Special to Ontario Construction News
Plans to convert most of the Toronto’s heritage-protected Carlton Theatre into a ten-storey mixed-use condominium building.
The project, led by Streetwise Capital Partners with design by RAW Design, reflects a growing trend in Toronto’s neighbourhoods to balance heritage conservation with contemporary development needs. Most of the historic structure will be demolished, but key elements of the theatre’s façade will be meticulously preserved and incorporated into the new building.
Built in 1929 by Pittsburgh theatre architect Herbert G. Duerr, the Carlton Theatre first served as a neighbourhood cinema and later housed the CBC’s recording studios for nearly four decades. In its most recent chapter, the building became home to the Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre and, later, the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre.
Despite its designation under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act, developers have applied for approval to alter and remove most heritage elements of the structure — a move that City staff are now preparing to support. The retention strategy aims to safeguard the street-facing façade while enabling a modern residential addition that responds to mounting housing demand in central Toronto.
Under the current proposal, the theatre’s original brick façade will be stabilized and carefully integrated with the new concrete mid-rise structure. Archival research is informing the restoration of historic storefront openings, entrance doors, and other architectural details that define the building’s early-20th-century character.
The condominium will include ground-floor retail space to maintain commercial activity along Parliament Street, supporting the area’s traditional main-street rhythm. Detailed residential programming — including unit mix, pricing, and amenity offerings — has not yet been released.
The City of Toronto and East York Community Council are expected to consider the revised plans later this winter. Proponents say the development is a compromise between preserving a visual trace of the city’s architectural past and delivering new housing stock in a rapidly evolving urban district.
