McCormicks Biscuit & Candy Factory
Updated: Dec 4, 2022
The history of the lonely McCormicks Biscuit and Candy Factory. This post industrial site is located at 1156 Dundas Street in London, Ontario, Canada.
The McCormicks Biscuit and Candy Factory is located at 1156 Dundas Street in London, Ontario, Canada (Figure 19, 20). The plant opened in East London on more than 100 acres of farmland known as the ‘Priest’s Swamp’ (Lalonde, 2019). The facility was opened by Thomas McCormick Jr., and with the help of the London architectural firm, Watt & Blackwell, they created one of the most sanitary and fireproof factories in North America; It contained “1.5 million bricks, 800 tons of steel, 100,000 bags of cement and 45,000 square feet of glass. 68% of the exterior walls were glass to allow sunlight inside. A company brochure described the factory as a “sunshine palace” (Lalonde, 2019).
The history of the Biscuit and Candy Factory started in 1849 when Thomas McCormick emigrated to Canada from Ireland. In 1858, McCormick began the manufacturing of candy in a factory located on Clarence Street in London, Ontario. In 1906 McCormick sadly passed away, but his sons took over the candy company. By 1912, a larger and more efficient factory was needed for the company, and Thomas McCormick Jr. visited over 100 factories to observe their architecture; Once he acquired the assistance of architectural firm Watt & Blackwell, the McCormicks Biscuit and Candy Factory on Dundas Street was born (Lalonde, 2019). However, in 1926, McCormick’s Manufacturing was purchased by its competitor, D.S. Perrin and Company Ltd., and the factory then became the Canada Biscuit Company (Theurbantrailblazer, 2010). The Canada Biscuit Company was sold during the 1940s to George Weston Ltd.. Then in 1990, the company was acquired by Culinary Foods of Montreal, and later by Beta Brands Inc. in 1997 (Theurbantrailblazer, 2010). The building was 150,000 square feet of maple flooring, and it was built from concrete, steel, and fireproof materials (Theurbantrailblazer, 2010). The factory shut down in 2008 while still being operated by Beta Brands. The building, and its history, have been left behind by society, but it is screaming to be analyzed by urban explorers.
The McCormicks Biscuit and Candy Factory building tells a story about the men and women who came to work here for eight hours of their day, everyday. It also displays how “trash, like graffiti, is something which people make collectively, and not quite inadvertently. Its form and the manner of its making are closely tied to the materials of our commercial culture and our attitudes to its products and the environment” (Figure 21, 22, 23, 27) (Stallabrass, 2009). The first floor of the building was used to facilitate storage for flour and sugar; It also included administrative offices, and the bakery (Figure 24, 25). The second and third floor were used for the Production of crackers and chocolate along with lab used to hold chemicals, and the employee cafeteria (Figure 26). The fourth floor was dedicated to the production of candy with vents and skylight for the purpose of cooling off the candy (Figure 27). The fifth floor was divided into two parts, one section for the production of jellybeans (Figure 28), and the other as a meeting area for executives (Theurbantrailblazer, 2010). Currently the space is in a state of decay, and it is privately owned by Sierra Construction of Woodstock; The restoration costs were around 9 million in 2010, but the cost would most likely be higher by now (Theurbantrailblazer, 2010). A portion of the property, at the rear, has been torn down (Figure 19, 29), but the rest of the building lays there without anyone paying any attention to it, besides urban explorers and the homeless. There are several stories of homeless people living in this post industrial site, yet I have not encountered anyone on my visits. The abandoned Biscuit and Candy Factory features a fragile structure, graffiti, holes in the walls and roof, plants growing through the floor (Figure 30), risk of falling pieces, as well as a basement that could be fully flooded depending on the time of the year (Figure 31) (Theurbantrailblazer, 2010).; Although when entering the basement in 2022, it seemed to be filled with sewage. Moreover, as of 2022, all of the rear of the factory has been demolished, and the end goal for the building is to convert it into residential housing called the McCormick Villages project (Lalonde, 2019).
