Queen's Park Picks 2024

Now in its ninth year, the OAA’s Queen’s Park Picks (QP Picks) program asks Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) to share their favourite buildings or other structures from their ridings to be showcased as part of an annual celebration of architecture. The Association’s Policy Advisory Coordination Team (PACT) reviews the nominations and selects a shortlist of outstanding projects to celebrate at a special reception held at Queen’s Park in Toronto in October. This year, the event was held on Tuesday, October 22, and included speeches from Attorney General Doug Downey, official opposition critic Kristyn Wong-Tam, Green Party leader Mike Schreiner, and OAA President Settimo Vilardi.

This year’s theme was “housing,” with MPPs from across all political parties suggesting exemplary places in which Ontarians live, thrive, heal, or find comfort. The theme draws on the 2024 OAA Conference topic, Housing: Pushing the Envelope, as well as some of the outreach the Association has done in its role of regulating the practice of architecture to protect the public interest. Whether heritage projects or more recent construction, these buildings represent a design philosophy that prioritizes long-term sustainability over short-term gain and recognizes the crucial role of architecture in addressing challenges and place-making within communities, offering Ontarians a place to call home.

2024 Selections

Each year, the selection process is a painstaking deliberation by committee members at the Ontario Association of Architects. While not all nominations can be featured here, the OAA appreciates the dedicated MPPs who, each year, take the time to share this part of their communities with all of us.

Bain Apartments Co-Operative (Formerly Riverdale Courts)
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Date of Completion: 1914, 1923
Architects: Eden Smith and Sons (1913), F. H. Marani (1923)
Nominated by: Peter Tabuns, MPP (Toronto—Danforth)

Carlington Community Health Centre

Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Date of Completion: 2022
Architect: CSV Consultants Inc. Architects
Renovation Architect: James Edwards Architect and Frank Fentiman Architect (1992)
Nominated by: Joel Harden, MPP (Ottawa Centre) & Chandra Pasma, MPP (Ottawa West—Nepean)

Casey House

Location: Toronto, Ontario
Date of Completion: 2017
Architect: Hariri Pontarini Architects
Nominated by: Kristyn Wong-Tam, MPP (Toronto Centre)

Harvey Woods Lofts
Location: Woodstock, Ontario
Date of Completion: 1918, 2015 (phase 1), 2017 (phase 2)
Architect: Invizij Architects Inc.
Nominated by: Ernie Hardeman, MPP (Oxford)
The Kensington Apartments

Location: Kingston, Ontario
Date of Completion: 1830s, 1870s, 2017
Architect: John Power and Sons (1876), Shoalts and Zaback Architects Ltd. (renovation)
Nominated by: Ted Hsu, MPP (Kingston and the Islands)

Mikinàk Ottawa Community Housing

Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Date of Completion: 2024
Engineer: Arcadis Architects (Canada) Inc.
Nominated by: Lucille Collard, MPP (Ottawa—Vanier)

Sagatay

Location: Toronto, Ontario
Date of Completion: 2010
Architect: Hilditch Architect Inc.
Nominated by: Jill Andrew, MPP (Toronto—St. Paul's)

Suswin Village

Location: North Bay, Ontario
Date of Completion: 2022
Architect: Larocque Elder Architects, Architectes Inc.
Nominated by: Hon. Victor Fedeli, MPP (Nipissing)
Ulster House
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Date of Completion: 2024
Architect: LGA Architectural Partners Ltd.
Nominated by: Jessica Bell, MPP (University—Rosedale)

2024 Queen's Park Picks

View of a row of houses in a green, shaded courtyard with large trees. The buildings have a mix of dark wood and brick facades with sloped roofs. Bicycles are parked in the foreground near a small spruce tree, and a picnic table and children’s mini hockey nets are set up on the lawn.

Image:

Image by Joël León Danis.

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Main perspective showing houses lining a courtyard.

Historic black and white photograph from 1914 showing a group of construction workers posing in front of newly built housing units in Toronto. They are dressed in work attire including hats, vests, and overalls, stand and sit in rows, smiling at the camera. Handwritten text at the bottom of the photo reads ‘Toronto Housing Board, Bain Ave Toronto, Workmen 1914.

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Image courtesy of Toronto Star Archives.

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Workmen pose for a group photo in front of the newly completed project.

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Images courtesy of City of Toronto Archives.

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Left: Typical dining room. Right: One of the courtyards in the housing complex.

Bain Apartments Co-Operative (formerly Riverdale Courts)

Location: Toronto, Ontario
Date of Completion: 1914, 1923
Architect: Eden Smith and Sons (1913), F. H. Marani (1923)
Nominated by: Peter Tabuns, MPP (Toronto—Danforth)

Few places better capture both the opportunities and challenges of affordable housing in Toronto than the Bain Co-Op, a thoughtfully designed collection of buildings and landscapes that through their 100-year history have evolved from one of Canada’s first social housing projects into a thriving cooperative community.

Street view of a modern mid-rise building with a mix of blue, white, and gray facades. The building features large windows and a wooden canopy over the entrance. The lower level has a brick exterior with a planted area in front. Young trees are planted along the street in front of the building.

Image:

Image by Krista Jahnke Photography, courtesy of CSV Consultants Inc. Architects.

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View of the main entrance, with the former school on the left and the new addition on the right.

Hallway in a healthcare facility with a bright, clean design. The walls feature wooden panels with orange accents and a wall-mounted wayfinding piece with cutouts of a medical figure and colorful numbers and letters. The floor has a light gray finish.

Image:

Image by Krista Jahnke Photography, courtesy of CSV Consultants Inc. Architects.

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Interior hallway of the Carlington Community Health Centre.

Interior of a medical examination room with a blue accent wall. The room contains a medical examination table, a mounted wall unit with medical tools, a small sink, and a blue chair. A storage cabinet with medical supplies is mounted on the wall, and a rolling tray table is positioned next to the examination bed

Image:

Image by Krista Jahnke Photography, courtesy of CSV Consultants Inc. Architects.

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Inside of a typical examination room.

On the left, a bright interior amenity space with a large window, a long table, colorful chairs, and circular pendant lights hanging from the ceiling. On the right, an exterior view of a modern mid-rise building with blue, white, and gray facades, a wooden canopy over the entrance, and a landscaped sidewalk leading to the building. Two people are walking along the pathway.

Image:

Images by Krista Jahnke Photography, courtesy of CSV Consultants Inc. Architects.

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Left: Amenity room for residents. Right: View of the new CCHC building.

Carlington Community Health Centre

Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Date of Completion: 2022
Architect: CSV Consultants Inc. Architects
Renovation: James Edwards Architect and Frank Fentiman Architect (1992)
Nominated by: Joel Harden, MPP (Ottawa Centre) & Chandra Pasma, MPP (Ottawa West—Nepean)

How do you turn a 1928 public school into a community health centre and affordable housing for seniors? This was the challenge set out for the architects behind the Carlington Community Health Centre (CCHC), a showcase for effective mixed-use development that addresses the needs of its residents and community while also integrating highly sustainable design practices.

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Exterior view of a modern building with large glass windows on the left and a restored historic red brick house on the right. The modern section has clean lines and a mix of brick, glass, and stone materials, with warm interior lighting visible through the windows. The historic house features traditional architectural details such as arched windows and decorative brickwork.

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Image by Doublespace Photography, courtesy of Hariri Pontarini Architects.

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View from Isabella Street, showing new addition on the left and heritage building on the right.

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Images courtesy of Hariri Pontarini Architects.

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Left: An advertisement for Casey House. Right: AIDS memorial quilt.

Architectural scale model made of rectangular pieces of wood and metal in a quilt-like pattern. The model rests on a base that is also made out of wood.

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Image courtesy of Hariri Pontarini Architects.

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Model of Casey House showing quilt-inspired façade. I

Hand-drawn architectural sketch showing the cross section of a building with stacked offset rooms and a central courtyard with a tree. Sunlight, represented in yellow, is shown shining through the building.

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Image courtesy of Hariri Pontarini Architects.

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Sectional sketch drawing.

Evening view of a modern courtyard surrounded by a multi-story building with large glass windows. The courtyard features a small garden with trees and plants, illuminated by soft lighting. Reflections from the glass surfaces highlight the architectural lines and stacked blocky massing.

Image:

Image by Doublespace Photography, courtesy of Hariri Pontarini Architects.

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Internal courtyard with trees and natural light.

Casey House

Location: Toronto, Ontario
Date of Completion: 2017
Architect: Hariri Pontarini Architects
Nominated by: Kristyn Wong-Tam, MPP (Toronto Centre)

Casey House’s new facility radically redefines what it means to provide compassionate healthcare, with a building that is highly functional, but is also full of love and profoundly humane.

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Exterior view of a renovated brick building with large windows and a modern entrance canopy. The building features a vertical brick tower with dark bricks forming the initials ‘HW’ and a glass section with historical photos. A tall, weathered brick smokestack is visible to the left, hinting at the building’s industrial past.

Image:

Image courtesy of Invizij Architects Inc.

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View of the main façade showing the completed Phase 1 of the project.

Black and white photograph of a large group of workers taken in October 1956. The group consists of men and women, mostly dressed in work attire, standing and sitting in rows outside a brick industrial building. The workers pose together for the camera, and writing in the bottom right corner of the photo provides details about the location and date.

Image:

Image courtesy of Invizij Architects Inc.

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1956 group portrait of workers at the former Harvey Woods Mills.

Interior view of a hallway featuring light wood floors, white brick walls, and large windows looking into an atrium. Exposed piping and industrial-style lighting hang from the wood-paneled ceiling. A small bench with brochures and a potted plant are positioned near the windows, creating a welcoming atmosphere.

Image:

Image courtesy of Invizij Architects Inc.

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Interior hallway with atrium beyond.

Exterior view of a renovated brick building with large windows and a modern entrance. The building features a vertical brick tower with perforated patterns forming the initials ‘HW.’ The right side image shows the full front facade of the building, including a glass section with black and white historical photos.

Image:

Images by Kurtis Chen.

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Left: Close-up of brick detail. Right: Completed Phase 2 with new addition on the left. Images by Kurtis Chen.

A composite of two interior views of a multi-story atrium with a translucent ceiling, allowing natural light to fill the space. The walls are white with wooden accents around the windows and along the upper sections of the floors. The floors are finished with light wood, and the overall design is modern and open, with clean lines and a bright atmosphere.

Image:

Images courtesy of Invizij Architects Inc.

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Images showing interior atrium.

Harvey Woods Lofts

Location: Woodstock, Ontario
Date of Completion: 1918, 2015 (phase 1), 2017 (phase 2)
Architect: Invizij Architects Inc.
Nominated by: Ernie Hardeman, MPP (Oxford)

Harvey Woods Lofts stands as a testament to the transformative power of adaptive reuse, reanimating a historic knitting factory into 80 new affordable housing units and showing us along the way the advantages of reusing our existing buildings to address the housing crisis.

Street view of a historic brick building on a corner, featuring ornate architectural details and a mansard roof with dormer windows. A modern multi-story extension rises above the original structure. The surrounding streetscape includes a row of smaller brick buildings housing shops and restaurants.

Image:

Image by Krista Jahnke Photography, courtesy of Shoalts and Zaback Architects Ltd.

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View from Brock and Wellington Streets.

Image:

Image courtesy of Queen's University Library Digital Collections.

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Historic image of the Right Spot Restaurant.

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Images courtesy of Shoalts and Zaback Architects Ltd. (left) and Queen's University Library Digital Collections (right).

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Left: 19th century image of 165 Wellington Street. Right: Later image of 165 Wellington Street, missing its tower.

Black and white architectural line drawing showing various views of historic details used in the restoration of the building.

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Drawing courtesy of Shoalts and Zaback Architects Ltd.

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Architectural drawing showing historic detailing.

Close-up of a historic brick building with ornate detailing, including mansard roofs, dormer windows, and decorative trim. A modern addition rises above the original structure, featuring a smooth facade, large windows, and glass balconies, creating a contrast between the old and new architectural styles.

Image:

Image by Krista Jahnke Photography, courtesy of Shoalts and Zaback Architects Ltd.

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Street-facing facade with elements of new and old.

The Kensington Apartments

Location: Kingston, Ontario
Completed: 1830s, 1870s, 2017
Architect: John Power and Sons (1876), Shoalts and Zaback Architects Ltd. (renovation)
Nominated by: Ted Hsu, MPP (Kingston and the Islands)

At the corner of Brock and Wellington Streets in Kingston’s historic downtown, you’d be forgiven for not immediately noticing a contemporary apartment building that was completed in 2017. Stitching together three historic buildings, the Kensington Apartments is a striking example of how historic preservation and increasing our housing supply can go hand in hand.

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Wide-angle view of modern multi-story buildings with colorful facades featuring vertical stripes in shades of red, yellow, orange, blue, and gray. The buildings are part of a residential complex with large windows and green spaces in the foreground, including newly planted trees.

Image:

Image courtesy of Arcadis Architects (Canada) Inc.

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South elevations with landscaped open areas.

Black and white photo of a vintage seaplane with large pontoons, viewed from the front. Two people, one in aviator gear and the other in a suit, stand next to the plane. Other people are also visible in the background, gathered around the aircraft on a wooden dock.

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Image from Canada Department of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada.

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Charles and Anne Linderbergh visit CFB Rockcliffe.

Site plan of a large urban block featuring multiple rectangular buildings arranged around a central courtyard. The courtyard includes green spaces, trees, seating areas, and a playground. Pathways and streets surround the site, with trees lining the perimeter.

Image:

Drawing courtesy of Arcadis Architects (Canada) Inc.

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Site plan showing landscaping.

Close-up view of a building facade featuring vertical panels in a variety of colors, including red, yellow, orange, blue, and gray. The facade has rectangular windows spaced throughout.

Image:

Image courtesy of Arcadis Architects (Canada) Inc.

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Close-up of colourful fibrecement cladding.

Image:

Image courtesy of Arcadis Architects (Canada) Inc.

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Outputs from computer analysis that helped inform design.

Mikinàk Ottawa Community Housing

Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Date of Completion: 1905
Architect: Arcadis Architects (Canada) Inc.
Nominated by: Lucille Collard, MPP (Ottawa—Vanier)

With a gap in affordable housing and an opportunity for new urban development in Ottawa’s east end, Ottawa Community Housing (OCH) embarked on an ambitious plan to create a new community from scratch while adhering to leading sustainability standards.

Exterior view of a brick two-story building with dark brick walls and large windows, taken during twilight. The upper windows wrap around the building and a vibrant mural is painted on the side of the building.

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Image courtesy of Hilditch Architect Inc.

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Exterior view of Sagatay.

Entrance of a brick building with a distinctive wooden pergola supported by two rough-hewn wooden posts. The entrance features concrete steps leading to a recessed door, and the building number ‘26’ is displayed prominently on the brick wall beside the steps.

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Image courtesy of Hilditch Architect Inc

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Front entrance with logs sourced by the executive director of Sagatay.

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Images courtesy of Hilditch Architect Inc.

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Views of wood accents in the interior.

Interior of a simple, modern bedroom with a large window providing natural light. The room features a single bed, a small wooden nightstand, and a desk with a chair. Two colorful paintings hang on the wall above the bed. The floor is dark with a patterned rug.

Image:

Image courtesy of Hilditch Architect Inc.

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Interior view of a typical unit.

Sagatay

Location: Toronto, Ontario
Date of Completion: 2010
Architect: Hilditch Architect Inc.
Nominated by: Jill Andrew, MPP (Toronto—St. Paul's)

Sagatay, meaning “new beginning” in Anishinaabemowin, perfectly describes this transitional housing project that transformed an existing medical building into a safe place to plan the next stage of one’s life—a new beginning for both its residents and the organization behind the project.

Street view of a modern three-story building with a light wood and black panel facade. The building has large vertical windows and a minimalist design. A sign with the name ‘Suswin’ is mounted on the facade. The lower portion of the building is clad in dark brick, with landscaping and young trees along the sidewalk.

Image:

Image courtesy of Larocque Elder Architects, Architectes Inc.

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View of the main façade from Cassells Street.

Exterior view of a modern three-story building with a light wood and black panel facade. In the foreground is a landscaped courtyard with grass, young trees, and a circular stone seating area surrounding a fire pit. Black outdoor chairs are positioned around the space, and large windows on the ground floor provide a view into the interior.

Image:

Image courtesy of Larocque Elder Architects, Architectes Inc.

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Green space located behind the building.

Group of five people wearing hard hats, high-visibility safety vests, and skirts standing in front of a large piece of industrial equipment at a construction site. The group is standing on a wooden platform, and trees are visible in the background.

Image:

Image courtesy of Larocque Elder Architects, Architectes Inc.

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Installation of the geothermal system, with members of the North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre present.

Interior of a simple bedroom featuring a single bed with white linens positioned near a white sliding door. The walls and floor are light-colored, and recessed ceiling lights provide illumination. In the background, an orange door contrasts with the otherwise neutral tones, marking the entry to the room.

Image:

Image courtesy of Larocque Elder Architects, Architectes Inc.

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Interior of a private unit.

Suswin Village

Location: North Bay, Ontario
Date of Completion: 2022
Architect: Larocque Elder Architects, Architectes Inc.
Nominated by: Hon. Victor Fedeli, MPP (Nipissing)

What does it mean to build a home? At Suswin Village, the answer is a careful balance of individual autonomy and strong community support that allow residents to grow, learn, and succeed.

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Exterior view of a modern, three-story corner house clad in horizontal clay tile. The building features large square windows and blends into the surrounding residential neighbourhood with mature trees. A tall evergreen tree stands in front of the house.

Image:

Image by Doublespace Photography, courtesy of LGA Architectural Partners Ltd.

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View from Lippincott and Ulster streets.

A cross-section drawing of a modern three-storey building with sloped roofs. There is also an adjacent smaller structure. The design emphasizes natural light, open living spaces, and greenery, including a small courtyard between the buildings.

Image:

Drawing courtesy of LGA Architectural Partners Ltd

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Section drawing showing relationship of units and outdoor space.

Front view of a modern, three-storey house with horizontal clay tile and large square windows. The building has a small recessed balcony. The ground floor features floor-to-ceiling windows. A large evergreen tree and young deciduous trees frame the house.

Image:

Image by Doublespace Photography, courtesy of LGA Architectural Partners Ltd.

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View from Ulster street.

Ulster House

Location: Toronto, Ontario
Date of Completion: 2024
Architect: LGA Architectural Partners Ltd.
Nominated by: Jessica Bell, MPP (University—Rosedale)

Familiar yet incredibly new, Ulster House is a self-initiated prototype for middle-density housing that provides condominium living for five families within the scale and form of a typical Toronto single-family lot.

These projects form our Queen’s Park Picks 2024 series. We hope you enjoyed learning more about them. Check out last year's series here or the full series on the blOAAg, or view the map below to learn more about great buildings across the province!

Queen's Park Picks - Past and Present

Spanning nine years, the Queen’s Park Picks represent most regions in Ontario. The architecture is varied, ranging across multiple eras and styles of architecture. Some of the QP Picks were nominated because they were an MPP’s favourite building, some were important community or cultural landmarks, and some may simply have been a built space your local MPP wanted to know more about. Put together, they create a growing database of compelling examples of our province’s built environment.

You can click on them to learn more about the project, or expand the map by selecting the top right corner to get even more background. The 2024 selections are featured in forest green.