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. In 2006 the plant closed down, and the related machinery was still intact (at the time). 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 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. It was a continuous sheet casting facility that was employed in making products for the automotive industry. Tower automotive largest client was Daimler Chrysler before closing its doors in 2006.
The Tower section itself is a designated landmark and was supposed to be redeveloped and retrofitted into studio space for Pinewood studios from England. This plan later fell through and now townhouses will be built next to the high rise section which will be higher end condos. The façade that faced Sterling Avenue was supposed to have been kept, however it also has been demolished when the plans for the site changed in 2009. 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 now. 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’. The most interesting space was the computer room which was sunken and cooled back from mainframe days.
The bulletin board we found and left messages on actually allowed us to meet new people who also found the space before it became the exploring communities ‘flavor of the month’ and the choice location for local graffiti writers and raves. As of 2011 August, nothing has happened with the location and only the tower remains which is inaccessible.
Photos by Kathy, Jan and AOTU (as noted).
