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Massey-Harris Company

Photo and transcription by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted December, 2014

Photo by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted December, 2014

Photo Source - City of Toronto Archives

This 2014 Heritage Toronto plaque can be found in front of this building on King Street West, just west of Strachan Avenue. Here's what it tells us:

Coordinates: 43.641788 -79.412730

This office building, constructed in 1883, is the only surviving structure from the Massey-Harris manufacturing complex. Designed by notable Toronto architect E.J. Lennox, the building combines elements of the Queen Anne Revival style (arches, coloured glass, and bay windows) with Classical features (the cornice and pediment). The Massey Manufacturing Company was begun by Daniel Massey in 1847 and merged with rival A. Harris, Son and Company in 1891.
Massey-Harris became the largest producer and exporter of agricultural equipment in the British Empire. Once an employer of 9,000 people, the Toronto plant lined the south side of King Street West between Strachan Avenue and Sudbury Street.
In the decades following the Second World War, the company faced new competition, sales declined, and in 1982, the plant closed. The property was subdivided and sold. The former Massey-Harris office building, designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, was converted into condominiums in 2003.

More Toronto buildings designed by E.J. Lennox
Casa Loma and the Pellatts
Historic Postal Station 'G'
The King Edward Hotel
Mount Pleasant Cemetery
"Old" City Hall
Queen City Yacht Club
Standard Woollen Mills Building

Related Ontario plaque
The Masseys at Newcastle

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