Emily’s House Children’s Hospice

Emily's House, the Philip Aziz Centre's 13,000sf 10 bed children's hospice is the first of its kind in Toronto. The facility addresses the needs of families and children living with the challenges of a life-limiting illness such as cancer and HIV/AIDS.

This home provides increased respite options for families and a choice of setting for medical/respite care.

The project, which incorporates the heritage restoration of the 1888 house for the Governor of the Don Jail, which had been left derelict for a decade prior to our work. The project includes includes a large addition set within a public park being created on the Bridgepoint lands east of the Don River north of Gerrard Street.

The design creates a domestic scale that feels homelike and playful to children and their families, while providing sophisticated support infrastructure, such as piped oxygen and medical air, ceiling lifts and an

integrated nurse call system. Adapting the heritage building to a Group B care occupancy required the inclusion of stair pressurization measures, normally associated with high-rise buildings.

Associated with the project was the renovation of the adjacent former Gatehouse to the Don Jail, also a heritage property, which was repurposed as office space for the Philip Aziz Centre.

Emily’s House Children’s Hospice is owned and operated by Philip Aziz Centre. For more information, please see:

https://paceh.ca