The Consumer’s Gas Purifying House, circa 1899, is a landmark building at the corner of Front and Parliament Streets in Toronto. Its adaptive reuse as the new Toronto Police Services 51 Division Headquarters occupies a vanguard position in a rapidly redeveloping neighbourhood. The building is located in the historic Cork Town district; a neighbourhood that dates back to the founding of the Town of York in 1793. Railway expansion east along the waterfront in the late 1800´s brought industry to this neighbourhood. From 1884, Consumers’ Gas developed the Front and Parliament area as its primary gas purification and distribution base in Toronto.

The Water Gas Purifying House, an industrial building in the Renaissance Revival tradition, exhibited a high degree of craftsmanship and design while meeting the practical requirements of water gas purification - a large space to accommodate the purifiers and a flexible natural ventilation system to prevent gas explosions.

The conversion of this unoccupied brownfield site is a fine example of urban intensification and land conservation. Great care was taken to retain as much of the existing building as possible, and to reduce the amount of displaced landfill. The interior space between the new building and the existing shell will passively mediate the temperature and exposure of the facility. Restored operable windows and vents intentionally permit passive ventilation through the base of the building and out through the roof.

One of the greatest challenges in this restoration project was to remove the thick 2-coat parging without damaging the integrity of the heritage brick. The stubbornness of the parging, that was applied to the exterior masonry in the mid-1970s, varied widely on the affected elevations, and in response a variety of removal methods were employed including: manual removal with scrapers to the bare substrate; two applications of muriatic acid to soften the parging and further scraping; palm sanding in selected areas of very stubborn parging; and a final cleaning with Heavy Duty Restoration Cleaner.

Additional restoration work included:

• removing and restoring the brick exterior and stone detailing;
• rebuilding of the brick vents at grade and restoring the metal vent doors;
• restoring the original wood entrance doors;
• replacing the existing industrial-size metal gutters and downspouts in lead coated copper to match existing;
• replacing the existing slate shingle with asphalt shingles (a necessary economy);
• replacing the roof flashing in lead coated copper;
• converting an existing ventilation stack into a light well

Jury Comments

The judges felt that the massing and detail of the modern addition was sympathetic to the handsome, original industrial shed. Original design features were cleverly incorporated into the new interior design. This project demonstrates commendable sustainable design practices.