48 Ontario
Client: Voisin Capital
Status: Completed - 2019
Location: 48 Ontario Street, Kitchener
Project Type: Office, Heritage
Service: Architecture
48 Ontario Street North, Kitchener was built in 1910 by the Bell Telephone Company. The building has since become synonymous with The Royal Canadian Legion, who purchased it in May of 1944, and expanded it in 1956. The Legion occupied 48 Ontario until 2001, when it was sold to The City of Kitchener. From the 1970s to the late 1990s, the Legion Building played an important role in the city’s vibrant music scene, acting as an important stop for Blues greats and other musical acts who were travelling between Detroit and Toronto.
The building was vacant from 2001 until 2018 when it was purchased by Voisin Capital. Working with SRM Architects, Voisin Capital undertook a bottom-up renovation with all new building systems, windows, and roof, paying special attention to heritage components, and exposing original details, including components of the original Bell telephone infrastructure. The property was re-imagined as office space, with plans for a modern 30,000+ ft² Phase 2 (pictured) to intensify the site in the existing parking lot and and incorporating the heritage building.
48 Ontario stands in the heart of Kitchener’s Cultural District, in the centre of the highest concentration of office space and the most amenity-rich area of Waterloo Region. The building is within walking distance of dozens of restaurants and night life, as well as amenities such as Centre in the Square, Kitchener Public Library Main Branch, the Kitchener Market, THEMUSEUM, Kitchener City Hall and the Ontario Court of Justice. It is also within 300 meters of three LRT stops and immediately across from the Duke and Ontario parkade, which offers more than 450 vehicle parking spaces and indoor covered bicycle storage.
The project was the winner of the 2023 City of Kitchener Mike and Pat Wagner Heritage Award for Preservation / Restoration.
