Notes:
The Redpath Sugar refinery on Queens Quay just east of Yonge Street is unmissable, partly because of its looming white brick façade, partly because of the wafting smell of heated sugar that announces it.
The mid-century factory is one of Toronto Harbour's last vestiges of maritime commercial shipping, most of which has relocated to a less cosmopolitan Hamilton further down the Lake Ontario coast. Raw cane sugar travels from South and Central America aboard large ships that arrive at Redpath's enormous storage shed via the Atlantic Ocean and the St. Lawrence River.
The original buildings were designed by the modernist Gordon S. Adamson Associates in 1957 and were a finalist for the Massey Medal for Architecture in 1961. They stand out beside a growing number of glassy lakeside condominiums in the city's east downtown. The Redpath Refinery has been listed on Toronto's heritage register since 1984 but will be removed in 2024 due to Bill 23 if not designated before then.
(Research and text by Alessandro Tersigni.)
