In May 2019, the historic Jones Avenue School in Toronto’s Danforth neighbourhood was devastated by fire. Working with a team of forensic engineers and rebuild consultants including Envista Forensic, Crossey Engineering and Tacoma Engineers, THA led the TDSB’s recovery of this important community landmark.
The school, built in 1910, had great bones, with many aspects of central planning typical of the School Board designs of the period: high ceilings, wide corridors, symmetrical plan, fabulous staircases, and large classrooms. Grand windows at landings and in each room provided abundant natural light and great views of the neighbourhood and parks, with south views of Lake Ontario and the shoreline from the third floor.
Among the debris and remnants of the building were early original windows, woodwork, doors, slate blackboards, chair rails, elaborate colour schemes and traces of the early interiors. Some areas of the building had been closed off over the years as the site had transitioned from an Elementary School to an Adult Learning Centre and were now going to be opened up again as destruction turned to reimagining the building’s future.
As a result of the fire, separate experts in environmental, forensic engineering and clean up were hired to remove fire and water damaged structure and materials to provide a fresh start. Floors, walls, mechanical and electrical systems were removed to expose sound structure for the next stage of work. The THA team and consultants followed this phase to evaluate the interior, preparing a comprehensive Building Conditions Assessment and analysis to rebuild to meet the current standards of the School Board, the Building Code and Fire Code.
The Schematic Design phase for the reconstruction quickly emerged as site investigations and structural stabilization continued, with a goal of maintaining as much clean, intact material as possible.
The Inventory included floor-by-floor and room-by-room conditions assessment and documentation of:
- The floors, walls and damaged timber and steel structure
- Interior partitions, and finishes
- Ceiling assemblies and fire separations
- Masonry perimeter walls, now stripped of finishes
- Building envelope conditions
- Options for alteration to suit new layout requirements
- Accessibility challenges and opportunities of improvement
- Connectivity with adjacent the Earl Grey Senior Public School and yards.
The comprehensive analysis provided a baseline for the exciting transformation of the school that was to come. This incredible recovery of a fire damaged site was completed in 2024, and the result is nothing short of fantastic. We were so privileged to have been part of the rebirth of the Jones Avenue School! For more information about the dramatic restoration, see our Website ‘Portfolio’ page.
