Distillery District - Gooderham and Worts Development Plan

The 13 acre Gooderham and Worts Distillery site, a 15 minute walk from downtown Toronto, includes one of the best preserved groups of 19th century industrial buildings in the country.  The plan is to preserve the brick-paved central street and flanking elaborate brick and stone buildings, integrate outlying tank warehouses with re-development, and build on vacant parcels. The historic buildings (365,000 SF) are to be rehabilitated as retail, offices, restaurants, showrooms, a museum, and interpretation centre.

The height of the proposed new buildings steps up toward the extremities of the site, in order to minimize their impact on the historic Trinity Street core, with 1,850,000 SF of new floor area to be constructed in five apartment buildings and four office buildings. The form of new buildings reflect the composite character of the historic buildings and are set back at the heights of the eaves and roof ridges of the primary historic buildings.  The articulation of the roofscape reduces the apparent mass of the new buildings, while giving a sense of occupancy to the roof tops.

Client:
Allied Domecq Pension Funds

Awards:
Ontario Professional Planner Institute, Written Report category, for Gooderham and Worts: An Urban Design Proposal, 1992
Toronto Historical Board, Award of Merit, 1996