Canada Malting Silos

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The Canada Malting Silos

Canada Malting Silos is one of two remaining silos in Toronto's Harbourfront. Located at the foot of Bathurst Street, the silos were built in 1928 to store malt hops for the Canada Malting Company. It was an important work of industrial architecture, grain elevators had long been built out of wood, and thus at great danger of fire. The concrete malting towers were a new innovation, and the stark functionalism of the prominent building was an early influence on modernist architecture.^[1] A round office was added in 1944 and glass office was built in the original construction in 1928. The main silos, 15 in all, are 120 metres in height and additional storage bins built in 1944 are 150 metres.

It was abandoned in the 1980s and destined for demolition, but it was designated a heritage site by the city of Toronto. A group call Metronome Canada hoped to convert the silos into a music museum or theme park.^[2] The city of Toronto is also considering it as a location for a municipal history museum. ^[3]