Hart House Fitness Centre

Overall a good gym. Machines are in good condition but a bit old. There's also a track which is great for running/walking.

There’s a good selection of equipment, multiple rooms, an indoor track, and plenty of room for stretching. The staff is very friendly and they have offer a wide variety of fun classes - both drop-in and registered. The upper gym especially can get quite hot (there’s no A/C, although there is a large ceiling fan and the windows can be opened) and thus the smell can get a bit off putting during the warmer months. But other than that I have no complaints. They recently put up signs by/in the change rooms and washrooms which encourage trans individuals to use whichever room they feel most comfortable in which I found to be a meaningful act on their part. Definitely a great choice for students and non-students alike.

There is only one entrance left and it’s the furthest from the street. Clever design of the gym but it’s a bit small, though it still works because there’s not a lot of people. The cool thing is that it looks pretty and the lights automatically turn off when they don’t sense movement to save energy. The biggest problem though, is the lack of air conditioning during summer months. The small windows are not enough for ventilation. It’s extra worse now that we have to wear masks while working out. I have been performing poorly because it is difficult to breathe. For this reason, I wouldn’t recommend non-university students to purchase memberships. The pool is also rather small: 2 lanes for fast swimmers, 1 for medium & 1 for slow. The slow lane was crowded so I moved to the fast lane and also swam faster, but was told to move back to the slow/medium lane because I was still too slow, so I moved back to squish with other people. Also the pool opens at weird hours. It closes at 2pm, which is the best time for me to go but then I have to wait till 4pm, which is really late into the afternoon/evening by the time I’m done. Showers are weak and are really only good for rinsing the pool water off, not an actual shower.

Great facilities, and even better services!Thank you to Vanessa and Daniella for your amazing programming and services; hope there are more awesome events down the line!

I have actually been visiting Hart House Fitness Centre multiple times per week - sometimes every week day - since I started at U of T four years ago, save the 18 month period between March 2020 and September 2021 when it was closed to the public.But I was inspired to write this by what I consider a manifestly unfair one-star review left a few weeks ago. I'll start by conceding where the reviewer is correct: Although things seem to be slowly improving this winter, the quality of the largely student staff deteriorated markedly last summer, after the remaining restrictions were lifted. Many of them did not enforce or even seem to know rules or were unfriendly. And then they brought in some new staff members in response who could be overzealous in enforcing rules to the point of rudeness.But that's pretty much as far as it goes. It's unfair to criticize a gym in an almost 100-year old building for occasionally having issues with water pressure in the showers or insufficient air conditioning in spaces that were never meant to be air conditioned. When major problems arise, they are fixed fairly expediently.And it's unfair to criticize the gym for not having returned to its pre-pandemic hours when the numbers of patrons have not returned to where they were before the pandemic. The locker room sometimes feels empty and most of the cardio machines will be unoccupied at 6 PM. If I had to guess, it's often 40-50% as busy as it was in February 2020. On a really good day, it's 70-80%. I'm not entirely sure why visitor numbers are not where they were. But I'd assume that (supposedly) rude staff and an ancient building are not a big part of it. It can more likely be attributed to the fact that many faculty/staff never returned to campus full time post-pandemic, that most pre-pandemic student visitors have graduated or moved on by now, and that the new generation of students who started during the pandemic are not accustomed to visiting the gym as part of their routine. I imagine that if patron numbers went back to where they were, HH could justify longer hours.And there still are many good things about this gym. The machines are the highest quality of any gym on campus and well maintained. The personal training is excellent. There are many different spaces to use for every sort of activity. They have comfortable, well maintained showers with shelves and towel racks. They have hairdryers and inexpensive towel service. If you want to see how good it is, just go to the Athletic Centre or Goldring and compare.

Loved the experience, the architecture and the location of the building. Very accessible and convenient. Can be accessed by bus, or streetcar and a little walk after taking these 2 transports. The building looks old but classic. The basketball court is a very good court in terms of size, floor and grip.

It is a travesty what management has done to this once incredible gym. Everywhere you go, the staff are on their phones, even at the check in desk. You'd have to speak up to get their attention to request a towel or ask for equipment. It's an odd feeling ..because I feel like I'm interrupting them to do their job.The gym hours are awful now ( closing at 830), the bathrooms are dirty, the shower pressure is awful, the manager sat at his desk dismissive of my request to look into extending the hours as they were pre COVID. The place is in the worst shape it's been since I first came to it in 2007 and it will likely never change because they have a captive audience (students and discounted staff). If you're an external or an alum, look elsewhere. This place is hopeless...for now.

it's kind of a run down facility, it's not particularly beautiful, but it's also an old building so that's kind of inevitable. I've been going pretty consistently for the last few months and I have no large-scale complaints, the change room are really warm, and the rooms are far apart, but those aren't huge deals. it's got a good variety of equipment, and if you like the architectural style of hart house you may enjoy the atmosphere.

The Hart House pool is an experience you will love.