The Distillery District

Mill Street to the North, Cherry Street to the East, the Union Station Rail Corridor to the South, and Parliament Street to the West

A painting of the Gooderham and Worts distillery looking downward from over the lake. The image is quite busy with many boats at the docks in the foreground. There are many large buildings in the background many with large billowing smokestacks.

Gooderham and Worts Distillery, circa 1800s. Image: City of Toronto Archives

Black and white photo of an industrial plant with many buildings.

Gooherham and Worts main building, containing Mill, Mashing and Fermenting departments, Toronto, November 1918. Image: City of Toronto Archives

Image of 19th century red-brick Victorian building. Large central tower-like feature serves as the entrance.

Malt House, Distillery District, 2017. Image by Herman Custodio

Photo of an industrial plant with many buildings. The sky is blue and there is a lake in the background. A tall tower is visible off to the right of the photo.

Aerial view of Distillery District, Toronto, 2016. Image: Vik Pahwa

Mill Street to the North, Cherry Street to the East, the Union Station Rail Corridor to the South, and Parliament Street to the West

Developer: Cityscape Development

Built between 1859 and 1900, this collection of more than 40 buildings forms the Gooderham and Worts Distillery, once the largest operation of its type in North America. Established by brothers-in-law James Worts and William Gooderham, the distillery began with a 70-foot windmill, constructed on the edge of the bay in 1832. Following Worts untimely death in 1834, Gooderham carried the business forward, commissioning architects David Roberts and David Roberts Jr. to design many of the buildings in the complex. Gooderham and Worts continued to operate into the 20th century before being acquired by Hiram Walker in 1927. The last alcohol flowed from the original distillery in 1990.

In 2001, a team led by John Berman, Jamie Goad, David Jackson, and Mathew Rosenblatt, purchased the five hectare parcel, with the intention of transforming it into a vibrant, industrious area of arts and culture, while respecting the industrial built heritage.

Cityscape Developments had, at one time, some 200 open permits covering their work. Working with heritage experts, modernizing elements installed from the 1950s onward were stripped away, exposing old brick and plaster. Vintage lumber was salvaged and transformed into new walls and furnishings for tenants. The adaptive reuse of over 350,000 square feet of heritage space within the district won the project accolades and several prizes, including Heritage Toronto’s 2015 Special Achievement Award.