Queen Street East – Page 2

For today’s post, let’s take a little trip to the east end of the city.

The R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant is an absolute masterpiece of Art Deco, located on the shore of Lake Ontario at 2701 Queen Street East in Toronto. The plant was designed in 1929 and built from 1932 to 1937. It opened in 1941 and was later expanded from 1955 to 1958. The plant is named after Roland Caldwell Harris, who was the Commissioner of Works from 1912 until his death in 1945.

**The R.C. Harris Filtration Plant**
2701 Queen Street East, Toronto

The structure looks like a museum, but is actually a water treatment plant. Surprisingly, the inside of the building is similarly elegant, with cavernous halls and marble passages, all full of filtration equipment. This opulence has earned the building the nickname “Palace of Purification.”

There are three buildings comprising the plant: the Filter Building, the Service Building and the Pumping Station. Together they represent the largest example of Art Deco in the entire city. The use of marble, bronze and carved limestone is prevalent throughout and typical of the Art Deco architectural style.

The Filter Building

Filter Operating Galleries, Filter Building

**Signal Pylon in Rotunda, Filter Building**
The signal pylon indicates time and filter backwash conditions

**Filter Operating Galleries, Filter Building**
Each gallery is over 110m long and provides access to 20 filters

Controls in Filter Operating Galleries, Filter Building

The Service Building

The Pumping Station

**High-Lift Room, Pumping Station**
This signal panel indicates which pumps are operating

The water treatment plant is the largest one in Toronto. It produces 30% of Toronto’s drinking water and can potentially produce 950 million litres daily.

The R. C. Harris Water Treatment Plant has been used in dozens of films and television series as a prison, clinic or headquarters.