Wrigley Factory Lofts
At home on the factory floor – lofts make great live/work spaces
By Kathy Flaxman – Globe and Mail
Carlaw Avenue south of Dundas Street was a sleeves-rolled-up, working-class area for decades. In the 1950s, factories such as Colgate Palmolive and Wrigley spit out shampoo, toothpaste, spearmint gum and other products by the railcarload.
But with those factories closed, the area on the eastern edge of Riverdale is now a mixed bag of buildings. Graphic designers and architects nose up against car-repair bays. You’ll never find a Gap or Holt Renfrew there, of course, but there are places to buy custom lighting and a really good sandwich. And there also are authentic hard lofts in those old industrial structures.
That’s what lured professional photographer Chris McKie to an area he had once disliked – a bright, high-ceilinged loft conversion that could also be his studio.
Mr. McKie had driven through the Dundas and Carlaw intersection many times, always thinking to himself that he’d never want to live there. It possessed none of the serenity of his home in the Beaches, steps from Lake Ontario.
One corner of the intersection, occupied by a towing lot complete with sadly ticketed and somewhat derelict cars, could be described as “early wrecking yard.” A series of serviceable-looking former factories were similarly unprepossessing. “I was used to being able to step outside and enjoy the lake from my patio or front steps,” he says.
But, after months of looking across Toronto for an apartment/studio, Mr. McKie decided to take a look at a converted factory in the Carlaw and Dundas area. Driving through the area was one thing, checking out a loft was another.
When he first opened the door to the authentic loft in the former Wrigley factory, he was immediately captured. He loved the space and the lighting, and yes, the view. He thought it was all stunning.
“I knew immediately I had found what I was looking for,” he recalls. “I’d seen a series of dark and depressing places; it’s appalling what some people endure. I was the first person to call about this place and the first to see it – I was half an hour early for my appointment. The door opened and that was it.”
Bright, almost blindingly so, Mr. McKie’s loft on the top floor of the five-storey building can be dazzling even on a cold and drizzly April afternoon. It’s partly the quality of the light that enchants him.
“Facing east, I get the morning sun – fully,” he points out. “In the evening, the view is illuminated by the setting sun. That apartment building over there is entirely lit up, naturally. It’s a breathtaking sight. In the middle of the day, the light is beautiful and clean – exactly the type of light that lends itself to the black and white portraits I like to do.”
The light, described so vividly and dramatically, pours in through a wall of windows – nine feet, top to bottom – along the entire east wall. Most of the loft is painted white, which adds to the impact, with one dramatic blue wall and a red one opposite. Ceilings are 13 feet high, and there are soaring mushroom-shaped pillars, the actual structural bones holding the building together.
“When this building was converted from a factory over 10 years ago, people just took the space they fancied,” Mr. McKie explains. “Each floor is different. The halls and individual units fall in different places. And the lofts themselves vary a great deal, too. Mine is bare bones: 600 square feet plus sleeping area, with a painted concrete floor. But some [units] have granite and marble and stainless steel.
“About a third of the building is people who live here,” he adds, “another third live and work here, with the final third work [here] and live somewhere else.”
Mr. McKie falls in the live/work category. His photography paraphernalia provides visual interest to the overall decor. Suspended from the ceiling are a series of rolled backdrops: a white, two blues, one black and one brown. The silvered umbrella-shaped lights used for subtle photographic effects serve a dual purpose.
“Those are called soft boxes,” he explains. “They’re my house lights too, because they give a nice soft lighting. And at the same time, the way things are set up, everything is ready for shooting pictures, any time.”
The windows were not airtight when he moved in, so he carefully repaired them using papier-mache. On the ceiling, along with the tubing of the sprinkler system, is a wide ceiling fan. It’s all very functional, and remarkably easy to maintain, thanks to the movable industrial stairs that are used to ascend to the bedroom loft.
“I can move the stairs and clean my loft in minutes,” Mr. McKie says, adding that “the building management is very safety-conscious, and we have frequent fire drills.”
Adapting to the neighbourhood has apparently not been a challenge. The tree-top view from what Mr. McKie calls his aerie, has made any adjustment easier. There are shops at nearby Gerrard Square, but he prefers to head further south to Queen Street East, where newspapers, magazines and coffee are available alongside fresh vegetables and fruit. There also is a growing number of good restaurants, and when he wants his car repaired, he can simply walk home.
“When I was a photography student years ago,” Mr. McKie says, “I saw a wonderful loft where my professor lived. It was stunning, and I never thought I would have the opportunity to live in one myself. I am delighted to live here, and wake up thrilled every day.
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