39 Queen’s park
39 Queens Park Crescent East was built by Toronto architect George W. Gouinlock in 1903 as a residence for Sir William Thomas White. It was later used as the University of Toronto’s Centre for Culture and Technology, established by Marshall McLuhan in 1968.
In 2022, Giaimo was engaged by the University of Toronto to convert this historic residence into post-secondary office uses, implementing exterior upgrades and an interior renovation. The project centres around providing accessibility, safety, and electrical upgrades so that the building can be used by new occupants such as the Government Relations Office. New features include a universal washroom, kitchen, barrier free corridor, exterior ramp, and fire exit stair.
Client
University of Toronto
Location
Toronto
Start Date
2022
Area
6,500 sf
Status
Construction
Type
Post-Secondary
Institutional
Office Renovation
Accessibility Upgrades
Team
Giaimo, Prime Architect and Heritage Architect
Tacoma Engineering, Structural
Spline, Mechanical and Electrical
Image Credits
Giaimo
Heritage
9 Queens Park Crescent East is within a historic area of the city on the University of Toronto’s St. George Campus, adjacent to numerous other significant Toronto heritage buildings such as Ontario Legislative Assembly Building (Queens Park). Architect George W. Gouinlock blended elements of the revival styles that were popular during the early 20th century such as brick cladding, a stone foundation, wood paneling, ornate plaster mouldings, and stained-glass windows.
The renovation of this 3-storey building is an opportunity to modernize the space, improve accessibility, and conserve the heritage value to enable the building’s continued use. Recognizing the historic value, all alterations are designed to be minor in nature and developed with the principles of distinguishability, reversibility, and minimal intervention.
Process
Our adaptive reuse design process focuses on balancing current and future programming needs while conserving the past. The interior layout in areas of significant architectural heritage value are kept undisturbed to ensure any new work does not modify the inherently unique experience of the house. Necessary service-related additions, such as bulkheads and electrical conduits, were kept outside of the walls for ease of reversibility and located in areas of least disruption to the existing. New finishes reference the original design in terms of scale and colour, but remain distinguishable. The result is the heritage conservation of characteristic ornate details combined with elegant and simple contemporary interventions.
Accessibility
39 Queen’s Park is listed on the City’s heritage register, with both interior and exterior heritage attributes. This presents a unique set of challenges in comparison to other architectural renovations.
Located within the historic St. George Campus, it is especially important that the required new accessible ramp and fire stairs added to the exterior are designed to be well-integrated into the existing fabric, but still distinctly contemporary.
To integrate necessary code, safety, and accessibility upgrades and new program requirements within this context, our design approach prioritizes restoration, relocation, and thoughtful addition through minimal intervention. Minimal intervention is not only a form of best practice for the conservation of heritage buildings, but also a highly cost-effective and environmentally sustainable solution for renovations within heritage buildings. The interior renovation also includes large scale electrical, HVAC, plumbing system, and architectural programming upgrades that needed to meet the University’s sustainability goals. The approach of reusing this historic building is already inherently sustainable, while the various upgrades help ensure the University’s energy efficiency targets are met.
