One St. Thomas, 1 St Thomas St: Robert A.M. Stern’s Stone Tower off Bloor

One St. Thomas is the building I show buyers who want a house-sized suite in a tower that looks like it could have been built in 1930. It is a stone-clad, base-middle-top tower by Robert A.M. Stern a short walk from Bloor Street, with very few suites and a buyer profile to match. Listings are rare, and that is the point. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A new building in an old style

Robert A.M. Stern is a New York architect known for new towers that borrow from the classic apartment buildings of the 1920s and 1930s, and One St. Thomas is his clearest statement in Toronto. The tower has a three-storey stone base, cast stone pilasters running up the shaft, bay windows, cornices and balconies, and a stepped top where the penthouses open onto terraces.

That base-middle-top arrangement is deliberate. From the street you read a solid masonry building rather than a glass box, and it has aged far better than many of the glass towers finished in the same years. In a neighbourhood full of 2000s and 2010s glass, it stands out without trying to.

UrbanToronto credits Robert A.M. Stern Architects together with Arcadis, and NAK Design Strategies for the landscape. The listing does not say which firm handled design and which acted as the local architect of record, so I would not quote one over the other.

Few suites, and very large ones

The suite count is where sources disagree. UrbanToronto lists 70 suites; Condos.ca lists 77. Either way, this is a very small number for a 28- or 29-storey tower, which means each floor carries only a few suites and the average suite is far larger than in a typical downtown condo.

Suites range from about 474 sq ft to roughly 8,435 sq ft. The small end is unusual and likely reflects a few compact units, but the building’s market is the large suite. For a buyer coming from a house in Rosedale or Forest Hill, this is one of the few towers where the floor plan feels like a home rather than an apartment.

I could not verify ceiling heights or the original finish specification from a reliable source. In a building of this calibre, many suites will also have been renovated by their owners since 2008, so judge each suite on its own condition rather than on the original brochure.

Fewer suites means fewer neighbours, quieter elevators and a lobby where staff know residents by name. The trade-off is that every repair, every staff salary and every amenity is shared among a small group of owners, so the fee per suite is high, and a major project can mean a large bill.

The arrival experience

The main lobby faces St. Thomas Street, with a separate porte-cochere residential entrance, the underground parking ramp and the service area set into the base. A formal garden for residents sits beside the porte-cochere, designed by NAK, and three-storey townhouses are attached to the base.

This is the part of the building that justifies the fee for many owners. Valet parking, visitor parking and a car wash are listed among the amenities, so arriving by car feels closer to a hotel than to a condo garage. If you rarely drive, much of that value will be lost on you.

Location: a quiet street off Bloor

St. Thomas is a short, quiet street between Bloor and Charles, a step from the Bloor Street shops and the Yorkville galleries and restaurants. The Residences at the Windsor Arms sit a short walk along the same street, and the two buildings compete for the same buyers.

The age of the building matters here too. Registered in 2008, it is now in the period when original mechanical systems, elevators and garage membranes start to need major work. In a large tower that cost is spread across hundreds of owners; here it is shared by a few dozen.

Being one block off Bloor gives you the address without the traffic. The noise and crowds are on Bloor and Bay; St. Thomas itself is calm and residential. The panel on this page shows transit and walkability details.

What One St. Thomas costs

When I checked, there were no suites for sale and one for lease, and Condos.ca did not publish a building average price per square foot. In a building of about 70 to 77 suites, months can pass without a listing, and each sale is shaped by size, floor and finishes, so an average would be misleading anyway.

What I can tell you is that suites here trade in the luxury tier of the Bloor-Yorkville market, and they compete with the Windsor Arms and the newer high-end towers on Bloor and Yorkville. The value case rests on the architecture, the low suite count and the stone exterior, not on price per square foot.

The fee covers more than most: heat, air conditioning, water, building insurance, parking and cable TV. That is a broad package. Because the building is so small, ask for the budget and the reserve fund study, and compare the fee with the full monthly cost of a comparable suite elsewhere. If you want a value check on a specific suite, I can pull the sold history through my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at One St. Thomas Residences

The amenities are built around service and privacy rather than socialising: concierge and security, valet parking, a car wash, a pool and a gym, plus a private garden by the porte-cochere. For owners, the feeling is closer to a private residence than to a typical downtown condo.

Jatin’s honest take on One St. Thomas Residences

One St. Thomas Residences — frequently asked questions

Looking at St. Lawrence, the Financial District and Downtown Yonge more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.