Canada House on Corporation Street, which has been closed to the public for around 15 years, is being opened for tours as part of the Castlegate Festival and Heritage Open Days, giving visitors a chance to explore the building before major redevelopment work begins as part of the new scheme for Harmony Works.
The building has had several lives over its 150-year history. It was originally used as offices for the Sheffield United Gas Light Company, before later becoming an Oriental buffet. Its unusual layout also includes several subterranean floors, created by Sheffield’s famously hilly landscape.
Now, Harmony Works is being developed as a dedicated space for music education, rehearsal and performance.
Plans for the building include a large rehearsal hall, which will eventually feature acoustic treatment suitable for orchestras and choirs, alongside a public café, basement venue, recording studio and several smaller rehearsal spaces.
The centre will also become home to a number of music organisations. Sheffield Music Hub will provide after-school provision, while Sheffield Music Academy will run sessions every Saturday.
Other organisations set to be involved include Brass Bands England, which is relocating from Barnsley, and Orchestras for All, which is moving to Sheffield from London.
Music in the Round will also move into the building from its current home at the Crucible, using the space to establish a chamber music centre of excellence. Concertinos, which works with musicians from infancy through university age, and The Choir with No Name, which works with people experiencing homelessness, will also be based at Harmony Works.
The project is intended to create a shared space for music organisations while expanding opportunities for young people to take part in music across Sheffield and South Yorkshire.
Contractors have now been selected, with construction work expected to begin shortly. Harmony Works is aiming to open its doors in early 2028.
The redevelopment is part of wider changes taking place in Castlegate, with the area developing into an emerging cultural quarter. S1 Artspace is also set to move into the former Yorkshire Bank building, while plans for a nearby park are continuing to develop.
For now, members of the public can get a rare look inside Harmony Works through tours taking place during the Castlegate Festival and Heritage Open Days, before the building closes again for its next transformation.
After 15 years behind closed doors, the historic building is preparing to become a new home for music in Sheffield.
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