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 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 taking a building that was approved for one purpose and converting it to another. A former shop becoming a lounge is a change of use. It matters because the moment you change the use, the Ontario Building Code requires the building to meet the current standards for its new purpose, not the standards it was built to.
For a bar or lounge, that means 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 old building that was perfectly legal as a store can need real work to become a legal bar. That work is the heart of the project, and it 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.
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 operations.
Spreading a bar across floors brings two requirements. First, vertical access for everyone, which means an elevator, not just stairs. Second, a second way out. Building codes require more than one means of escape from an occupied floor, so on this project a new exterior steel staircase at the rear provides the second exit. Putting the new stair at the back is deliberate: it meets the code without touching the heritage storefront on Main Street. Those two pieces, the elevator and the second stair, are often what make a multi-level conversion possible or not, and they need to be worked out early because they take up space and change the plan.
You start with what is there and design around it. In the Newmarket building, the existing beams, the wood-frame structure, and the heritage brick are treated as the starting point, not obstacles to clear away. The layout of the lounge follows the existing structure and the rhythm of the original window and door openings, so the finished space feels like it belongs to the building.
The storefront is handled the same way. Rather than replacing it with something generic, the new storefront keeps the proportions and materials of the original, and the signage is designed to match the historic character of Main Street. On a heritage street like Newmarket’s, where the value of the whole block comes from its consistency, a storefront that fits the street matters as much to the neighbours as it does to the building. The goal is a building that looks restored, not overwritten.
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 · commercial architecture services · interior design.
Sara Rahgozar, M.Arch, OAA, Quadrant Architects. 416-357-5713 · sara@quadrantarchitects.com