Below are some of the special features that can be found on each floor of 401 Richmond. For more on individual tenants, check out the Tenant Directory to see who’s here and what they do!
You can also pick up a copy of our Gallery Guide on your way into the building.
Main Floor
As you enter 401 Richmond from Richmond and Spadina, you’ll find yourself in our expansive front lobby, where you’ll be greeted by warm brick walls, century-old wood features, and sun-soaked windows. To the left is the 401 Lounge, a cozy gathering space to meet friends or sip a cup of coffee. The lobby is always stocked with copies of our 401 Update Newsletter available to visitors, or you can peruse our tenant directory there. The main floor is home to ten galleries: Open Studio, A Space Gallery, Abbozzo Gallery, The Red Head Gallery, Gallery 44, Urbanspace Gallery, Tangled Art Gallery (TAG), Critical Distance Centre for Curators, YYZ Artists’ Outlet and Trinity Square Video. Just around the corner from the main lobby you’ll find our events bulletin board for tenants and the local community and you visit our unique interior courtyard .
Second Floor
If you take the stairs from the front lobby to the second floor, you will be greeted by a portrait of beloved urbanist Jane Jacobs created by John Scott and Deborah Waddington. In the colder months, this is also where you’ll get your first glimpse of our stunning collection of plants that spend the winter in our sunny stairwells. This floor holds a variety of creative studios: a filmmaker, visual artists, sculptors, designers, not-for-profits, consultants, and printers to name a few. The Skywalk – a glass corridor that connects the north and south arms of the building – can be visited from the second floor and is another indoor oasis for our plants during the winter.
Third Floor
The third floor also has a Skywalk that provides an excellent view of the entire building. From here you can see the changes in the brick and window types that are indicative of the various construction phases over the twenty-four years that 401 Richmond was built. The Skywalk connects the north to the south side of the building where you can see the original skylights that poke through the roof of the building (only the north and west side of the building have a fourth floor). These halls are often filled with plants soaking in the sunshine during the winter. There is a dynamic collection of art in the halls and another exciting mix of tenants and uses including: painters, writers, photographers, designers, film production companies, and magazine publishers. The third floor is also home to our rentable meeting room – Studio 303.
Fourth Floor
The fourth floor has wider than average halls and a diverse tenant mix, including arts advocates, therapists, graphic designers, festivals, artists, environmental organizations, and an arts cluster called The Commons. You can also see some impressive examples of wood doors that were salvaged and brought to the building to add interest and character to tenant entrances.
Lower Level
If you enter from our Northeast Entrance off Richmond Street West, you’ll find Spacing Store, Toronto’s City store alongside Swipe Design | Books + Objects, an independent shop carrying a plethora of products for the design-savvy, and Dark Horse Espresso Bar, a specialty coffee shop. The lower level also houses Esmeralda Enrique’s Spanish Dance Company, music and recording studios, darkrooms, yumart gallery, artists’ studios, and Myseum of Toronto.
Guided Tours
We offer guided tours during our annual Village in a Box: Doors Open event, but we also offer guided tours on a limited, by-request basis to school groups, tourist groups, and special-interest groups. For more information or to request a guided tour, please contact us.
Learn more about the architecture and gardens at 401 Richmond.