Finegold Alexander was hired in January 2019 to be the design architects for the 15 Church Loft Residences, part of the larger 260 High Park development. The build has 70 units in total.
“The church had a number of historic requirements so we couldn’t do a lot of work to the exterior, so that was a little restrictive,” explained Ellen Anselone, principal and vice-president of Finegold Alexander, based in Boston, Mass., who is the design lead for the church conversion portion of the project.
“There are some adjustments but pretty much it stayed intact. The challenge on the project was how do we create these dynamic condominium units in this church where we’re not taking the roof off.
“The biggest challenge on this project, as opposed to some of our other church projects, was the limited amount that we could modify the exterior.”
While most of the inside was demolished, stained glass windows and doors were retained from the original building where possible.
At street level, the original stairs and entries have been retained. The property also features a private courtyard entrance sheltered from the street where you enter to get to the church lofts. The tops of the towers were converted to create private outdoor balcony space.
