The 1844 File: how a King West loft became one of Toronto’s most-booked venues

The cornerstone

When the cornerstone went down in 1844, what we now call King West was the lakefront. Brick and timber rose three storeys, cutting tables came in through the south door, and the building did what it was built for — make things — for the better part of a century.

We bought the lease in 2014 with a heritage architect, a structural engineer, and the firm idea that the room should keep talking. Original load-bearing brick. Restored chandelier grid. Floor planks pulled, sanded, reset.

The greenest building is the one already standing.

What we kept

• The chandelier grid (re-wired, but the placement is original)
• The brick — every wall is what it has always been
• The floor — same planks, sanded back to honey
• The bones of the bridal suite, which used to be a foreman's office

What changed

The kitchen. In 2019 Baro took the ground floor and the entire menu logic of the building changed. No more outside catering, no more sterile tasting trays. Every plate in every room above is built one floor below by people you can actually meet.

And then a thousand more

By 2025 we had hosted twelve hundred events. The room is still 1844. The team is now thirteen people. The chandeliers still hum the same way they did the night we re-lit them.