February 10th, 2010
EDITOR’S NOTE: Spacing is pleased to again partner with Heritage Toronto on their ongoing Building Storeys exhibit at the Gladstone Hotel that has been extended until April 25. A collaborative effort by Heritage Toronto and members of the photography groups the Shadow Collective and the DK Photo Group, Building Storeys is a visual documentation and anecdotal exhibit of the city’s heritage building and sites. This is the second in a series of posts on Spacing Toronto connected to the exhibit, and is by Wayne Reeves.
The recent furore over a developer’s attack on a “John M. Lyle” house near Casa Loma highlights one argument used to preserve buildings: a structure is worth keeping because it’s associated with a major architect. Minor buildings rise in value because they teach us about the working range of important designers like Lyle.
Rather more interesting are those cases where minor architects design great buildings. Toronto’s pre-eminent example is Thomas Canfield Pomphrey and the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant. Who was he, and how did he get such an iconic commission?
As befits a minor personality, no golden archive of letters, journals and photos has been found. Pomphrey’s military service file contains the basics: born, November 29, 1882; birthplace, Wishaw, Scotland; height, five feet six-and-a-half inches; complexion, dark; eyes, blue; hair, black; religion, Presbyterian; marital status, single; died, March 8, 1966.
The son of a stationer/printer, Pomphrey grew up 20 miles southeast of Glasgow and studied at the elite Hamilton Academy. By 1900, he was apprenticed to architect Alexander Cullen in Motherwell and attended classes at the Glasgow School of Art. Highly respected, Cullen had a prosperous practice which included many public commissions, including hospitals, schools, court houses, police and fire stations, libraries and municipal offices.
February 3rd, 2010
Spacing is pleased to again partner with Heritage Toronto on the Building Storeys exhibit, opening tomorrow (Thursday).
After the success of our 2009 exhibit, Building Storeys 2010 returns in February 2010 …
January 28th, 2010
EDITOR’S NOTE: Spacing is pleased to again partner with Heritage Toronto on their upcoming Building Storeys exhibit at the Gladstone Hotel that runs from Feb. 4 to 27. A collaborative effort by Heritage Toronto and members of the photography groups the Shadow Collective and the DK Photo Group, Building Storeys is a visual documentation and anecdotal exhibit of the city’s heritage building and sites. This is the first in a series of posts on Spacing Toronto connected to the exhibit, and is by Derek Boles.
In 2010, the former Canadian Pacific Railway John Street roundhouse, a highly visible structure located adjacent to the Rogers Centre and the CN Tower, is being transformed into the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre. Eight kilometres to the north sits another considerably less conspicuous building that once performed a similar function to the downtown roundhouse. In the Leaside section of Toronto, northeast of Laird Drive and Esandar Drive, is the former Canadian Northern Railway Eastern Lines Locomotive Shop built in 1919. It’s hard to believe that this huge 92 x 46 meter building remained largely hidden away until 2006, when surrounding industrial buildings were demolished, clearly revealing the structure for the first time to passersby and residents west of Laird Drive.
