Royal Conservatory of Music

GBCA was part of a team of specialists on the expansion and restoration of the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) facilities on Bloor Street, Toronto—now the Telus Centre for Performance Learning. In order to meet their primary programming goals, the RCM needed not only to renovate the existing heritage buildings but also to add a new concert hall, additional practice rooms, classrooms, offices and support spaces. The integration of old and new had to be carefully assessed to ensure preservation of the original building fabric.

Since 1962, the RCM has occupied the buildings, which were erected by McMaster Baptist College—McMaster Hall (now known as Ihnatowycz Hall) was built in 1881 to the designs of Langley, Langley and Burke, while the adjoining Castle Memorial Hall (now known as Mazzoleni Concert Hall) was added in 1901, designed by Edmund Burke. When McMaster relocated to Hamilton in 1930, the structures became the property of the University of Toronto and were later designated by the City of Toronto under the Ontario Heritage Act.

After initial involvement in the restoration of the entrance portico in 2001, GBCA then came onto the project as Heritage Architect for KPMB Architect, advising and assisting the team on various phases of the project, including the preparation of the necessary heritage reports for municipal and provincial approvals. GBCA’s Conservation Master Plan provided direction and expert advice on the exterior restoration of the heritage structures, including the masonry repairs and cleaning, which, on the 1881 High Victorian red-brick building, revealed the colourful stone and brick façade that had been obscured by years of pollution. Working closely with the trades, GBCA specified further exterior work including the repointing (reinstating the original historic joint profile), restoration of the entrance portico, replacement of the slate roof, the installation of lead-coated copper gutters, repairs to woodwork of the dormer windows and to the iron finials, and the restoration of a spire, which had been missing from the roofline since 1954.

The restoration of the former McMaster Hall and Castle Memorial Hall provides an enhanced street appearance and signals a new era for the Royal Conservatory of Music and thus meets the client’s needs, which, according to Dr. Peter Simon, President of the Royal Conservatory of Music, was to “preserve this important piece of architectural heritage while adapting it to the needs of our innovative music and arts education programs.” In 1995, the RCM was designated a National Historic Site.