Strachan House heritage alterations and new affordable housing at 53 Strachan Avenue

Planning and Housing Committee · 2026-07-16 · 2026.PH32.6

Strachan House heritage alterations and new affordable housing at 53 Strachan Avenue

The city proposes to conserve the facade of the historic Strachan House planing mill (built 1888) within a new 28-storey, 296-unit rental building, with 60 affordable units, while demolishing a 2-storey adjacent structure and replacing it with an 8-storey supportive housing building. The decision approves the heritage alterations under Ontario Heritage Act sections and grants authority to enter a heritage easement agreement as part of the Toronto Builds affordable housing program.

amendedPlanning and Housing Committee · Thu, Jul 16On the Toronto City Council agenda for 2026-07-29provincial decision

Also in this item

• The project retains the principal facades of Strachan House (built 1888 as one of Canada's largest planing mills) within the new building base, conserving cultural heritage while enabling 296 new rental units including 60 affordable units on City-owned land.

• The 8-storey supportive housing replacement building addresses the prior supportive housing use established by Homes First in 1996, which was a key adaptive reuse innovation at the site.

The journey

Thu, Jul 16 · Planning and Housing Committee · amended

Wed, Jul 29 · Toronto City Council · scheduled, not yet heard

You can still act

On the Toronto City Council agenda for 2026-07-29

Decision

City Council to approve alterations and demolitions under Ontario Heritage Act sections 33, 34(1)1, and 34(1)2; approve heritage easement agreement; permit 28-storey mixed-income rental building (296 units, 60 affordable) with Strachan House facade retained at base; permit 8-storey supportive housing replacement building.

Watch it happen

Jump to this item in the meeting video

Why is this story here?

Big deal at city hallThis is a hard-to-reverse commitment of City-owned land to a 28-storey mixed-income rental building with 60 affordable units as part of the Toronto Builds program. The heritage easement agreement locks conservation obligations into perpetuity. The decision reshapes a downtown-west site and forecloses alternative uses of the public asset. It touches a multi-year capital commitment and changes the site's function and form for decades.Felt nowThis decision affects renters and people experiencing homelessness who may access the 60 affordable units and 8-storey supportive housing building. Residents in downtown west see a major site transformation. Heritage advocates and adjacent residents feel the change in the built environment immediately. However, the direct daily-life effect is bounded to a specific site and a specific cohort (new residents and supportive housing users), not citywide.

Stories are ordered by how much weight a decision carries and how directly it reaches daily life. They rise as a decision date approaches and fall as they age.

Official title: 53 Strachan Avenue (Entrance Address 805 Wellington Street West) - Alterations to a Designated Heritage Property, Demolition of Heritage Attributes and of a Building under Sections 33, 34(1)1 and 34(1)2 of the Ontario Heritage Act and Authority to Enter into a Heritage Easement Agreement · meeting video