The Distillery District Has Gone Through A Series Of Gentrification And Commercialization

Looking at the area through a geographer perspective one can say that The Distillery District has gone through a series of gentrification and commercialization in order to attract middle and high income consumers[ ]. Efforts have been made in the last 25 years to de-industrialize the area into a consumer based entertainment center for tourists. The process is based on the idea of transforming areas that have lost their industrial value into a source of income and to attract the middle class [ ]. In other words, the area which was once known to be the largest Whiskey Distillery in the British Empire, has now transformed into an area of elite shopping surrounded with luxury condo developments.

Delving into the historical importance of the area,

Soon the area began producing whiskey and the business started thriving exponentially. Unfortunately during the World War 1, the distillery business was hindered as the distillery converted its operation to the manufacturing of acetone. Right after the war, the prohibition era in Canada banned the consumption of alcohol thus bringing the whiskey production to a halt [ ]. After this the ownership of the Distillery District was passed on to a multinational firm descendent from Hiram Walker, who begin to draw a re-development plan for the district. It was the same time when the Distillery District was declared as a “National Historical Landmark”. This was the reason that the city of Toronto instructed to help and give guidance to Hiram Walker on his re-development plan [ ]. The consultants provided with the history of the districts as well as recommended to preserve the heritage of the area. The study that was conducted had two main ideas the first one was that the district was historical thus extremely important not only for the city of Toronto but to North America as a whole. Secondly the area that was being preserved should be

It is vital that the site be opened to the public and that the existing heritage resources be restored and conserved as quickly as possible” [ ]. The province of Ontario agency soon refused the owners’ proposal which slowed down the process of redevelopment. In the late 2001 due to the uncertainty of Toronto’s property Hiram Walker sold Distillery District to a local firm Cityscape, who had experience in the field of restoring old Toronto buildings into new uses [ ]. Soon the Cityscape started gathering tenants in order to rehabilitate the abandoned buildings and eventually the company was able to give new life to the