The Young Welcome Center
History
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- formerly holding room circa 1960-61
- in 1946, the original Sand-Lime brick plant building from the 1920's was destroyed by fire
- replaced by a holding room for raw bricks before they were moved to the kilns.
- The holding room also housed a woodworking shop with lumber storage.
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Here is where you can find out
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- what is going on today, this month and upcoming events
- you can pick up a map or brochure from the welcome desk
- you can go on a tour
- you can ask one of the Welcome Host’s (introduce who is at the desk)
- you can sign up for a newsletter (show the desk) or online.
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Evergreen as a Social Enterprise
Living Wall
- Photograph - Mireille Massue taken Sunday July 17 2011 Uploaded July 21 2011
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- on Saturday, September 17, 201, the Donor Living Wall was unveiled
- developed as a symbol of community spirit and the symbolism for 'Be the Root' campagn
- the 'Living Wall' is a living, breathing manifestation of the generous support of our donors who together raised more than $500,000 was raised for the building of Evergreen's community environmental centre
- Greg Garner, owner of ELT Living Wall Systems, specializing in living, sustainable building technologies such as green roofs and living walls, donated the wall
- A cumulative donation of $500 toward the campaign for Evergreen Brick Works secures a customized namesake tag on our Living Wall.
- You'll have 40 characters to fill with your name or group name, so future generations will know who to thank for this inspiring place
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Foreman's Shed now the Donor Wall
Photograph - Mireille Massue taken Sunday July 17 2011
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The definition of a Foreman is to
fore·man
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a person in charge of a particular department, group of workers, etc., as in a factory or the like.
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the member of a jury selected to preside over and speak for all the jurors on the panel.
Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/foreman
Donors Wall
- the foreman shed is now re-adapted as a Donor’s Wall
- Bird – freedom, fast, free
- Leaves – require more of them to make an impact yet equally important.
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The Making of Bricks
Brick Making
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- Bricks are essentially manufactured rocks, a mixture of earthen materials pressed and forged in hot air or steam.
- During its 100 years of operation, the factory employed 4 different methods to make bricks.
- Clay and Shale used to make bricks
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Size of Brick
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- Sized and shaped to fit the human hand,
- A standard Ontario brick measure 2-1/8 ” by 8-1/8” by 4”
- Weighs about 4 pounds
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Amount Produced
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- In 1907, the Don Valley Brick Works employed 200 workers who produced 25 million bricks that year
- In 1812 they produced 43 million bricks
- 1970 the production was up to 60 million bricks per year
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Selections of Bricks
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- In the early 20th century the Don Valley Brick Works offered a selection of
- 10 shades of red
- 7 shades of buff, brown, gold, olive, obsidian and mottled bricks
- Enameled bricks and tiles in a wide range of colours
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Signage – Industrial Heritage Interpretation
supported by Brampton Brick Operators of this factory from 1984-1988
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Types of Bricks
Dry-Press Bricks
(shaped and compressed)
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- This method uses dry shale with hardly any moisture
- The shale is ground into a powder, mixed, and then packed into open-sided moulds
- A machine applies pressure to the open sides of the moulds, packing the shale into strong, perfectly shaped bricks
- These are then removed from the moulds and fired in the kilns
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Soft-Mud Bricks
(wet clay in moulds)
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- One of the earliest forms of brick making, this method dates back to antiquity.
- Clay is mixed with water and sand to achieve the right consistency.
- The mud is shaped in a mould and then either fired in a kiln or left to dry and harden in the sun.
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Stiff-Mud Bricks
(wet clay cut by wire)
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- The mixed clay is forced through a metal die or cast
- Comes out in a long rectangular column
- A stiff wire then cuts off separate bricks, which are fired in the kilns
- In 1906, the Don Valley Brick Works could make 8,000 wire-cut bricks a day
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Sand / Lime Bricks
(moulds but no clay)
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- These bricks aren’t as strong as the others
- More economical to produce and purchase
- Made with sand, lime water and put into moulds
- Moulds are emptied
- Bricks are steam pressed
- Hot steam binds the sand to make the brick
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Artifacts
John Price Brick Press
- Photograph - Mireille Massue taken Sunday July 17 2011 Uploaded July 21 2011
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JOHN PRICE BRICK PRESS
(made by Parkhill Martin)
- This Martin A Machine is commonly called the John Price Brick Press,
- In 1962 this machine was moved from the John Price Ltd. premises at 395 Greenwood Ave. and set up on this site in Building 11 on the east side of what is now Chimney Court. At that time the Toronto Brick Company (Don Valley Brick Works) owned both the Greenwood operation and the brick plant here in the Don Valley.
- Henry and James Martin obtained their first brick press patent in the United States in 1868. By 1870 the Martin Press was the industry standard.
- By 1877 brick makers in Canada were using the Martin Press. Records indicate that H.C. Baird & Son and Company of Parkhill, Ontario, forged the “historic core” section of this machine sometime between 1919 and 1927.
- The historic core section is the large rectangular piece of machinery in the middle that has the huge cogged wheels on top. If you look carefully, you can see their name on the right side of this machine. Note that the frame on the front left side of this historic core is made of wood. Wood helped to reduce vibration during use.
- This is a Parkhill Martin soft-mud brick press
- A common brick-making machine in early 1900
- After mixing the clay with water, workers fed the mixture into the top of this machine, which would press it into wood moulds that held five bricks each.
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- When this machine was first in use it was stream driven. Older versions of the Martin brick press still used horse-power right up until the 1920’s. Two horses and seven workers could make 2,500 to 3,000 bricks per hour. Steam power increased production to 4 to 5,000 bricks per hour with a four person crew.
- All the extra machinery that surrounds the historic core further helped to mechanize the process of moving the mud into and then out of the wooden brick moulds. The old system of pressing bricks, six at a time, was adapted as technology changed. These adaptations made this brick press more and more efficient.
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Signage – Industrial Heritage Interpretation supported by Brampton Brick Operators of this
factory from 1984 to 1988
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- It took six workers to run the press
- Made up to 3,000 bricks per hour
- Some bricks were considered designers quality
- Used in many old buildings and home across Canada
Signage – Industrial Heritage Interpretation supported by
Brampton Brick Operators of this factory from 1984 to 1988
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Reference
- Greenwood Avenue’s history of bricks
By Gene Domagala • February 22, 2012
Welcome Desk / Metal Planer
- 95% of the construction material was re-used || recycled || repurposed as something else such as
A small-scale example of adaptive re-use
- This planer which in its previous life scored or cut into a length metal with a vertically mounted blade.
- Now it’s a desk bringing important information like these brochures
The $30,000 Wall
This west wall of the Welcome Centre is
windows are also original
It was decided it was worth preserving a heritage aspect even though it was risky
Acoustic Insulation
- Both this and the BMO Atrium are multi-purpose spaces.
- So it was important that noise generated during events be dampened.
- Acoustic insulation used to muffle the sound: - within the ceiling- behind south wall – the “holey” brick wall
East Wall
- Children's Art (World Environment Day 2011)
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- It is important to note that what we do today has a consequence tomorrow.
- Our children are our future and it would do well to listened to their wisdom
- Given that close to 85% of people are visual, we have a visual display to share how these 9-10 year old show what global sustainability means to them.
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- World Environment Day 2011, Toronto
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United Nations Fourth Annual North American Exhibtion of the 20th Annual International Children's Painting Competition on the Environment.
Title: "Life in the Forests"
Date: June 06 August 31, 2011
The International Children's Painting Competition (ICPC) on the Environment is organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Japan-based Foundation for Globa Peace and the Enviornment, Bayer and Nikon
The ICPC is aprt of UNEP's TUNZA programme for children and youth. "TUNZA" means to treat with care and respect in Kiswahili and is a wide-ranging programme to involve children and young people in enviornmental issues.
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Unveiled on World Environment Day, this fourth annual North American ICPC exhibtion at the Evergreen Brick Works is the dramatic result of young peoples vision and provides many thought-provking and eye-catching illustrations of this year's theme "Life in the Forest's"
As part of the celebration, acclaimed environmental educators Dr. Mae C. Jemison, America's first African-American female astronaut and Dr. Roberta Bondar, Canada's first female astronaut, joined with both the North American and Toronto winners of the art competition to unveil the exhibtion.
Since 1972, World Environment Day is one of the principal vehicles through which UNEP stimulates world-wide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. With thousands of events in the six UNEP regions, World Environment Day is considered the largest environmental event of its kinds.
UNEP and its longtime partner Bayer presented the exhibtion and other youth programming for the North American celebration of World Environment Day in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the official 2011 host city
Bayer is the first company to forge a long-term youth and the environment partnership with UNEP. The partners first began cooperating on youth environmental projects in Asia in the late 1990s. In 2004, Bayer and UNEP signed a framework agreement to globalize this partnership. The partners have jointly organized a dozen environmental projects for young people around the world, including the TUNZA International Youth and Children's Conference, regional youth networks, the Bayer Young Environmental Envoy Program, the International Children's Painting Competition, the photo competition Ecology in Focus in Eastern Europe and TUNZA Magazine
Reference: The Green Board beside the art work.
References:
- Bev's Notes
- Bruce Beaton and Emily Horne – Museum Studies Interns - 2102 (John Deer Brick Press)
- Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Valley_Brick_Works
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