A Beginner’s Guide To Toronto’s Heritage Lofts
For all you loft lovers out there, here’s a list of some of Toronto’s most desirable heritage status conversion lofts.
Written By Lorena Beccari 
The nitty-gritty on heritage properties
Conversion lofts, aka ‘hard lofts,’ are each full of their own charm and character, but the prized distinction as a heritage building sets a couple apart from the rest.
We’ve rounded up some of Toronto’s heritage buildings that have been converted into hard lofts
Unfortunately, you can’t just go around claiming to live in a heritage property just because your hard loft has seen many generations come through its doors. Luckily, though, heritage conservation is a priority in Toronto, and even more fortunately, a number of our city’s heritage buildings have been converted into coveted hard lofts.
Toronto’s City Planning Division has a specific division known as the Heritage Preservation Services, and this group holds the power to deem a building worthy of heritage status. By their standards, heritage buildings in Toronto are important for their architectural value, or for its relation to a significant person or event or neighbourhood: the CN Tower is a heritage building, just as the [Tip Top Lofts](https://strata.ca/toronto/tip-top-lofts-637-lake-shore-blvd-w) is.
Speaking of Lofts…
We’ve rounded up some of Toronto’s heritage buildings that have been converted into hard lofts, for your reading pleasure.
Historic Building Lofts in Toronto:
Built: 1890
Original Tenant: Ontario Medical College for Women
Vintage Selling Point: During the renovation process the exterior of the building was restored to emulate the original building. This was done using photographs from a medical calendar that had been found beneath the baseboards.
Built: 1919
Original Tenant: Ideal Bread Company
Vintage Selling Point: Oversized arched doorways and 16 foot ceilings.
Built: 1911
Original Tenant: B.F. Harvey Co. Bedding Factory
Vintage Selling Point: Original hardwood floors and wooden beams, all of which has been restored to its former glory.
Built: 1903
Original Tenant: Canada Foundry Company
Vintage Selling Point: A colossal, 1,600 square foot atrium that doubles as an event space for residents.
Built: 1899
Original Tenant: Head office of the Massey Harris agricultural equipment company
Vintage Selling Point: 19th century masonry and bragging rights.
Built: 1910
Original Tenant: Simpson’s Department Store
Vintage Selling Point: A hard to come by Chicago School architectural façade.
Built: 1907
Original Tenant: Queen City Vinegar Company
Vintage Selling Point: The elegant yet welcoming Edwardian portico leading into the lobby.
Built: 1875
Original Tenant: Richard Bigley, stove salesman
Vintage Selling Point: Architect Eb Zeidler drew up the blueprints for the Eaton Centre inside this very building during the 1970s.
Built: 1837
Original Tenant: A wholesale grocer and his business
Vintage Selling Point: This is Toronto’s first pre-confederation building to be converted into residential lofts.
Built: 1929
Original Tenant: Tip Top Tailors
Vintage Selling Point: Amongst a rare breed of Art Deco buildings in Toronto (plus it’s set idyllically beside Lake Ontario).
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