A towering white crane looms tall over the new island formed in Toronto’s Port Lands, a relic of the area’s industrial heritage that is pretty much guaranteed to remain in place for generations to come.
The enormous 300-ton structure along the newly carved renaturalized mouth of the Don River, known as the Atlas Crane, is Toronto’s only heritage-designated piece of construction machinery, one now being dutifully restored as part of Waterfront Toronto’s transformative efforts to reclaim the vast Port Lands area.
The decommissioned crane has become an even more recognizable landmark in the last year thanks to the newly-realigned Cherry Street, providing the perfect view for passersby of the impressive efforts now unfolding to restore the aging monolith.
But, first, many of you are probably wondering: Why is a rusty old crane important enough to earn heritage protections, and why is so much effort being invested in the structure’s revitalization?
The Atlas Crane is the lone remnant of what was once the bustling Marine Terminal 35, a terminal that began operation in 1959, shortly after the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway transformed the city’s harbour into a viable industrial port with direct connections to the Atlantic Ocean.
The crane was installed two years later, in 1961, quickly becoming a fixture on the city’s rapidly industrializing skyline as Marine Terminal 35 grew into the busiest terminal on Toronto Harbour.
Aerial photograph of Marine Terminal 35 and the Atlas Crane surrounded by cars in 1966. City of Toronto.
Occupying a portion of reclaimed marshland, the former Marine Terminal 35 would prove a vital cog in the city’s growth; its massive Atlas Crane used to unload ships constructed at the terminal into the harbour and also hoist essential equipment ashore, including TTC streetcars delivered with the help of the crane back in 1966.
The crane’s legacy is set to live on thanks to the Port Lands Stakeholder Advisory Committee, which has identified it as an important heritage asset to be conserved within the area’s sweeping redevelopment.
The marine terminal building that was once attached to this crane was listed on the City’s Heritage Register in 2004 and likely would have been preserved as well, but sadly, the building was lost to fire in 2017 — leaving just the crane on the former terminal site.
Though the terminal is gone forever, Waterfront Toronto intends to commemorate the destroyed building with a new structure at the exact location.
That crane will live on as what the organization describes as a “showpiece” in the new Promontory Park under construction at the new mouth of the Don River.
Crews have begun work on an enormous scaffold that will be used as a stage to repaint the imposing crane.
Even before the massive scaffold was erected in a distinct ziggurat shape, Waterfront Toronto prepped the industrial titan for its new life as a feature within the park, shoring up the crane with structural reinforcements and installing new cladding at the base.
Once the restoration work and surrounding park are complete, the crane will impress people up close, both on the shore and via a new series of small islands created for paddlers to enjoy along the park’s edge.
blogTO has reached out to Waterfront Toronto for comment on the process of restoring the Atlas Crane and will update this article if additional details are provided.
