Massey Harris Lofts, 915 King St W: A Heritage Head Office With 45 Lofts

Massey Harris Lofts is the building I point to when someone tells me they want a real hard loft and not a marketing one. This is the 1880s head office of the Massey-Harris farm equipment company, the last piece left of a factory complex that once covered this stretch of King West, and it holds only about 45 suites. It is small, quirky and rarely for sale, and you need to know what you are buying before you fall for the brick. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The last building standing from the Massey-Harris works

Massey-Harris, later Massey Ferguson, built farm machinery on this part of King Street West for about a century. The factory closed in 1982, and when the land was redeveloped, every building except this former head office was torn down. That is why it looks a little out of place now, a red-brick Romanesque block among newer condos and offices.

The original two-storey office along King was finished in the mid-1880s. Wikipedia credits the north section to E.J. Lennox, the architect of Old City Hall, and a later south addition to George M. Miller. A third floor came in 1899 and a south wing before the First World War.

The building was designated under the Ontario Heritage Act in 2008, after the conversion. For an owner, that cuts both ways. It protects the character you are paying for, but changes to the exterior, including windows, need heritage sign-off and usually cost more than in an ordinary building.

Next door to the west is Massey Harris Park, about an acre of green space. It is not a big park, but it gives the west side of the building an open outlook that most King West condos do not have.

Layouts: hard lofts below, new penthouses on top

This is a true conversion, so no two suites are quite the same. The lofts in the original structure keep the red brick and old timber posts. One source reports radiant floor heating throughout, and some bathrooms were built inside the company’s old payroll vaults, with the vaulted metal ceilings still in place.

The conversion added a new floor on the roof, and the penthouses up there are two-storey suites with large terraces. Those are effectively new construction sitting on a heritage base. You trade some of the old character for light and outdoor space, which many buyers are happy to do.

Two quirks to know about. Floor levels inside some suites step up or down by a few feet, the result of fitting modern plumbing into an 1880s shell. The lowest suites sit partly below grade, so they are darker, though they tend to have outdoor space and the most exposed brick.

Condos.ca puts suite sizes at roughly 473 to 1,077 square feet. That is a modest range. Most suites here are one-bedroom or one-plus-den lofts, so this is not a building for a family that needs three bedrooms.

What the fee covers in a 45-suite building

Condos.ca lists the fee as including common elements, heat, air conditioning, building insurance and water. Having heat and cooling in the fee is useful in an old masonry building, where heating costs can be high and hard to predict.

There is very little in the way of amenities: an elevator, a parking garage, a security system and BBQs permitted. No gym, no concierge, no party room. For a building this size, that is a good thing, because there is no pool or staffed lobby for 45 owners to pay for.

The flip side of a small building is that every big repair is split among very few owners. Masonry repointing, a roof, a garage membrane or heritage windows cost the same whether 45 or 400 suites share them. That is why the reserve fund matters more here than in a tower.

Living on this corner of King West

The building sits on the line between Liberty Village and Niagara. Liberty Village gives you grocery, gyms and coffee a few minutes south, and King West and Ossington are an easy walk for restaurants. The King streetcar runs along the front of the building.

This area has changed a lot since 2003, and it is still changing. New towers and office buildings keep going up along King West and in Liberty Village. Expect more density and construction around you, not less, over the next decade.

Condos.ca flags a pet restriction for the building. I do not know the details, so if you have a dog, read the declaration and rules in the status certificate before you make a firm offer.

What Massey Harris Lofts costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $1,131 per square foot. That is high for a resale loft in this area, and it reflects scarcity and character: with about 45 suites, only a handful trade in a typical year.

Nothing was listed for sale when I wrote this, which is normal here. When a suite does come up, compare it with other heritage hard lofts in west downtown, not with newer glass towers in Liberty Village. A new-build one-bedroom may be cheaper per square foot, but it will not give you a 140-year-old brick shell.

Price within the building varies by type. Penthouses with terraces, partly below-grade suites and standard lofts in the original structure are three different products, and per-square-foot averages blur them together.

For recent resale figures, see the data panel on this page, or ask me for a building sold report. I can also alert you when a suite here is listed, since they do not sit long.

Building specifications

Amenities at Massey Harris Lofts

There is almost no shared amenity space, which keeps the fee focused on the building itself. If you want a gym, a pool or a concierge, this is the wrong building; Liberty Village has plenty of gyms a short walk away.

Jatin’s honest take on Massey Harris Lofts

Massey Harris Lofts — frequently asked questions

Looking at Queen West, Trinity-Bellwoods, Kensington and Little Italy more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.