Tower Automotive
Images by Kathy & Jan
Jutting out at the border of what is known as the Junction in Toronto, I always snuck a peek at this place whenever I was in the area. Whenever I passed by the junction neighborhood, all I ever saw was this 10 story building too large to be a condo, and what was seemingly too narrow to be a manufacturing facility. I kept checking back hoping one day the plant would be closed so I could take a peek inside. On a slow day I suggested to Jannx we drive by and take a look. I was amazed when I saw the plant had been closed, as was easily open at the back! Looking in to the main floor of the space I saw huge skylights, cranes and everything was painted in bright primary blues, yellows and reds. It appeared as if Tower Automotive had closed up shop a few weeks ago, but the space was free of any damage. Further research showed that the space had actually closed a full year before. It had somehow managed to escape the barrage of exploring masses in Toronto even though it was located between two major roads and next to a rail line which stuck out like a sore thumb.
Before the space was bought by American Tower Automotive in 1995, it operated under the name Algoods Inc. Tower declared bankruptcy in Ontario in 2006, however continues to operate in the Unites States. Sound familiar? It is one of many corporations that have recently bailed from the country which continue to operate in the US. It was opened in 1919 by the Northern Aluminum Company and was Canada’s tallest building until the Royal York Hotel opened downtown 1929. Recent archive documents I have found seem to date the building, already completed at 1912 or 1914 and I can’t seem to find any other information about its true date except articles which range from 1919 to 1924. It actually had one the first elevators in the country, and the only manufacturing facility to have one at the time. Later on it became the Aluminum Company of Canada and then Alcan over the years. It was a continuous sheet casting facility that was employed in making products for the automotive industry. Tower automotives largest client was Daimler Chrysler before closing its doors in 2006 and auctioning off everything in May 2007.
The Tower section itself is a designated landmark which that will be redeveloped and retrofitted into studio space for Pinewood studios from England. The façade facing Sterling Avenue will be kept, however the whole single story manufacturing area has been gutted. The plant used to span a fairly large area with 100,000+ sq. ft of space. Even with the machinery removed, the space had a very interesting quality to it with lots of natural light flooding in, and tons of little offices and nooks in the single level manufacturing section. The first time we visited the space we didn’t even take any pictures and just looked around for a few hours. The second time we went back we spent more time in the tower section where basically every floor was the same, except one level which had been crudely spray painted and apparently used in a music video. The last floor was the executive level where the offices were still intact. Since the ceilings were so high, you felt you were much higher up then 10 stories, and seemed more like 15. During one particular visit a nasty storm rolled in, and provided some great opportunity to overlook the city with a post apocalyptic mood. Since no other high rises are located around this space, you get an unobstructed view of Toronto which is practically impossible everywhere else. Apart from the typical furniture and notepads strewn about, this location did not have the usual collection of documents lying around to rifle though and gain some post-abandoned ‘insight’.
Back in September 2007 we joked about the secrecy of the building which was only revealed to explorers when a newspaper article was published in February about the retrofitting of the place, illustrating that very few people actually go around and examine their own environment for new locations. The bulletin board we found and left messages on actually allowed us to meet new explorers – using a method that has been long forgotten since online message boards came into play.
Sign in board. Photo by AOTU.
Probably one of the better locations we have had in the city, which almost slipped by unnoticed. It was fun while it lasted. Now only the original tower and street front façade remain. The low level industrial interior had been demolished and is being removed as part of a site remediation to deal with many years of unknowing contamination from a time when contamination was not a recognized term or condition.
Edit: Demolition of lower level complete, but project is staled because financing for the development was yanked. These are apperently the new plans presented in Jan 2010, with now retail, office and townhomes now looking more like the final product.
Interesting site. I worked at Alcan/Tower for 26 years. For the record Tower did not file for bankcruptcy in Canada. They did however file for Chapter 11 in the U.S. in Feb 2005. The major reason the Toronto facility was closed was due to the rising Canadian dollar, and rising input costs, including aluminum ingot, and natural gas. It became a cash drain on a parent that could not afford it. It should be noted that under the circumstances all employees were treated fairly with respect to notice, severance pay and job search assistance.
Also, the business did not do aluminum extrusion, but rather continuous sheet casting.
Peter, thanks for clarifying that. I found some older information online that referred to extrusion but it may have been the original Northern Aluminum Company.
Thanks for the explanation and brief history of this building. I’ve worked in the area for over 20 years and have always loved this old building. I’d also drive by every so often to see what was going on. Today (4 May 2009) I walked by and almost didn’t notice the demolish sign at the top of the tower. I was worried that the building was scheduled for demolition, until I read this report and saw that it is a designated landmark. I hope they save the chimney stack, and some of the old warehouse space behind the building, although from what I saw today most of the warehouse has been demolished. That whole site has great potential to be redeveloped as some sort of live work studio space.
From a distance it always looked like that tower was ‘drawn in’ and almost not really there. It is a good thing that the tower is being saved. Thanks for the photos and report.