1. :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

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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
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24
25
25
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FILTER BUILDING
PUMPING STATION
SERVICE BUILDING
BELVEDERE

3. SPACES
VIEWS
ACCESS

4. aerial view
pool view
deck view of pool
exhibition

5. 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 area
switchback trails
front section
garden trails

6. pool section
east view
corridor section
second level section
courtyards section
belvedere view

7. main gallery
cafe view

8. main entrance
proposed
building on
existing site