Office Space: $64 per square foot for Victorian grandeur in the historic Flatiron Building

Office Space: $64 per square foot for Victorian grandeur in the historic Flatiron Building

ADDRESS: 49 Wellington Street East

NEIGHBOURHOOD: Church-Yonge Corridor

AGENT: Cushman and Wakefield

PRICE: $64 gross rent per square foot

THE PLACE: Stained glass windows, sumptuous hardwood floors, ominous vaults and the city’s first manually operated Otis elevator: the nearby bank towers seem so vanilla next to this historic red-brick building. Every space is rich with architectural detail, but each floor is somewhat unique: the first level, for example, offers fireplaces in nearly every office, while the fifth floor has gorgeous exposed rafters and a stunning view of St. Lawrence Market.

THE STORY: George Gooderham put up the wedge-shaped, David Roberts Jr.–designed building in 1892 to house the headquarters of his booming distillery business, Gooderham and Worts. The Flatiron cost $18,000 to construct, making it the most expensive office building in Toronto at the time, and was finished in 1892, a full 10 years before that other, more famous Flatiron building in New York City. Theirs might be showier, but hey, we got there first.

THE IDEAL TENANT: Lawyers and accountants have both come knocking, but the late Victorian architecture is really more suitable for someone who wears a top hat and carries a cane to work. So basically, Scrooge McDuck or Rich Uncle Pennybags.

THE DETAILS:
• 16,000 square feet
• 120 years of history
• $64 per square foot
• 12-foot ceilings
• 5 floors
• 1 original Otis elevator
• 1 elevator operator/concierge named Henry