Weekend Cooking

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July 2014 - Toronto ON

Trendy condos on Queen St. W repurposed from factories.

Dating back to the 1930s, this warehouse is located west of downtown Toronto in the West Queen Street neighborhood. It previously had been used as a Ce De Candy Company factory, the makers of Rockets called Smarties in the States. Ce De Candy's Canadian operations were first established in Toronto, Ontario in 1963, and were later moved to Newmarket in 1988. The Canadian Smarties go by the name Rockets to avoid confusion with Nestle’s candy coated chocolate Smarties

The six-story post and beam loft building now houses 121 loft units. Some of the amenities enjoyed by the residents include 24-hour concierge service, a party room, a guest suite, fitness room, roof terraces and wide hallways.

The Chocolate Co Lofts, formerly the Patterson Chocolate factory was converted in 2004 by Plazacorp. The building houses 144 lofts. 

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John Patterson and Robert Wilson launched the Boston Candy Company as a retail store on Yonge Street in 1888. Soon after Wilson’s retirement in 1891, Patterson bestowed his name on the company and expanded into manufacturing with a successive series of plants along Queen Street West. Among the company’s claims was the opening of Canada’s largest soda fountain on Yonge Street in 1911, which promised patrons “the most delightful cooling drinks you’ve ever tasted.” After Patterson’s death in 1921, his sons William and Christopher took full control of the company. They sold the business to Jenny Lind Candy Shops owner Ernest Robinson in 1947, who maintained the Patterson brand for at least another decade. At the time of Robinson’s purchase, it was noted that many of the employees had long tenures with the company, possibly due to benefits like a cafeteria, music during working working hours (not specified if it was live or piped in), paid holidays, and a generous health plan. Judging by the number of Patterson-sponsored athletic teams mentioned in the sports sections of local newspapers, and sizable donations given to the YMCA, it appears that the company was very interested in the physical health of their employees or wanted to prevent them from suffering the ill-effects of overindulgence on the production line.

The most enduring legacy of Patterson Candy is the plant it built at the southwest corner of Queen Street West and Massey Street in 1912. After an expansion in 1928, the five-storey plant included a printing plant and paper box manufacturing equipment amid its 60,000 square feet of air-conditioned work space. Full O’ Cream and Wildfire bars may be long gone, but you can live sweetly in the old Patterson premises in its current incarnation as the Chocolate Company Lofts.