:PAST|PRESENT|PROPOSEDREFLECTIONREFLECTION

The plant was named for Roland Caldwell Harris, Commissioner of Works for the former City of Toronto from 1912 until his death in 1945 and is a fitting memorial to his long and brilliant career in the public service. Owing to his foresight and that of his consultants, the original plant included all embedded piping for future enlargement, as well as space for future equipment in pumping, screening, electrical and chemical rooms. Both the original plant and the additions were designed by and construction supervised by the consulting engineering firms of H.G. Acres Limited and Gore and Storrie Limited.

Constructed in the 1930s, it has been declared a national historic civil engineering site. When the former Metro Toronto Works Department became responsible for water supply, it was decided early in 1954 that additional filtration capacity was urgently required. As a result, the plant was enlarged to 910 million litres per day at a cost of $7.3 million (1955-1958). The enlargement included construction of a second intake, doubling the filtration and settling areas and installation of major pumping and electrical equipment. R. C. Harris continues to be Toronto’s largest water treatment facility, producing up to 47% of Toronto’s and the Region of York’s water demands.

HERITAGE

For more than 70 years, the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant has provided safe drinking water to Toronto’s residents and York Region. It is now one of four City water treatment plants- taking raw water from Lake Ontario and cleans, disinfects, and converts it into safe potable/drinking water for pumping into the City’s distribution system.

Located in an attractive east-end community called The Beach, the plant is well known for its architectural features. It is often described as a...

“sparkling jewel by the lake”

•a new public utility, the Toronto Water Works Commission, is created and assumes the assets of the existing private water franchise; the water supply

system is completely overhauled; infiltration basins are dug into Toronto Island’s southern beach as a primitive means of filtering raw lake water

•the infiltration basins prove ineffective and are abandoned; an intake pipe is built 2600ft out into Lake Ontario. with no filtration provided

•Victoria Park, a privately owned commercial amusement ground, operates on the east side of the City of Toronto/Township of Scarborough border; the

park closed after the property was purchased

•construction of Toronto’s first modern water filtration plant got approved for pumping 45M imperial gallons per day

•a typhoid outbreak prompts the chlorination of Toronto’s unfiltered water supply

•the Board of Water Commissioners dupplicated the intake and filtration capacity

•Council approves a $1.1 million expansion of the filtration plant

•Construction started

•the Filter/Administration Building and the Terrace are built

•the mass concrete seawall and main intake pipe are built

•the Pumping Station and the Service Building are built

•Operation started on November 1st

•Roland Caldwell Harris, Commissioner for the former City of Toronto, passed away and Victoria Park is officially named “The R.C. Harris Water Purification

and Pumping Plant”

•the east extension to the Filter Building is built; all efforts are made to achieve symmetry between the east and west filter operating galleries

•the parking lot west of the Pumping Station is enlarged to facilitate chemical truck turning movements

•Michael Ondaatje’s novel ‘In the Skin of a Lion’ is published and the Plant provides a crucial setting with Commissioner Harris as a character in the

storyline

•the Plant is designated by the Canadian society for Civil Engineering as a National Historic Civil Engineering Site

•designated under the Ontario Heritage Act “as being of historical and architectural value”

•the Plant is opened to the public

• the Plant’s 60th anniversary of producing filtered, chlorinated water

•flat roof on the Service Building is completed with window openings to allow for secure transparent glazing installation

•Canada Post issues a stamp commemorating the Plant as part of a series on Canadian Art Deco architecture

•more facade renovations were completed

•Water Education Centre with pool facility proposed to honour and promote the legacy of R.C. Harris Water Purification Plant

1872-1877

1881-1882

1878-1906

1908

1910

1911

1913

1932

1932-1935

1933

1935-1937

1941

1945

1955-1956

1985

1987

1992

1998

2000

2001

2006-2008

2011

2012

2014

2014

1956

1937

1935

TIMELINE

1992

1956

1937

EXISTING

ADDITION

ANGELA ZHUO

- WATER EDUCATION CENTRE WITH PARK AND POOLPARK & SCHOOL FILTER PLANT

1:500

1

2

6

7

3 45

8

9 10

11

12 1314

15

16

17

1819

20

PROGRAMS

1. RECEPTION

2. GALLERY

3. OFFICES

4. BOARDROOM

5. LIBRARY & ARCHIVES

6. EXHIBITION

7. LECTURE HALL

8. LOUNGE

9. CAFE

10.BARS

11. WATER FEATURE

12. CHANGING ROOMS

13. STEAM ROOMS

14. WASHROOMS

15. MINERAL POOL

16. SWIMMING POOL

17. PARKING LOT

18. DROP OFF & PICK UP

19. GARDENS

20. TRAILS

21. CANOPY

22. DECK

23. BEACH

24. TURF

25. SEATING AREA

26. LOADING AREA

21

22

23

24

25

2526

FILTER BUILDING

PUMPING STATION

SERVICE BUILDING

BELVEDERE

SPACES

VIEWS

ACCESS

aerial view

pool view

deck view of pool

exhibition

deck view of pool

lobby boardroom library & archivesreception lounge office officeofficew.c.cafe

lounge

pool

changeroom changeroom

w.c.w.c. w.c. stairs exhibition hall &

lecture hall

gallery

steamsteam w.c.w.c.

stairs

east wing stairs

water feature

waterwall

mid-terrace

west wing stairs

mid-terrace

seating areaseating areaswitchback trails

front section

garden trails

pool section

east viewcorridor section

second level section

courtyards section

belvedere view

main gallery

cafe view

main entrance

proposed building on existing site