Liberty Lofts

History of Liberty Lofts

In January 1912 Gillette announced in the Canadian Hardware, Stove and Paint Journal that its booming sales had “practically compelled” it to put up a new Gillette Building in Toronto, then nearly finished. That is the west building here, at what was then 120 Duke Street, the old name for this stretch of Adelaide. It replaced a row of workers' cottages, remembered in the name of Duke Mews just to the south.

A second, smaller building went up to the east sometime between 1924 and 1933, and a new front was added to tie the two together; the courtyard between them is now the glass-roofed atrium you see from the elevator. By the early 1990s the building was a Tippet-Richardson records-storage warehouse. It was sold under power of sale at an auction at the King Edward Hotel in April 1993.

The conversion ran from about 1999 into 2001; the developer is usually given as the Walsh Development Group. There are 36 one-bedroom and 10 two-bedroom lofts from about 600 to 1,350 square feet, with 11- to 13-foot ceilings: wood posts, beams and exposed brick in the old building, concrete and columns in the newer one, and two-storey penthouses with private terraces. Imperial Lofts and Richmond Mews are around the corner.

Stories you'll hear

“Built in 1937.” A 1933 photo already shows the building, and Gillette's own 1912 ad dates the first part to 1911 and 1912.