The Distillery District in Toronto is an amazing restoration & reuse of Victorian industrial buildings. There are restaurants, and shops housed within heritage buildings of the former Gooderham and Worts Distillery. The district covers 13 acres with 36 Victorian buildings on 10 mostly pedestrian streets. It is the largest collection of Victorian industrial architecture in North America. The district was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1988. It had been protected under the Ontario Heritage Act since 1976. Two high-rise condominium buildings were built at the edge of the district & cleverly incorporated into Victorian buildings in the late 1990s. The Distillery District has been used as a location for over 800 film & TV productions.
After years of decline, the distillery closed in 1990. In 2001, the site was purchased & developed into the pedestrian-orientated area that now exists, opening in 2003. Buildings are occupied by shops, art galleries, restaurants, coffee houses, a brewery & a performing arts center. The upper floors of a number of buildings are leased to artists as studio spaces & to office tenants with a creative focus. Condominiums, office & retail space has been developed on nearby vacant land.
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