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Don Valley Brickworks (Toronto, ON). Part 2

Friday, September 26th, 2008

Inside Toronto's abandoned Don Valley Brick Works.

It was a quiet Sunday afternoon at the Don Valley Brick Works. A few people walked their dogs as some wetland birds earnestly called out to each other. An earlier expedition contains information on the history of this site.

Inside the Brick Works subdued shafts of light illuminated the interior like a cathedral of industry. Amongst a row of old kilns, a Parkhill Martin brick machine lay silent as it’s rusted metal surface gleamed in the evening light. It was manufactured by G. Baird, Son & Co. and built in Parkhill Toronto. This soft mud brick machine was placed in the Brickworks after 1956.

Evergreen started renovations at the Brick Works in 2009. Several of Toronto’s landmarks were built from bricks made at this factory. Restoration of this site will leave a piece of Toronto’s history intact.

References

(*1)
Rick McGinnis, Don Valley’s Abandoned Brick Works Finally Coming Back To Life, October 8, 2009
www.blogto.com/city/2009/10/

Evergreen Brick Works
ebw.evergreen.ca/

Reference

A60-1 Archive

Tags: 35m film camera, abandoned architecture, abandoned buildings, abandoned factories Toronto ON, abandoned places, analog photography, brick making kilns, brick manufacturing in Toronto, Canon t70 camera, Don Valley Brickworks Toronto, Don Valley nature preserve, Don Valley watershed reclaimed land, fine art prints, heritage bricks Toronto, historic preservation, industrial and institutional ruins, Industrial ruins Toronto, infiltration, Kodak 35mm color film, Kodak Ultracolor 100 ISO, manual photography, Milkman's Trail, modern ruins, Parkhill-Martin soft mud brick making machine, photography, silentbuildings, Toronto abandoned buildings, Toronto architecture, Toronto Industrial buildings, Toronto industrial history, UE, urban exploration, Urbex, vintage, vintage industrial fixtures, W.Roland Hamilton
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Don Valley Brickworks (Toronto, ON) Part 1

Friday, August 10th, 2007

Toronto's Don Valley Brick Works is an abandoned part of Toronto's industrial history.

The Don Valley Brickworkds is a former quarry and industrial site. It is now a park with a series of naturalized ponds. For almost 100 years the Brickworks made bricks used to construct many Toronto landmarks such as Casa Loma, Massey Hall and Osgoode Hall.

In the 1830’s a paper mill stood on the site. The Taylor brothers founded The Don Valley Brickwords in 1889. During it’s operation the company changed hands many times. Robert Davies bought the Don Valley Pressed Brick Company in 1909 and changed the name to the Don Valley Brickworks Company Limited. In 1928 Strathgowan Investments bought the company and renamed it the Toronto Brick Company. United Ceramics Limited of Germany took ownership of the site in 1956 and over the next 25 years constructed a new sand-lime plant. During this time a Parkhill Martin Brick Machine was moved to the site to produce soft-mud bricks.

The Brickworks was sold in the 1980’s for residential redevelopment. Clay and shale deposits were exhausted thus making the Brickworks cease to function as an industrial site. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority expropriated the land in 1987. In 1994 restoration of the landscape began and opened as the Weston Quarry Gardens in 1997. Since it’s creation the wetlands preserve have attracted many species of birds.

A large brick smokestack with the word valley written on one side announced the location. The control rooms contained rows of defunct switches, fixtures, meters and gauges. Parkhil-Martin’s brick machine was impressive accompanied by rows of kilns. Pipes and walkways snaked around the kilns and the concrete floor sported rails running parallel to the tunnels

References

ebw.evergreen.ca

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