Masonry Magazine April 1979 Page. 18
Canada Masonry Centre
Canada Masonry Centre, Toronto, new home of the Canadian Masonry Contractors Association, Ontario Masonry Contractors Association, and Metro Toronto Masonry Contractors Association.
The recently opened Canada Masonry Centre, located in the Toronto suburb of Downsview, is a showpiece of masonry skills and construction methods. Serving as headquarters for Canada's masonry industry, the impressive red brick building with its colored mortar and recessed windows is easily visible to thousands of passersby each day.
Planned under the chairmanship of Tiberio Mascarin and designed by Toronto architects Kelton, Lacka, Ruddock Associates, the building encompasses 13.000 square feet on 1½ stories, with the remaining halfstory devoted to parking.
Heavy column details corbeled at the base and sloped brick sills tested the extensive skills of the bricklayers during construction, which was supervised by the project management firm of Kelton Ferracuti Consultants. Toronto. The masonry work was accomplished by Masonry & Forming Ltd.
Interior partitions are primarily exposed concrete block with split-ribbed and chamferred units. Stairways and the reception area incorporate red brick to blend with the exterior. Glazed concrete block were used in the washrooms.
Among the new facility's many functional features are a reference library and resource center that includes technical publications, films, slides and promotional literature on masonry construction, labor relations, and related literature from many regions of the world.
Located at 1013 Wilson Ave. in Downsview, the Centre presently is headquarters for the Canadian Masonry Contractors Association, Ontario Masonry Contractors Association, and Metro Toronto MCA. Sufficient space is available on a lease basis to provide for other masonry industry groups operating from Metro Toronto.
Senator Richard Stanbury of Ottawa cuts the ceremonial ribbon at the official opening of the Centre. Representing the MCAA at the ceremony were George A. Miller (2nd from left), executive vice president, and Mrs. Miller.
Masonry Building Escapes Damage While Wooden Part Burns
The rubble in the foreground of the picture was once a three-story wood-frame wing under construction for the Three Link Towers senior citizens apartment complex in Ogden, Utah. It was to adjoin a section of loadbearing masonry, seen in the background.
In the early morning hours of October 17, 1978, the apartment complex was engulfed in flames. The blaze totally destroyed the wooden section of the L-shaped building, consuming it down to the concrete slab and leaving only ash and rubble. The wooden portion had been framed and was ready for the roof at the time of the fire.
Flames leaped as high as 100 feet, and the fire was so intense that it melted light fixtures located in the parking lot of a library across the street. But the connecting masonry portion of the building suffered no damage, except for the deformation of the metal wall studs within the wing. These were damaged by the intense heat from the burning wooden section.
As this unfortunate fire clearly illustrates, masonry offers unequalled fire-safety advantages. Because of masonry's unique resistance to fire damage, masonry structures typically merit lower fire insurance rates than other structures. And masonry saves lives, too by checking the spread of fire, heat and smoke.