Designated as a national historic site, the Distillery District is an extraordinary complex of 19th century brick and limestone industrial buildings, the most architecturally rich and culturally vibrant heritage precinct in Toronto. The network of Victorian streets and pedestrian connections through the site have created a unique triangular building site at the corner of Mill and Parliament Streets. Pure Spirit takes full advantage of its setting, responding with a 21st century interpretation of the Victorian ‘flatiron’ building form. A five-storey podium building terminates in an acute 22-degree angle, occupied by retail uses at grade, and four floors of loft units and one- and two-storey terrace units above. The podium is surmounted by a slender, glazed 34-storey point tower, offset from the centre of podium. Pure Spirit defers at street level to the intimate scale of the 19th-century streetscape, while reinforcing the axial connection between the Distillery District and David Crombie Park to the west. Residents in the tower enjoy panoramic views of the downtown skyline and the lake.