Plateau Strategy
The story
The Gooderham and Worts distillery began in 1832 and grew into a large industrial complex beside Toronto's waterfront. Its brick production buildings, lanes and courtyards survived even after distilling ended, leaving one of the most extensive groups of Victorian industrial architecture in North America.
The site reopened as a pedestrian district in 2003, filling the old structures with galleries, studios, shops, theaters and restaurants. The change works because the new uses occupy the old pattern instead of erasing it. Brick walls still narrow the sky, cobblestones slow the body and loading lanes become public rooms.
Come early and look at the materials before the district fills. Follow iron details, arched windows and the repeated rhythm of brick. Uneven historic paving needs attention underfoot. From here, the route leaves the former factory and follows city streets west toward St. Lawrence Market.