Anansi is moving! In 2016, House of Anansi will have a new home at 128 Sterling Road in Toronto’s Junction Triangle neighbourhood. That’s right: we will be one of the pioneers staking out the new frontier of heritage buildings in the up-and-coming arts and culture district. We’ll be situated right between the Nestle Chocolate factory — and yes, our (soon-to-be) new office does smell like chocolate — and the new digs of the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA), which is currently under construction.

128 Sterling is formerly the Scythes Textiles building. Scythes Textiles was founded in 1910, and operated from the offices at 128 Sterling until recently — the markings for Scythes can still be found on the exterior of the building. Under new ownership, the building has opened up to welcome several new businesses — and most of the new tenants are sure to help turn Sterling Road into a cultural hub over the next few years, just ask the Toronto Star:

This low brick warehouse is the former home of the T.A. Lytle Co. Limited, purveyors of “Pickles, Catsups, Sauces and Fountacanvas Goods” (whatever they are), as a freshly restored sign on its battered old brick proclaims. Gutted and remade over the past few years, the former abandoned warehouse space and paintball park and a handful of quasi-legal work-live spaces have made way for such things as branding and film companies and, in place of a long-standing children’s gymnastics club, a brand new brew pub still under construction.

Besides MOCCA, and a brewery, we’ll be borrowing cups of sugar from Sterling Studio, BATL Axe Throwing and Fly With Me, among others. Our neighbours are transforming not only Sterling Road, but the Junction Triangle, as well.

We’re working with M-S-D-S Studio to build something special in our new space. M-S-D-S are trailblazers, and recently designed the Shopify Toronto offices. The jewel of the new office at 128 Sterling is our new showroom, which doubles as an event space. Soon you’ll be able to walk through our front door, and take a look at a few of our books — and on the days where we need to hold a book launch or event, we’ll schlep furniture out of the way. Voila: party space.

Take a tour of our new office

Today — October 16th, 2015 — we’ll be taking a tour of our new office in its raw state, and you can take a look with us! We’re broadcasting the tour live at 4:00 P.M. EST on Periscope. Download the Periscope app, or join us from your desktop here: https://www.periscope.tv/houseofanansi

Keep an eye out for future news and updates on Anansi’s new office space by searching (and using!) the #128Sterling hashtag. We can’t wait to start a new chapter in Anansi’s history!