Hume on the Brick Works
There's a pretty good rendering in the print version.
Planting a green vision at Toronto's obscure jewel by the Don River
Aug. 17, 2006. 01:00 AM
CHRISTOPHER HUME
Toronto is a city of secrets. One of the best kept is the Don Valley Brick Works, the former industrial site that occupies more than 16 hectares in the heart of the city. Today, it sits largely forgotten. Visited mainly by dog-walkers and hikers, it offers heritage and natural beauty in equal measure.
But if Evergreen gets its way, all this could soon change. The national non-profit environmental organization dedicated to "bringing nature and community together" has big plans for the Brick Works. If the group gets its way, the site will be transformed into a busy complex that includes markets, restaurants, teaching facilities, recreational opportunities and a green design showcase.
The scheme would cost upwards of $50 million and to that end a fundraising campaign has been launched. So far, $16 million has been pledged. Though the project itself remains something of a secret. Toronto City Council last month approved a 21-year lease for Evergreen. The Toronto and Regional Conservation Authority, which owns the land, has also approved the proposal. A master plan has been prepared by Toronto's architectsAlliance, but now detailed work can start. A call has gone out for that and Evergreen staff is looking for a landscape architect to pick up where the master plan leaves off.
Wandering through the Brick Works, it's not hard to see why Evergreen is so excited by the possibilities. Look in one direction, you see kingfishers diving into ponds, woods and natural beauty. In the other direction, there's more than a century of industrial history. Think of the Distillery District, but with greenery.
The largest building on site, which was closed in the 1980s, is a structure so vast it could contain a small town. During its heyday, it churned out 43 million bricks every year, bricks with which much of Toronto and southern Ontario were built. Though a good deal of the original equipment remains, the 19th-century building has fallen into an advanced state of decay.
Yet even before Evergreen starts working to turn it into a something useable, however, there's evidence everywhere of human occupation. It comes mainly in the form of graffiti, which seems to cover every interior wall, top to bottom. Despite being closed and bolted, the building has apparently been used for clandestine events — what used to be called raves — for years.
This is one community that won't like the changes now being proposed. Evergreen wants indoor skating in the winter, markets in the summer, an enormous plant nursery and much more, including a restaurant run by the ubiquitous Jamie Kennedy.
Given the success of the Distillery District, which operates without benefit of any big international chains, it seems clear that the Brick Works stands a pretty good chance of becoming a part of Toronto life. Like the Distillery, one of the main obstacles is psychological; though it's actually quite easily accessible, it feels isolated. In fact, it's on Bayview Ave. not far from Bloor. Ironically, the location in the Don Valley is both its greatest asset and its biggest drawback.
Toronto has always been strangely indifferent, even blind, to its geography, which means its valleys, ravines and, of course, its waterfront. Because of this, these areas have been ignored, dedicated to necessary but grimy industrial purposes or left undeveloped. The Brick Works is a perfect example; though parts of it have been cleaned up and are in regular use, it's fast becoming one of the city's most imposing ruins.
Hence the enormous potential of the complex, a remnant of the city's past updated and brought into the future. Aspects of nature and urbanity, new and old, melded into a unique whole and made relevant.
Given Evergreen's environmental mandate, the Brick Works remake would also address the growing interest in green building technology. This is an area in which Canada lags at least 20 years behind Europe and Japan. But Evergreen must also survive in the real world of economics and bottom lines. Though some public funding has been forthcoming — $10 million from the province, and, organizers hope, $15 million from Ottawa — it's not something on which the group can rely. To this end, the plan envisions the complex would include revenue generating office space as well as commercial operations.
Perhaps the most troubling question raised by the proposal is that of its success. In other words, what if Evergreen's every wish comes true and people start to show up in the thousands? Can the site handle the 250,000 or so visitors expected annually?
Already, much of the property serves as a parking lot. There's no doubt the majority of visitors will drive and more parking needed for fleets of school buses and countless cars. It won't be easy to balance what's left of "nature" and the hordes there to enjoy it.
That won't become a problem until early 2009, when the first phase is scheduled to open. Until then, the Brick Works can bask in glorious obscurity.