History
Gooderham and Worts was founded by James Worts, a British immigrant, in 1832. The company became one of the world's largest distilleries, and in 1859 it constructed the largest distillery in Canada, also one of the largest in North America. This distillery is what remains today of the ‘Distillery District’ at the bottom of Trinity Street in Toronto, Ontario. In the first year of the new distillery, G&W produced 849,700 U.S. gallons of proof spirits, a value equivalent to one quarter of the entire Canadian production at that time. [1] What is now known as the Young Center For the Performing Arts was originally built as tank house 9 and tank house 10, part of the Gooderham and Worts Distillery. The buildings were constructed in 1888 following the 1885 passage of the Canadian law which required that all whisky must be aged for two years before being consumed. Prior to this law change, whisky was often consumed quickly after it was distilled; the law change meant that Gooderham and Worts needed to increase storage space for their product. Both structures were designed by David Roberts Jr., who designed many of the Distillery’s buildings. [2]
Gooderham and Worts, also known as Gooderham & Worts Limited, was a Canadian distiller of alcoholic beverages. It was once the largest distiller in Canada. The company was merged with Hiram Walker, which was in turn sold to Allied Lyons. Its distillery facility on the Toronto waterfront was closed in the 1990s. The buildings, dating to the 1860s, were preserved and repurposed as the "Distillery District" arts and entertainment district.
James Worts was one of the co-founders of the Gooderham and Worts partnership which, after his death, evolved from a simple mill into a prosperous distilling company, one which would eventually become the largest in the world.
Canadian whisky is a type of whisky produced in Canada. Most Canadian whiskies are blended multi-grain liquors containing a large percentage of corn spirits, and are typically lighter and smoother than other whisky styles. When Canadian distillers began adding small amounts of highly-flavourful rye grain to their mashes, people began demanding this new rye-flavoured whisky, referring to it simply as "rye". Today, as for the past two centuries, the terms "rye whisky" and "Canadian whisky" are used interchangeably in Canada and refer to exactly the same product, which generally is made with only a small amount of rye grain.
Current use
Currently the two tank houses with their additions/renovations house a performance center which combines studio spaces with theatre spaces. The building is a partnership between the Soulpepper Theatre company and the George Brown Theatre School. The building houses four theaters and four studio spaces, all of which are shared by the two entities that make up the owners of the complex.
George Brown Theatre Department is the drama school at George Brown College in Toronto. Many graduates have gone on to successful careers as performers, artistic directors, playwrights, screenwriters and filmmakers. The college is named after the Canadian politician and journalist George Brown.
In December 2000 Paul Carder, then the Dean of Business and Creative Arts at George Brown College, approached Albert Schultz the Artistic Director of Soulpepper Theatre Company with the suggestion that a partnership be struck between Soulpepper and the George Brown Theatre School.
Albert Hamilton Schultz is a Canadian actor, director and the founding artistic director of Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre Company. He resigned his position with Soulpepper after sexual allegations against Schultz became public in January 2018.
In November 2001, the Distillery Historic District Project was announced and the partnership of George Brown College (GBC) and Soulpepper immediately began negotiations with the Cityscape Development group to take possession of Tank Houses 9 and 10 creating what would become the Young Centre for the Performing Arts.
The vision of this partnership was to create a performing arts, education and community outreach facility that would be home to George Brown Theatre School's celebrated three-year professional actor training program; Soulpepper Theatre Company with its three-tiered mandate of performance, artist training and youth outreach; and Toronto's independent arts community. This facility, in which the performance and education of all performing disciplines would be undertaken, would be unique in the world.
In 2002, the architectural firm of KPMB Architects was hired to design the centre with Thomas Payne as the principal architect, Chris Couse as senior associate and Mark Jaffar as project architect. The design created four flexible, dedicated, indoor performance venues, an outdoor concert venue and artist garden, four studios, two classrooms, a wardrobe production facility, a student lounge, administration for GBC and Soulpepper. At the centre of the building is a soaring public space, which includes a café/bar, a bookstore and a reference library. The total cost of the facility is $14 million and GBC and Soulpepper Theatre Company have equally shared the cost. The shared dream became a reality in 2003, when David Young through the Michael Young Family Foundation contributed a lead gift of $3 million to what is now known as the Young Centre for the Performing Arts.
KPMB is a Canadian architecture firm founded by Bruce Kuwabara, Thomas Payne, Marianne McKenna, and Shirley Blumberg, in 1987. It is headquartered in Toronto, where the majority of their work is found. Aside from designing buildings, the firm also works in interior design. KPMB Architects was officially renamed February 12, 2013.
Shortly thereafter, the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Culture made a $2 million contribution and the Government of Canada through the Department of Heritage Cultural Spaces Program contributed $600,000.
George Brown College and Soulpepper Theatre undertook separate capital campaigns to fund their respective shares in the project.
In June 2004, Anne Sado, President of George Brown College, and Albert Schultz, Soulpepper's Artistic Director, presided over a groundbreaking ceremony for the Young Centre for the Performing Arts. On January 15, 2006 the Young Centre for the Performing Arts officially opened to the public.
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
