Between Darkness & Light | McCormick Candy Factory

The industrial architecture of the early 20th century is interesting because it followed both form and function. Producing a building that could output the product and look good simultaneously. And in terms of defining this, look no further than the former McCormick Candy Factory in London. This beautiful example has white terracotta facings and lots of glass throughout the factory floors; this place was once known as the light palace as there was always enough natural light throughout the factory to help the workers. And even in its abandoned state, it still looks fantastic.

Thomas McCormick arrived in Canada West, the modern-day province of Ontario, from Ireland in 1849 and settled in London. Here on Clarence Street, he established a candy and biscuit factory in 1858, incorporated as McCormick Manufacturing in 1879. McCormicks quickly grew to be a significant manufacturer of confectionary goods throughout Canada. After Thomas died in 1906, his sons took over the business. The 20th Century brought increased demand and new hygiene standards for manufacturing foodstuffs, which the Clarence Street factory could not achieve. Thomas Jr would investigate expanding the business and constructing a new state-of-the-art factory in a new city area. Thomas Jr hired Watt & Blackwell to design and build the new factory. Construction started in 1912 on Dundas Street in East London. The factory would stand five storeys, and most of the building would be made of glass blocks to let in a tonne of natural light. In addition to the manufacturing areas, the factory would include a gym, dining room, medical clinic, library, baseball and tennis facilities. The new factory quickly earned the nickname Sunshine Palace due to the large amount of light in the building. It opened in 1914 and supported a workforce of 1,000 who could produce 62,000 kg of candy and 45,000 kg of biscuits daily. The demand grew that a second building was added in 1922. The Great Depression hit the company so hard that the family was forced to sell the entire company to Weston Ltd in 1937. The brand was retained, as were members of the McCormick family, and operations continued.

Under Weston’s ownership, operations continued and grew at McCormick’s; a second addition was added in 1958. Employment peaked at 1,300 through the 1960s. During this decade, all the separate buildings were tied together in a single structure. They included a dock for large transport trucks and the abandoned Canadian Pacific rail spur. The laws of the original McCormick family would pass away in 1965; despite selling the company, Weston continued to use them in the company. McCormicks weathered the economic struggles of the 1970s and 1980s. Still, the 1990s saw Weston sell the company to Culinary, who held onto the brand for seven years. In 1997, Beta Brands acquired the brand, but demand and employment slowly declined through the end of the century. Beta ran into financial troubles in 2003, which would slowly start to close up their holdings. McCormicks would close in 2008, leaving the remaining 300 employees out of work. The city would seize the property for back taxes owed, granting the original 1914 section a historical designation in 2014. Sierra Construction would acquire the property the same year, and McCormick Village Incorporated would form to start an adaptive reuse for the property. The goal was to create an adaptive reuse of the area with a mixed-use commercial/residential property. Funding had been secured by 2017, with work starting in 2018 with environmental cleanup taking place from 2019 to 2020, along with the demolition of the rest of the complex. However, as of 2022, the project has stalled.

I only visited the site twice, once on a quick drive past and then a full exploration. While the images are out of order in the album, I first saw the plant in 2010. We were travelling on a multi-location trip through southwestern Ontario and had gotten a line on the McCormick plant. Sadly, that first trip yielded only exterior shots as there was no easy and safe way in when we passed by. It was in April 2011 that we learned that the place was opened. The funny thing is that I don’t have any real memories of the place; the one thing that made the spot easy was that on the weekend, the entire area where the factory is located is industrial and commercial, so there was almost no activity. We could waltz in and out with little chance of being caught or seen by a neighbour. We only had to watch out for pedestrians and the potential of a passing police patrol. There was no weird way to get in; we probably walked in through an open door into the loading bay. But the place had everything I loved in an abandoned industrial building, fluted columns, lots of light and plenty of the big empty. And while I’m sad that I never went back again, I am happy that I got almost all my usual images in that one trip. It was a long one, spending several hours inside before leaving. I want to remember if we did any other locations that day. McCormicks certainly took the award for best new location of the day.

Like several other locations, McCormick was a one-and-done trip, at least for the factory’s interior, so my photography has little growth. Both visits were in 2011, so I had become comfortable with my photography and my style. Still, I certainly did try some different things in the factory. While I extensively used my ultra-wide lens, the 14-24mm, through most of the factory, I also made a point to get some detailed work using the 50mm. One thing that stood out was my use of a Lensbaby, the Composer, to be exact. This lens produced some exciting looks, and McCormicks was only one of two locations to which I took this lens before giving up entirely on it. And I’m sure I dumped it when I lost the aperture inserts or gave it away. What stands out for me is my use of Kodak Ektar 100 here. I was still shooting more colour than B&W, and the warmth of the film stock made the factory, the palace of light, sing, punching up those warm reds and oranges that were found. I feel abandoned buildings take more to black & white; I honestly think that shooting black & white here would have been a disservice to the beautiful light we caught in April.

The old McCormick factory is one place that, while I’m disappointed I only visited once, I’m still happy with all the images I got on the one trip. The joys of having the place almost totally to yourself for an extended period without fear of being caught (well, there is always that chance; it was just low when we visited). And while I’m glad to see that something is being done with the place other than being torn down completely, it is a shame that it is stalled. But at least this fascinating piece of early 20th-century industrial architecture has been saved and will be preserved. If you want to see all my images, you can check out the entire album over on Flickr!