Spacing

The Mr. Christie Water Tower is a remnant industrial artefact from the now demolished Christie Lakeshore Bakery. Its distinctive form, its familiar red and white branding, and its visibility both on the site and from the Gardiner Expressway make it an iconic sign.

In 1946, Christie, Brown & Co. purchased the property in a growing industrial area at 2150 Lake Shore Boulevard West (then 200 Lake Shore Road). The company was an industrial confectionery with a national reputation for excellence that had been established a century earlier by William Mellis Christie, who had opened a bakery in downtown Toronto with his father-in-law. It expanded and by the 1880s, Christie, Brown & Co. became the largest cookie and cracker maker in Canada, with one-fifth of Toronto’s bakery workers employed by the company. Christie died in 1900, and in the 1920s his family sold the company to Nabisco, which eventually merged with Kraft.

Designed by the renowned Toronto-based architecture firm Mathers & Haldenby, the factory opened in 1950. The bakery would transform the property, operating for over 60 years and employing generations of people from the Humber Bay area. The new Lakeshore Bakery was built to accommodate a workforce that arrived by automobile. It was low and expansive to easily move baked goods from production to packaging and storage. The water tower is contemporary to the factory and was painted with the Christie logo sometime after 1950, capitalizing on its visibility from the Gardiner Expressway as an opportunity to advertise to a growing post-war audience of drivers. The factory closed in 2012 and is slated for redevelopment.

TEXT FROM HERITAGE IMPACT ASSESSMENT 2021

All that's needed is an update on the current plans, and the change of a few tenses.

Positioned at the bend in the Gardiner Expressway that branches off into Lake Shore Boulevard, the Mr. Christie Water Tower was a remnant industrial artefact from the now demolished Christie Lakeshore Bakery. The distinctive white tower stood out in a sea of low rise factory buildings and more recently, against the backdrop of condo towers. For decades, the water tower served as a landmark for commuters who could instantly recognize the red and white logo spelling out "Christie's" accented by a small red triangle in the top left corner.

In 1946, Christie, Brown & Co. purchased the property in a growing industrial area at 2150 Lake Shore Boulevard West (then 200 Lake Shore Road). The company was an industrial confectionery with a national reputation for excellence that had been established a century earlier by William Mellis Christie, who had opened the first bakery in downtown Toronto with his father-in-law. It expanded several times and by the 1880s, Christie, Brown & Co. became the largest cookie and cracker maker in Canada, with one-fifth of Toronto’s bakery workers employed by the company. Christie died in 1900, and in the 1920s his family sold the company to Nabisco, which eventually merged with Kraft.

The Lake Shore Boulevard factory opened in 1950, designed by the renowned Toronto-based architecture firm Mathers & Haldenby. Operating for over 60 years and employing generations of people from the Humber Bay area, the bakery would significantly transform the property and the surrounding neighbourhood. The new Lakeshore Bakery was built to accommodate a workforce that arrived by automobile. It was low and expansive to easily move baked goods from production to packaging and storage. The water tower is contemporary to the factory and was painted with the Christie's logo sometime after 1950, capitalizing on its visibility from the Gardiner Expressway as an opportunity to advertise to a growing post-war audience of drivers. The factory closed in 2012 and the site is slated for redevelopment with plans for the tower to be relocated to one of the new parks in the area.

TEXT FROM HERITAGE IMPACT ASSESSMENT 2021, edited by Kurt

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