October 21, 2025

The 2025 Built Heritage Award recognizes building owners who have undertaken projects to conserve or adapt a historic property or architectural feature, and the excellence in conservation practice and craftsmanship performed by the project teams. 

The rehabilitation of Deer Park Presbyterian Church has been named winner of a 2025 Built Heritage Award in the Crafts and Trades category, which recognizes high levels of craftsmanship, specifically the use of appropriate construction techniques and materials that are compatible to the building’s original architectural qualities.

Originally designed by Sharp and Brown Architects and completed in 1912, the church underwent additions in 1931 and 1961. Deconsecrated in 2008, it was later redeveloped as part of the Blue Diamond Condominium project, completed in 2022, with conservation and landscaping finished in 2024.

Led by Diamond Schmitt with ERA Architects, in consultation with Heritage Toronto, the design preserves the church’s limestone walls and transforms the site into a park-like setting. Conservation included cleaning and repairing stone and terra cotta, replacing slate and copper roofs, and refurbishing historic lighting, wood doors, and stained glass.

Behind this reimagined public square, the 28-storey Blue Diamond tower and townhouses rise, with a lobby leading to a two-storey, glass-enclosed great hall—an interior extension of the public courtyard, where the former nave’s nineteenth-century stone walls give way to transparency and the tower’s modern interior.

By respecting the site’s context and reinventing a century-old church, the project has created a different type of gathering place where new hospitality and residential uses overlook the restored landmark, ensuring it will continue to serve both private and public functions for many years to come.

Learn more about the winners here.