The Gooderham Building sits at the sharpest wedge of land in the city, where Wellington and Front Streets collide. Its red brick walls and rounded turret rise like a ship’s prow cutting through the concrete traffic. George Gooderham, a…
Old Town and Distillery
This walk traces Toronto's 19th-century roots from the historic St. Lawrence Market to the cobblestone lanes of the Distillery District. You'll see beautiful Victorian industrial architecture and learn how early Muddy York transformed into a modern metropolis.
Listen to this tour in the Mira app →
1. Gooderham Building
2. The Cathedral Church of St. James
The Cathedral Church of Saint James has a spire that reaches three hundred and six feet into the Toronto sky, making it the tallest in Canada when it was completed in eighteen seventy-four. This brick gothic structure replaced three…
3. St Lawrence Hall
St Lawrence Hall wears a distinctive white, cast-iron clock tower that rises above the intersection of King and Jarvis. Built in eighteen fifty to replace a previous structure destroyed by fire, this hall functioned as the city’s primary…
4. St. Lawrence Market
The south building of St. Lawrence Market carries a distinctive red brick facade with a central clock tower that rises above the intersection of Front and Jarvis streets. It sits on the site of Toronto’s original eighteen forty-five City…
5. Toronto's First Post Office
The red brick facade of Toronto's First Post Office stands out with its modest, domestic scale, contrasting sharply with the glass towers of the modern city. Completed in eighteen thirty-three, it served as the main postal hub for what was…
6. Enoch Turner Schoolhouse Museum and Special Events Venue
The Enoch Turner Schoolhouse stands out with its modest, red-brick Gothic Revival architecture and a steep, pointed roofline that feels out of place against the taller city buildings. Built in eighteen forty-eight, it served as the first…
7. The Distillery Historic District
The Gooderham and Worts Distillery occupies thirteen acres of Victorian industrial buildings built from red brick and limestone. Founded in eighteen thirty-two, it grew into the world's largest distillery by the late nineteenth century.…