RC Harris water treatment plant

[sabotabby]

"– Your goddamn herringbone tiles in the toilets cost more than half our salaries put together.
— Yes, that's true.
— Aren't you ashamed of that?
— You watch, in fifty years they're going to come here and gape at the herringbone and the copper roofs. We need excess, something to live up to. I fought tooth and nail for that herringbone.
— You fought. You fought. Think about those who built the intake tunnels. Do you know how many of us died in there?
— There was no record kept." — Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin Of a Lion

This one's been on the bucket list since Grade 11 English. It opens to the public once a year, for doors open, and I finally got to see it.

Comments

[armiphlage]

I showed a photo of the brass and stained-glass monitoring column to my boss the other day, to contrast with the rather childish scribbles we have for our status board.

[sabotabby]

Hah. Excellent.

[greylock]

I had no idea what do expect, but my expectations were far too low.
My commiserations to whomever has to clean it.

And it's still functional? And processes one-third of your water?
And it was in both In the Mouth of Madness and The Expanse?

It is a stunning building!

[sabotabby]

It's still functional and is in all kinds of movies!

We actually learned a ton about it—there were a bunch of workers there who explained how it works and everything—but I was there for the architecture.

[selki]

Wow, I didn't know about this when I lived in Rochester, or I might have tried to visit when I went to Toronto a few times (for the Toronto International Film Festival).

[sabotabby]

I've lived in Toronto more than half of my life and I've never been to TIFF *sob*. And this is the first time I've been to RC Harris, despite having known about it since before I moved to Toronto!

[selki]

Back in the 1990s, I could buy a pass to see 10 movies at TIFF, I think for about as much as 10 normal movie tickets or not much more, and pack it all in during a long weekend. I don't remember how I would reserve for specific movie shows/times. My last year, they changed the ticket-buying process to make it more convenient for locals than for visitors (perfectly reasonable of them). It looks like they structure it differently (more expensively) now. I hope you get to go soon.

[vass]

GOSH.

[sabotabby]

It's so cool.

[blogcutter]

What a fascinating piece of architecture and Toronto history! I hope I have occasion to see it someday. From the small amount I've read of R.C. Harris, I'm thinking his legacy could best be described as mixed. He evidently came from humble roots and was, like all of us, a product of his time. Ondaatje judges him harshly and not without some justification but on balance, I think I would have preferred him to a later Harris, the one who made Linwood Barclay eat his dog:

https://booksreadingorder.com/mike-harris-made-eat-dog/

I presume the two Harrises are not related?

[sabotabby]

Hah, I don't think they're related, no.

Obviously the info there was very sympathetic to RC Harris. Objectively, he saved a lot of lives. And I can't fault someone too hard who believes that public works should be beautiful. I came in very biased because of how Ondaatje portrays him in the book but I'm glad to have a little nuance.

[dissectionist]

Oh dang, how did I not know about this place? Art Deco is my favorite architectural style!

[sabotabby]

Ohhh you need to check it out then. It's only open to the public during Doors Open but you can see the outside any time.

[snickfic]

I clicked for the herringbone, of course, but didn't expect to recognize the building! I watched In the Mouth of Madness last year, and man I guess the architecture made an impression, because I recognized it instantly. Absolutely gorgeous. I'm jealous!!

[sabotabby]

Yeah, one of the big reasons people like to visit is how many movies are shot there. There's a whole list somewhere.

[lokifan]

Gorgeous!

[sabotabby]

Thanks!