Nestled in the lush greenery of the Don Valley along Bayview Avenue in Toronto is the complex of buildings known collectively as the Don Valley Brickworks – a former quarry and industrial site. The Brickworks were constructed in 1889 by the Taylor brothers – John, William, and George – who had purchased the site in 1830s to establish a paper mill. They found out the area had the perfect type of clay for making bricks and they set up a quarry at the north end of the property and built a brick making plant at the south end near the Don River.
By 1907 the company was producing 85000-100000 brick per day. It was sold in 1909 to Robert Davies and he changed the named to the Don Valley Brick Company Ltd. In 1920, he added electricity, and a sand-lime plant that created cheaper brick and changed the name again to Don Valley Brick Works Limited. The company was sold in 1928 and renamed the Toronto Brick Company. The site continued to changes hands several times until it ceased operations in 1991.
Over the years, many of Toronto’s best-known buildings were built with bricks from the Don Valley Brick Works including Casa Loma, Osgoode Hall, Massey Hall, and the Ontario legislature.
In 1994, restoration of the site began by Evergreen Foundation. The quarry was filled and landscaped to create a series of ponds that flow back out into the Don River. Around the ponds are meadow areas, planted with native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers. The remaining buildings of where the bricks were manufactured are being restored to be reused as a cultural centre with a focus on the environment. Many of the interior pieces such as the drying ovens and kilns will be preserved and incorporated in to the final structure. This is an excellent example of how an historic industrial space can be restored and reused.
(This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Don Valley Brickworks”)
