N*TROPY

GE, Davenport Works

One of Toronto’s more notable industrial locations, the Canada Foundry, now designated as heritage land, is known to most people by its later name, Davenport Works and General Electric. Since 1923 it has been known as the Davenport Works as a large 60 acre industrial complex, it dates back to 1903 when it was known as the Canada Foundry with several warehouses, a powerhouse and an office building bordered by the Canadian Pacific Railway’s North Toronto line. Dupont Street, as well as sections of Lansdowne were predominately industrial, however none of the industrial spaces exist in their entirety today as most of the buildings have either been demolished or converted into low cost lofts. Despite this marginal gentrification, the neighborhood is still a little rough around the edges and holds little appeal for true yuppies as an ‘up and coming’ neighborhood who might seek true authentic loft living, but aren’t as enthralled by living with true blue collar workers, immigrants and low income residents.

Davenport Works, Looking south on Lansdowne.

Although the plant has been closed since 1981, I remember seeing activity there as a child in during the 1980s. Both 940 and 1100 Lansdowne Ave were used as movie studios and storage spaces until a few years ago when the redevelopment of the site started, and a resin plant was active until the construction started.

I was quite surprised to learn that 60% of the 104 units inside one of the buildings sold out during previews, even though there was quite a community outcry about contamination at the site. I am perpetually amazed at where people choose to live, because if I was not turned off by the heavy industrial uses the land was subjected to over a 100 year span, the fact that the most notorious apartment building is located just around the corner would be the deal breaker for me.

Though I don’t view this particular location as a wonderful example for a housing conversion, it does have quite an interesting history where many different things were forged and manufactured that were important for Canada’s development over the century. Everything from giant electrical transformers weighing 230 tons to locomotives and other more aesthetic forgings including the two dragons designed by E.J. Lennox which used to guard the staircase at Old City Hall that can now be found in the Toronto Archive were made here. The entrance gates to Trinity and Knox college and all the of the city’s railing and elevator cages were made at the Davenport Foundry. One aspect of the location that isn’t often discussed is its role as a manufacturer of munitions and weapons for both World Wars. I’ve found machinery in several other locations I have visited in Ontario, including Rankine Generating Station (Canada Niagara Power Company) in Niagara Falls which bears the seal of the Canada Foundry.

Today most of the renovations are complete and the stacked town homes on the complex have been occupied since the spring of 2007 when I last visited. Two year ago before much was modified, there was still was no machinery around, so this location was less tactile and interesting for me then other spaces I’ve visited. It still had a certain charm I appreciated, but it would have been far more interesting to wander around here in 1981 when the metal stopped flowing through the plant and the place went silent for the first time.

Posted in: Heavy Industry

Tags: davenport works, foundry, ge, general electric, junction

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Heavy Industry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.