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The transformation of Toronto's waterfront from an industrial hub to a livable community has taken decades of planning and construction. Most traces of the heavy industries that once lined the lakefront have long been erased, with only a few monuments left that remind us of Toronto's origins as a port city. Of the remaining structures, two monolithic silos bookending the downtown waterfront have yet to find a purpose in this new context, with the Victory Soya Mills Silos in the east and the Canada Malting Silos in the west still standing strong. These landmarks have been vacant and neglected for decades as the city has grown around them, but fortunately there is significant political will to reuse and revitalize both, and the rebirth of one of them is already underway.
The Canada Malting Silos stand on Bathurst Quay at the foot of Bathurst Street, where many travellers may recognize the hulking concrete mass on their way to and from Billy Bishop Airport. The property is also home to the Corleck Building, a unique Art Deco structure completed in the 1940s, which was originally the administrative offices of the Canada Malting Company. These two structures are what is left of the Canada Malting Company's operations, who abandoned the site in the 1980s. The City has taken over the property since then, with the Corleck most recently serving as offices for PortsToronto, but the silos were left to decay and the remainder of the property left largely covered in asphalt.
The plan to revitalize the property first started taking shape back in 2017 with the Bathurst Quay Revitalization Plan, an initiative from the City and Waterfront Toronto to transform this prime plot of land from a derelict brownfield site to a community-oriented cultural destination. The revitalization of the Bathurst Quay involves the restoration and reuse of the Canada Malting Silos; the rehabilitation of the Corleck Building to become the new home of the Canada Ireland Foundation, which includes a new 200-person event space and rooftop patio; and the creation of a new public park, which the City has named Bathurst Quay Common.
Early works began in 2019 when the dock wall was rebuilt and expanded to extend the waterfront promenade, and in 2021 a design team was assembled consisting of Kearns Mancini Architects, ERA Architects as heritage specialists, and landscape architects PFS Studio. Construction began in earnest in 2022 with the restoration and rehabilitation of the silos and the Corleck Building, and a groundbreaking for the park took place in 2023. The park is slated to open in September 2024, with the Corleck Building scheduled for completion in September 2025.
UrbanToronto had the pleasure of joining a tour of the site organized by the Toronto Society of Architects and hosted by project leaders from the City, Canada Ireland Foundation, and Kearns Mancini Architects.
Addressing the elephant on the site, the silos posed a challenge for the team given their size and state of disrepair. There are two silo structures on the property: the south cylindrical silos, built in 1928, and the north rectangular silos, built in 1944. Between them were once equipment and bridges connecting the two, but these have been removed to create a pedestrian pathway connecting the waterfront promenade to the new park, with some of the dismantled parts salvaged for possible future reuse.
The future use of the silos remains somewhat of an unknown. The City has confirmed that OCAD University will be occupying the ground floor of the north silos, but the top floor and rooftop does not yet have a tenant. The south silos are a bit more difficult to repurpose. According to the City, Canada Malting abandoned the site so quickly in the 1980s that they left a good amount of barley sitting in the south silos. Over the decades, as the silos deteriorated, water infiltrated and nature took its course, leaving them filled with what the City has described as "hundreds of tonnes of black sludge" that they aren't quite sure what to do with. The decision was made to restore the exterior of the south silos and leave the interiors untouched, black sludge included, until a use was found for them.
The designers took a 'light touch' approach for the restoration of the silos and decided to maintain what is currently there, only performing the repairs that were necessary to stabilize and restore them into a state where they can once again be occupied. This involved hundreds of concrete patches across the facades, and the removal of damaged and rusting equipment both inside and outside the silos. There were some quirky discoveries along the way, including a perfectly-shaped pinhole crack through the concrete that created a camera obscura, which projected a live image of the adjacent waterfront onto the inside surface of the silo.
Originally, the design team intended to leave the concrete patches visible on the exterior as a way to show the difference between old and new, but there were so many patches that it created a rather unpleasant aesthetic, so the decision was made to paint the concrete to create a uniform surface. The colour was chosen to be as historically accurate to the original concrete as possible.
Inside the south silos, the interior remains largely untouched, graffiti included. A new wooden ramp and stair was installed for the project, which is intended to remain as permanent access to the ground floor. Old junk and equipment was cleared out, but some of it that is still intact has been left in the space. OCAD requested that it be left as untouched as possible; their plans for the space have not yet been revealed, but it holds incredible potential.
One might expect the interior of the north silo to be a large open space, but this is not the case. The ground level is a series of passages with quite a low ceiling, while above are a series of massive cylinders that extend nearly 20 storeys unimpeded from top to bottom. Staring up into the hollow cylinders, the light disappears into a dark void, and the acoustic qualities are quite unique. The silos hold endless potential for lighting, acoustics, and art installations.
The rehabilitation of the Corleck Building is more of an involved process than the silos. The building will be home to new office spaces for the Canada Ireland Foundation, a rooftop terrace, and a new 200-person event space, complete with a full kitchen and new washroom facilities.
The western half of the building was mostly preserved and will house the administrative functions, but the eastern half was gutted and hollowed out to create a new double-height space for the event venue and rooftop. This also allowed the design team to install a new elevator.
The entire facade is preserved and restored, with the existing brick repaired and cleaned and new windows installed. Two new exit stairs flank the building on the east and west facades, whose curving canopies and steel finish add a contemporary flair to the historic structure. The Art Deco details, particularly on the main north facade and in the interior stairwell, are being preserved and restored. A new barrier-free entrance has also been provided adjacent to the original main entrance.
The new public park around the Corleck and silos is also taking shape. At the south end, a series of concrete slabs, ledges, and planters are accented by wooden benches and platforms to create a 'living room' along the water. Envisioned as a space of rest and respite, it will serve as a place for passersby to sit and watch boats and planes across the water, and can also be accessed directly from the event space in the Corleck.
The remainder of the site will be a mix of hardscape and landscape with more flexible open spaces, which can be used for a variety of gatherings or installations.
To the east of the Bathurst Quay, there are also plans for a new public plaza across the Portland Slip that would continue and expand the public spaces along the waterfront. Included as part of this project is the installation of permanent multimedia equipment for projections onto the east face of the Canada Malting Silos. The City has engaged Montreal-based company Moment Factory to study the feasibility and potential of this proposal.
After years of planning and construction, the Bathurst Quay Revitalization is taking major strides toward completion, breathing new life into the long-derelict waterfront property. We will keep you updated as construction continues, but in the meantime you can tell us what you think by checking out the associated Forum thread, or by leaving a comment in the space provided below. As well, you can check out the many walking tours and building tours that the Toronto Society of Architects offers, which are all accessible to the public, by checking out their website here.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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