centre purchased the building and, following a restoration, it became an interpretive centre for workers’ culture and history ...
Aberdeen Pavilion (Ottawa)
Built in 1898 for the Central Canada Exhibition Association, this building was named after Governor General, The Earl of Aberdeen. It is the oldest surviving Canadian example of a large-scale exhibition building and the only one surviving from the 19th century. Today, it serves many purposes, including exhibition space, specialty markets and even an indoor skate park ...
Thunder Bay District Courthouse (Thunder Bay)
This former courthouse sits perched atop a ridge overlooking Thunder Bay’s famous Sleeping Giant. The classical Edwardian beaux-arts building was closed in 2014, and the lands became surplus to the Ontario government. Following a two-year adaptive reuse restoration, the building was reopened as the Courthouse Hotel ...
Don Valley Brick Works (Toronto)
This former quarry and industrial site in Toronto’s Don River Valley operated for nearly 100 years. It provided bricks used to construct most of the city’s best-known landmarks. n 2010, Evergreen transformed a collection of deteriorating heritage buildings into a global showcase for green design and an award-winning public space ...
The Old Don Jail (Toronto)
Built to shelter Toronto’s poor, needy and disabled, the jail was converted into an isolation hospital during a smallpox epidemic that began in the 1870s. It has been converted into administrative offices and a patient rehabilitation centre for Bridgepoint Hospital ...
Resources
Explore these resources to learn more about other examples of successful adaptive reuse projects as well as tools and resources to support this important work ...
Discover detailed information on related topics within this section
Itinéraire
