A Glass Elevator Rises Through This $2M Loft Inside a Former Toronto Factory

Location: 1100 Lansdowne Ave, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Price: $2,798,000 CAD (approximately $2,005,172 USD)

Year Built: 1903

Renovation Architect: PHAEDRUS Studio

Renovation Year: 2025

Footprint: 2,757 square feet (2 bed, 3.5 bath) 

From the Architect: "This true hard loft is housed inside the Canada Foundry Company Factory, a warehouse structure built in 1903 to manufacture railway tracks, bridges, locomotives and even fire hydrants before Canadian General Electric took possession to produce transformers. Ultimately, the building closed in 1981, following an era of transition during which most of the neighborhood’s sprawling rail yard factories were demolished. A century after its construction, the surviving structure was repurposed into residential hard lofts—a conversion primarily focused on functional reuse, with the insertion of over 100 new residential units. This renovation, by contrast, seeks to celebrate the historic structure with a more deliberate and dramatic insertion of new architectural forms. While combining what were originally two units across three levels with the addition of a fourth, a set of sculptural elements is carefully crafted and placed within the industrial shell to emphasize the heritage architecture and provide anchor features connecting the two distinct volumes of the upper and lower units. The lower unit remains defined by two brick-arched windows spanning a double-height space. A new spiral stair wrapping a glass elevator extends across all three original levels. Offset to one side of the living area, a new fourth-floor mezzanine sits perched within the space, overlooking the fireplace and open structure."