The Swanwick, 21 Swanwick Ave: Ten Large Lofts in an 1893 East End Church

The Swanwick is ten homes inside a red brick church that has stood at the foot of Enderby Road since 1893. Every suite is around 1,700 square feet or more, there are no amenities to speak of, and the outside of the building is protected under the Ontario Heritage Act. It is a house buyer’s condo, and I treat it that way. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Emmanuel Presbyterian, 1893

The City of Toronto’s designation by-law tells the building’s story in detail. A small church went up on the site in 1888 after two Presbyterian congregations merged, and the present church was completed in 1893 by contractors McMillan and Costain. An entrance porch was added in 1901 and a large wing for a church hall and Sunday school in 1914.

The congregation shrank over the following decades. In 1973 it joined two other Presbyterian congregations in a shared ministry, and by 1988 the remaining congregations had amalgamated and moved to East York. ACO Toronto records that the building then spent a period as a gym before Namara Developments converted it into condominium lofts.

The church was listed on the City’s heritage inventory in 1984 and formally designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act by By-law 383-2007, enacted in April 2007. City archives also record a heritage easement agreement registered in October 2009, just before the condominium was created.

What the heritage designation protects

The by-law describes the church as a modest example of Gothic Revival design, with the attention focused on its corner tower. The protected attributes include the red brick walls with brick, stone, wood and metal trim, the steep gable roof facing Swanwick Avenue, the trio of pointed-arch windows on the front, the square tower at the northeast corner with its pyramidal roof, small corner turrets and copper trim, and the open front porch with Arts and Crafts detailing.

For an owner, designation is a double-edged thing. It means the exterior you bought into cannot simply be stripped or replaced, and the building will keep its landmark role at the end of Enderby Road. It also generally means that changes to those protected features need heritage approval, and repairs to copper, brick and historic window openings can cost more than ordinary condo maintenance.

The easement agreement adds another layer. Before you buy, ask for a copy through your lawyer and understand what obligations it places on the condominium corporation for upkeep of the exterior.

Ten suites, each the size of a small house

Condos.ca lists suite sizes from about 1,700 to 2,062 square feet. With only ten suites inside a church and its 1914 wing, layouts are multi-level and individual; a 2013 Toronto Life feature on one of them called it an east-end townhouse in a 19th-century church, which matches how these homes live.

Condos.ca records the building as having a single storey, which reflects the church’s one tall main volume rather than how the suites are organized inside. Expect stairs, lofted spaces and high ceilings under the church roof. If you need single-level living, this is probably not your building.

Condos.ca flags a pet restriction for The Swanwick and lists no other amenities. Read the declaration and rules for the exact pet terms before you commit, especially if you have a large dog.

Old East Toronto around you

Swanwick Avenue sits just west of Main Street in what was the separate Village, then Town, of East Toronto until the City annexed it in 1910. The by-law notes that the neighbourhood grew up around Main and Gerrard to house workers from the Grand Trunk Railway yards, and that the old fire hall and police station on Main Street are part of the same historic cluster.

Today that means quiet residential streets of older houses, with Main Street, the Danforth to the north and the Beaches to the south all within reach. The data panel on this page covers transit, schools and distances.

The church’s position matters too. The by-law points out that it was placed to close the view at the south end of Enderby Road, so the tower is what people see walking down that street. Suites facing north look up Enderby; others face the houses on either side. Ask which way a suite faces and how much of the tower and front windows it actually includes.

Pricing ten one-of-a-kind homes

Condos.ca does not publish an average price per square foot for The Swanwick, and there were no suites listed for sale when this page was prepared. With ten suites, a sale here can be years apart, so there is no meaningful building average.

The practical comparison is the house market around Main and Gerrard. A suite of 1,700 to 2,000 square feet competes with a detached or semi-detached house in the neighbourhood, so I price it against those, then adjust for the trade-offs: no yard to maintain and shared responsibility for the roof in its favour, a monthly fee and heritage obligations against it.

Condos.ca lists only common elements and water in the fee, so heat and hydro will be on your own bills. Ask for the suite’s utility history; heating tall church volumes is not the same as heating a standard condo. For recent trades, ask me for the building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Swanwick

There are no shared amenities beyond the building itself, and condos.ca flags a pet restriction. With only ten suites, that is the right trade: no gym or party room to fund means the fee goes toward looking after the church, which is the real amenity here.

Jatin’s honest take on The Swanwick

The Swanwick — frequently asked questions

Looking at Leslieville, Riverdale, the Beaches, Danforth and Leaside more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.