It was one of those Saturday mornings when I woke up with no
plans and no obligations. While it sounds like bliss, for me it causes great
anxiety – how will I seize this day? What stories will I have for my colleagues
on Monday morning? I have to make this Saturday epically great!
While sipping my morning coffee I flipped through my
three-day-old issue of The Grid and was
happy to read that it was Doors Open Toronto weekend. Suddenly I knew what I
would do with my day of freedom: The R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant.
Each year, the city of Toronto opens the doors of many
hallowed and elegant buildings, so that interested citizens can be reminded
that this city actually has some pretty cool stuff. And each year, I have some sort of commitment that prevents
me from taking part. So after a brief stop at the Beach location of Menchies
(green tea and raspberry foryo with gummy bears and Reese’s Pieces), J. and I
strolled up the hill to a beautiful Art Deco building, overlooking the calm,
expansive waters of Lake Ontario.
The R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant was designed in 1929
and opened in 1944. In these days of gravy trains and cuts to services many
would deem essential, it’s hard to believe that a public utility could be
designed with such care and built with such lavish materials. While I fancied
that our predecessors simply had more respect for beauty, it turns out that not
everyone supported the expenditure. I learned all this from the helpful pamphlet
handed to me by a Doors Open volunteer. I also learned that it was common for
pre-World War II water filtration plants in North America to be built in this
style. I suppose both the beauty of water and the importance of making it
drinkable inspired some finesse in the architecture.
With high expectations, we entered the humble doors of the
plant. My first instinct was to blow through, looking for “specialness”, and if
I didn’t find it, scoff and huff and puff. If Nucky Thompson and Al
Capone weren’t lounging in the halls, I would be sourly disappointed.
 |
| Photo by Michael Chrisman, torontoist.com |
But on closer inspection I realized – the Deco is in the
details. When was the last time, in Canada, you walked into a government
building, or event a restaurant, with round-arched windows? When was the last
time you saw a marble and bronze clock in an industrial space? It occurred to
me that the beauty of the building was in its subtlety. It didn’t need to try
be to elegant; it just needed to be solid and refined and easy to look at.
And I didn’t need to try so hard to have epic, adventurous
days. I just needed to browse through my local weekly, find something cool and
open my mind.
