At 141 years old, it's Toronto's oldest intact fire hall.
They built it in high style -- its "streaky bacon" brickwork and Victorian trim were all the rage in London. The firemen of the brand-new Toronto Fire Department needed a tower to hang-dry leather hoses -- so they got the best architects to design a civic monument for the new neighbourhood growing up around it. And for the cherry on top -- six-foot-diameter clocks, facing in all directions, to get the new neighbourhood to work on time.
90 years of proud service later, it was decommissioned.
Flash forward another half century: today, the four clocks have gone missing; the tower is reduced to a 'pilgrim hat'; the jaunty brickwork is painted grey; the marshalling yard for the horses and steam pumps is now a parking lot.
But it's still standing: Fire Hall #9, on Ossington just above Queen, since 1878.
At the Ossington Clocktower Project, we're going "back to the future"; "right here, right now". We think the right time for Toronto to flaunt its historic Victorian style, is right now -- and the right place to do it, is the Ossington Strip. We want to honour the brave Toronto Fire community for service spanning three centuries. And we envisage turning a parking lot, into a park -- a meeting place, for Toronto, for the world: together, here, for quality time.
The Ossington Clocktower Project: it's about time.
They built it in high style -- its "streaky bacon" brickwork and Victorian trim were all the rage in London. The firemen of the brand-new Toronto Fire Department needed a tower to hang-dry leather hoses -- so they got the best architects to design a civic monument for the new neighbourhood growing up around it. And for the cherry on top -- six-foot-diameter clocks, facing in all directions, to get the new neighbourhood to work on time.
90 years of proud service later, it was decommissioned.
Flash forward another half century: today, the four clocks have gone missing; the tower is reduced to a 'pilgrim hat'; the jaunty brickwork is painted grey; the marshalling yard for the horses and steam pumps is now a parking lot.
But it's still standing: Fire Hall #9, on Ossington just above Queen, since 1878.
At the Ossington Clocktower Project, we're going "back to the future"; "right here, right now". We think the right time for Toronto to flaunt its historic Victorian style, is right now -- and the right place to do it, is the Ossington Strip. We want to honour the brave Toronto Fire community for service spanning three centuries. And we envisage turning a parking lot, into a park -- a meeting place, for Toronto, for the world: together, here, for quality time.
The Ossington Clocktower Project: it's about time.
HISTORY
Fire Hall #9, on Ossington just above Queen, was constructed in 1878 -- in a decade of mounting ambition for the city.
The 1870s saw Toronto preparing for a major expansion -- breaking up legacy estates to create neighbourhoods beyond the downtown core, and building the infrastructure to service them: streetcars, water and sewer, and fire services.
The expansion of fire services was dramatic. Before 1870, Toronto had only two fire stations -- on Berkeley and Bay Streets -- and firefighting a volunteer activity, since 1820. The building program began in 1872, with Yonge Street's Fire Hall #3. In 1874, a paid Fire Department was established, taking over from the 1820-established VFD. An 1878 map registers water pipes and fire hydrants out to Dufferin and up to Bloor. By 1900, 18 fire stations had been constructed.
Ossington's Fire Hall #9 was one of three built in 1878. The Ontario Land Registry shows the land was sold on 24 June 1876 by William Hope to The Corporation of Toronto for $1600 (yep, that's cheap!: to compare, an "Ordinary Fireman" made $480 a year). It was designed by the architectural firm of Stewart and Strickland: Stewart was American, while Strickland apprenticed with Kivas Tully (Toronto's first civil engineer, designer of the 1850s Trinity College -- and a resident of Ossington, above Foxley).
Originally, a fire crew comprised eight men, four horses, and a steam-driven pump wagon. Photos from the 1922 /History of the Toronto Fire Department/ show two shifts of five men each -- three hose men and a driver, with the day shift led by the Captain, the night shift by the Lieutenant -- and an upgrade to one motorized, open-top wagon (about the size of a pickup truck). By 1968, the 90-year old Fire Hall #9 was obsolete -- its barn doors originally for a horse drawn pump too small for modern fire trucks -- and fire services for the neighbourhood were relocated to the newly-built Station 331 at 33 Claremont Street.
Fire Hall #9, on Ossington just above Queen, was constructed in 1878 -- in a decade of mounting ambition for the city.
The 1870s saw Toronto preparing for a major expansion -- breaking up legacy estates to create neighbourhoods beyond the downtown core, and building the infrastructure to service them: streetcars, water and sewer, and fire services.
The expansion of fire services was dramatic. Before 1870, Toronto had only two fire stations -- on Berkeley and Bay Streets -- and firefighting a volunteer activity, since 1820. The building program began in 1872, with Yonge Street's Fire Hall #3. In 1874, a paid Fire Department was established, taking over from the 1820-established VFD. An 1878 map registers water pipes and fire hydrants out to Dufferin and up to Bloor. By 1900, 18 fire stations had been constructed.
Ossington's Fire Hall #9 was one of three built in 1878. The Ontario Land Registry shows the land was sold on 24 June 1876 by William Hope to The Corporation of Toronto for $1600 (yep, that's cheap!: to compare, an "Ordinary Fireman" made $480 a year). It was designed by the architectural firm of Stewart and Strickland: Stewart was American, while Strickland apprenticed with Kivas Tully (Toronto's first civil engineer, designer of the 1850s Trinity College -- and a resident of Ossington, above Foxley).
Originally, a fire crew comprised eight men, four horses, and a steam-driven pump wagon. Photos from the 1922 /History of the Toronto Fire Department/ show two shifts of five men each -- three hose men and a driver, with the day shift led by the Captain, the night shift by the Lieutenant -- and an upgrade to one motorized, open-top wagon (about the size of a pickup truck). By 1968, the 90-year old Fire Hall #9 was obsolete -- its barn doors originally for a horse drawn pump too small for modern fire trucks -- and fire services for the neighbourhood were relocated to the newly-built Station 331 at 33 Claremont Street.
THE WITHDRAWAL MANAGEMENT CENTRE
Today, the Fire Hall #9 building serves as the Men's Withdrawal Management Centre (WMC) for Toronto West, operated by University Health Network (the building is leased from the City of Toronto).
The Ossington Clocktower Project sees it as our top priority to maintain in-neighbourhood continuity of care for clients of the WMC, existing and/or future. We think our goals are pretty fantastic! But let's talk brass tacks: ultimately, we recognize these goals count as "fun and games". Fun and games are great -- but they most assuredly take a back seat to the WMC's lifesaving care.
WHAT WE'RE DOING
The Ossington Clocktower Project has embarked on creative thinking about the historic, City-owned Fire Hall #9 site at 16 Ossington Avenue, with an aim of preserving this important heritage structure and enhancing its attributes as a community resource.
For more detail, think of the site involving two main components:
1) The 'Exterior': the building as considered in its externally visible, architectural aspect;
2) The 'Lot': the surrounding marshalling yard; and
At present, we think it would be great to do the following:
Regarding (1) the Exterior: make sure Fire Hall #9 is in a state of good repair and able to stand for the next 140 years; reveal and restore the original, 1878 facade conception of Stewart and Strickland, with its brickwork and ornamentation; reconstruct the clockhouse pediment, with four-direction clockworks; and introduce historical plaquework to commemorate Fire Hall #9 in the context of the Toronto Fire community.
Regarding (2) the Lot: reallocate local Green P parking capacity away from this small, 20-space lot, and toward some of the extensive recently constructed or potential local parking facilities; re-landscape the existing parking lot as a much-needed outdoor public community gathering space.
The aim of all this is to make Toronto a better, cooler place, for all of us -- so if you have ideas, we'd love to hear them!
WHO WE ARE
The Ossington Clocktower Project is, at present, an informal committee, whose membership comprises representatives of various municipal, civic, and business organizations; what joins us together is thinking it would be fantastic to restore Fire Hall #9. If you think so too, get in touch!
Municipal: Ward 10 Councillor Joe Cressy; Ossington BIA
Civic: Toronto Fire Historical Society; Ossington Community Association
Business: Hullmark; Bellwoods Brewery
July 2019 Update - Councillor Cressy had a motion directing staff to search for the clock, and for them to explore opportunities to revitalize the adjacent Green P parking lot as public space was passed at City Council!