By Sara Rahgozar, M.Arch, OAA, Quadrant Architects
Some of the best bars and lounges are in old buildings. The brick, the beams, the sense that the room has been there a long time, none of that can be built new. It is also the reason these projects are harder than they look. You are working inside a structure that was built for something else, often a century ago, and turning it into a modern licensed space without erasing what made it worth choosing.
We are designing exactly this kind of project on Main Street South in Newmarket, converting a three-storey heritage building that once housed a law office into a lounge. Here is what that work involves, and what to check before you sign a lease on an old building for a bar.
Change of use is the term for converting a building approved for one purpose to another. A former law office becoming a lounge is a change of use. It matters because the moment the use changes, the Ontario Building Code requires the building to meet current standards for its new purpose, not the standards it was built to.
For a bar or lounge, the code looks at how many people will be inside, how they get out in an emergency, how the structure holds up, and how accessible the space is. An office that was perfectly legal as an office can need real work to become a legal bar. That work is the heart of the project, which is why the design has to start with the code, not the decor. On the Newmarket building, that review runs through the Town of Newmarket’s Building Services department as part of the permit.
The Ontario Building Code sets a maximum occupant load based on the space’s area and use. You can post a lower number, but you cannot exceed the code maximum, and it is usually higher than owners expect.
That number drives most of the rest of the design: how many exits you need, how wide the stairs must be, how many washrooms, how much ventilation, and what fire protection is required. Establishing it early is what keeps the rest of the design from being reworked later.
Yes, and it is common in heritage buildings, which tend to be tall and narrow rather than wide. The Newmarket building on Main Street South uses all three levels: a ground-floor entry, the main lounge on the second floor, and the lower level for back-of-house operations.
Spreading a bar across floors brings two requirements. First, vertical access, which here means an elevator connecting the lower level to the second-floor lounge. Second, a second way out. For an assembly space above the ground floor, the Ontario Building Code generally requires more than one exit from the floor, and a single existing staircase is rarely enough. At 193 Main Street the interior stair provides one exit, and a new exterior steel staircase at the rear provides the second, both fire-separated and sized to code. Putting the new stair at the back is deliberate: it meets the requirement without touching the heritage storefront on Main Street.
One point that catches people out: an elevator is never counted as an exit under the building code, no matter how convenient. It provides access, not egress. The exits have to be stairs.
Yes. A heritage designation protects the building’s character, but it does not exempt the building from meeting current Ontario Building Code requirements when the use changes. This surprises owners who assume heritage status means the old building is grandfathered in.
Converting an office to a lounge means meeting the code standards for the new use, fire safety, structural performance, accessibility, and building envelope, while preserving the heritage elements that made the building worth converting in the first place: the brick facade, the original detailing, the proportions of the storefront. You cannot simply punch new openings wherever you want or strip the facade for a glass front. In the Newmarket building, the existing beams, wood-frame floors, and heritage brick are treated as the starting point, and the layout follows the existing structure and the rhythm of the original openings so the finished space belongs to the building. The new storefront keeps the proportions and materials of the original, with signage matched to the historic character of Main Street. On a heritage street, where the value of the whole block comes from its consistency, a storefront that fits matters as much to the neighbours as to the building. The goal is a building that looks restored, not overwritten, and meeting both the code and the heritage context at once is the whole job.
Often both, and both need to be identified before the lease is signed rather than discovered after.
Depending on where the bar sits in the building and its occupant load, the code may require an automatic sprinkler system. Many older heritage commercial buildings were never sprinklered, so adding one is a real addition to scope and budget, not a minor line item.
Structure is the other. A building designed for office use was built to carry office loads. A bar, where people stand, move, and gather in larger numbers, puts more demand on the floors. A structural engineer has to confirm whether the existing framing can carry the increased load, and reinforcement may be required. This is not cosmetic. It is a life-safety assessment, and one of the first things to check before any interior design begins.
Not always, and leaving it out simplifies the project significantly. The Newmarket lounge is built around its drinks program rather than food, so it uses a kitchenette for light service instead of a full commercial kitchen. That single decision removes the heavy exhaust, make-up air, and ductwork a commercial kitchen requires, which in a multi-storey heritage building is one of the hardest and most expensive things to fit. Deciding this early keeps the budget on the parts of the project that matter to the experience.
A few questions are worth answering before you commit:
Answering these with an architect before the lease is signed is far cheaper than discovering the building cannot support the plan after the work has started.
Quadrant Architects designs bars, lounges, and restaurants in heritage and existing buildings across Newmarket, Aurora, Richmond Hill, Markham, and the Greater Toronto Area. We handle the change of use, code, structural, and heritage coordination these projects require, from the first feasibility questions through building permit. Related services: tenant improvement and change of use · hospitality architect · commercial architecture services.
Sara Rahgozar, M.Arch, OAA, Quadrant Architects.
Tel: 416-357-5713 · sara@quadrantarchitects.com