About Us - Galeforth Quintaris Architecture | Where Tradition Meets Innovation

Our Story

Back in 2009, Margaret Galeforth and Thomas Quintaris met at a heritage building conference in Montreal. They got into this heated debate about whether you could actually marry modern sustainability with century-old craftsmanship - turned out they were arguing the same side from different angles.

Fast forward a year, and we'd opened our doors on Adelaide Street with a simple idea: don't tear down what's already there if you can breathe new life into it. Toronto's full of beautiful old bones that just need the right care and a fresh perspective.

These days, we're a team of 23 architects, designers, and heritage specialists who genuinely love what we do. Whether it's restoring a Victorian-era warehouse or designing a net-zero office building, we're always looking for that sweet spot where history and progress shake hands.

How We Actually Work

No corporate fluff here - just honest thoughts from fifteen years in the trenches

We Listen First, Design Second

Look, we've seen too many architects waltz in with their "vision" before understanding what a space actually needs. Every building has its own story, every client has their own goals. We spend weeks just listening, measuring, researching before we even sketch the first line. Sometimes the best design choice is the one that preserves what's already working.

Sustainability Isn't Optional

We don't slap some solar panels on a roof and call it green. Real sustainability means thinking about material sourcing, energy systems, water management, and yeah - keeping existing structures instead of adding to landfills. The greenest building is often the one that's already standing. We just help it perform better for the next hundred years.

Heritage Means Community

When you're restoring a heritage building, you're not just dealing with bricks and mortar. There's the neighbourhood folks who've watched that building for decades, the historical societies with their archives, the craftspeople who still know the old techniques. We bring everyone to the table because heritage work that ignores community input usually ends up feeling hollow.

Innovation Without Ego

New materials and technologies? We're all over them. But we're not interested in being cutting-edge just for the sake of it. If a hundred-year-old timber frame is still doing its job beautifully, we're not gonna replace it with steel just because we can. Progress means knowing when to innovate and when to respect what works.

The People Behind The Blueprints

We're a pretty diverse bunch, and that's exactly how we like it

Margaret Galeforth

Co-Founder & Principal Architect

Margaret's been obsessed with old buildings since she was a kid exploring abandoned factories in Hamilton. Got her degree from Waterloo, spent five years with a heritage conservation firm in Ottawa, then realized she wanted to do things her own way. She's the one who'll spend hours in dusty archives tracking down original plans - and she genuinely loves it.

Thomas Quintaris

Co-Founder & Design Director

Tom came to Canada from Athens in '98 with a background in sustainable design before it was trendy. He's got this knack for seeing how natural light moves through a space that borders on spooky. When he's not in the studio, he's probably tinkering with passive heating systems in his own perpetually-under-renovation house in the Beaches.

Sarah Chen

Senior Heritage Specialist

David Okonkwo

Urban Planning Lead

Elena Rodriguez

Sustainability Coordinator

James MacLeod

Interior Design Director

Why We Do This

Honestly? Because there's something deeply satisfying about taking a building that everyone's written off and proving it's still got decades of life left. Or designing a new structure that'll actually make a neighbourhood better instead of just different.

We're not here to win awards - though we won't complain if they come. We're here because Toronto and the surrounding cities are growing fast, and if we're not careful, we'll lose all the character that makes these places worth living in.

Every project's a chance to prove that good design doesn't mean starting from scratch. Sometimes the best way forward is to honour where we've been.

Let's Talk About Your Project

Whether it's a century home that needs some love or a commercial space that could use a rethink

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