Gibraltar Point | Daniel et Daniel

Located in a secluded setting on the Toronto Island, Artscape Gibraltar Point offers an affordable and tranquil retreat space with its own beachfront. The space is a social enterprise and gives the artistic and non-profit communities a place to think, experiment, create and share ideas while it is also open for private events.

The Space

In 1888, as the population of the islands grew, this one-room schoolhouse was built. By 1921, a second room was added and by the 1950s, the once single room schoolhouse had over 600 students. Due to years of use and deterioration, a new school was to be built, with this space being slated for demolition. With the need to save and repurpose the space, a group of Toronto Island residents began a campaign to save the old schoolhouse, asking Artscape to play a leadership role in managing the project. Much of the original building has remained untouched, making this project a perfect example of how a building can be brought back to life without a large sum of money and complicated redesign. Artscape Gibralter Point has lingering remnants of the original building while the space was being retrofitted for its current use. Today, the school offers 35,000 square feet of multi-use space for corporate retreats, meetings and workshops, small conferences, team building events, and weddings.