State-of-the-art site
The history of the Toronto Carpet Factory begins with the company whose name it retains,
the Toronto Carpet Manufacturing Company, Limited, established by F. Barry Hayes in Toronto, in 1891.
In 1899, the burgeoning Toronto Carpet Manufacturing Company, Limited, moved out of its cramped space at Jarvis and The Esplanade into its impressive new factory
at 1179 and 1179A King Street W., and 74 Fraser Ave.
The company couldn’t keep up with the demand of
the Canadian market for its ingrain and chenille Axminster
carpets and within five years had added its own spinning
and carding facilities, as well as additional looms to
produce Brussels and Wilton carpets, in the new addition
located at 77 Mowat Ave.
By the end of the First World War, the factory occupied
one city block and employed over 1,000 people, about the
same number of people who work at the Carpet Factory today.
The buildings are similar in architecture to other industrial
buildings being built in Britain and the U.S. during that
time. They were constructed in the classic 19th century
style of perimeter buildings forming a cloister around
a central quadrangle and powerhouse.
All of the buildings are of heavy timber construction with load-bearing brick walls, wooden columns and beams, and hardwood floors. All roof decks are wooden, with the exception
of the boiler/generator room which is concrete slab.
In its time, the site was considered to be “state
of the art”, completely self-reliant, with its own
steam-generated heat, power and electricity capabilities,
fire pump and an underground cistern storing 625,000 gallons
of water for emergency use. The cistern remains buried
beneath the floor of 72 Fraser Ave. A maze of catacombs
(steam pipes) still delivers heat through the site. Ceiling
heights range from 12’ up to 22’, and 24’
in some of the corridors of the Mowat Ave. building.
