About the Don Valley Brickworks
The Don Valley Brick Works was founded by the Taylor brothers in 1889, after William Taylor found clay while digging postholes for a fence. The Brick Works extracted rock and clay from the Don Valley and used water from Mud Creek to produce much of Toronto's building stone for decades to come. Queen's Park, Massey Hall, and Casa Loma are among the historic buildings constructed with Don Valley Brick Works material. Experimentation with the various locally-available types of rocks, clays and sands led to innovations that kept the Don Valley Brick Works at the forefront of the industry. In 1891, 44,000 bricks were produced daily at the plant. By 1912, this had increased to 120,000 bricks per day. As well as sheer quantity of bricks, the DVBW offered a greater variety of products than any competitor.
The Brick Works ovens ran at temperatures of up to 1000 degrees Celsius when firing a load of bricks,
making for an uncomfortable environment for the men who worked there. The kilns themselves were
continuously-fired tunnels that the bricks were slowly moved through, a state of the art approach when they were constructed. During the Prohibition,
these kilns were also used to destroy confiscated alcohol. Four chimneys were built for the
wood- and coal-fired kilns, with the words "Don" "Valley" "Brick" and "Works" written down them
in white brick. Today only the "Valley" chimney remains, after extensive restoration.
By the 1980s, after the production of over 43 million bricks, the clay was beginning to run out. The plant shut down in 1984. After the closure of the plant, a development company bought the site, intending to fill in the quarry and build 750 houses and adjacent commercial buildings. Public outcry put a stop to this plan, and the property is now being restored as a park and heritage site. The quarry is one of the few places in Toronto where the city's geological heritage is visible. A wetland has been created in the quarry, criss-crossed with a boardwalk, and there are walking trails along and above the slopes.
The buildings themselves are
behind a fence and off-limits to the public. However, there is clear evidence of
trespassing -- graffiti and broken bottles litter the site. It is believed that the
buildings provide shelter to a few homeless people as well as partyers.
In 2005, the government of Ontario announced a $10 million grant to help with the creation of a 110,000 square foot garden which will feature the "Valley" chimney as a centrepiece, and include as many of the existing buildings as can be rehabilitated. Evergreen, a non-profit environmental organization, was chosen by the city to head the fund-raising initiative and revitalize the historic site. Plans include cultural and educational spaces, as well as extensive gardens and maintenance of the quarry wetlands.
Inside there was plenty of evidence that it had been used during that time. Graffiti, old and new, appeared on many surfaces, and beer cans and the occasional article of abandoned clothing testified that it had offered shelter over the years.
The shoot was quite challenging for a number of reasons. First of all, except for one small area, the only light was what came through holes in the ceiling. In many areas it was too dark for my eyes to register colour because my eyes had shifted to night vision. Individual exposures were often more than 30 seconds.
Almost everything was covered with a fine grey dust. Clay? Ash? Lime? I don't know, but it was quite challenging to keep my equipment clean. Where the roof was leaking, as it was in many places, this dust turned into a dangerously slippery ooze.
It was fascinating to see what time and weather had done to this place.
