Haunting images of abandoned Kodak factory

[Marco B]

Through a French forum, I came upon these haunting Flickr photos of the abandoned Canadian (Toronto) Kodak factory before it was demolished:

Some of the most tell-tale pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katalogue/1449932507/in/set-72157594490222016/
Lots of equipment, no people...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katalogue/1450826140/in/set-72157594490222016/
Empty kettle interior...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katalogue/1449932287/in/set-72157594490222016/
An "abandoned-as-is" office (well, actually the whole plant seems to be...)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katalogue/395583896/in/set-72157594490222016/
Lockers with clothing left behind...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katalogue/364765857/in/set-72157594490222016/
Abandoned archive of some sort... what knowledge was lost here?...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katalogue/364753489/in/set-72157594490222016/
Article about upcoming closure left behind

Maybe this one is the most symbolic:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katalogue/1449989055/in/set-72157594490222016/
The military used the kodak plant as a practice space for explosion demo's for blasting through walls, probably for practising entering "terrorist" occupied buildings?...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katalogue/1450826270/in/set-72157594490222016/
What is that stuff on the ground? "Burst eye wash pipe" says the title?

More here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katalogue/sets/72157594490222016/

Snif...

Marco

 

[Photo Engineer]

Marco;

The Archive I can identify, I think. We use the same method in Rochester to store small vials of addenda used in emulsion making. They are taken out when needed to make up stock solutions that are used in tiny amounts. Sensitizing dyes are among those stored like this as are Rhodium, Iridium and Osmium salts.

The lockers with clothes show typical lab coats and lab shoes (boots) that were steel toed and had antistatic soles to prevent static discharge.

PE

 

[Galah]

It seems a bit like "Forbidden Planet", the "Marie Celeste", or the world after a Neutron Bomb blast.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

Very interesting and very sad.

Jeff

 

[Tom Kershaw]

PE,

How does the size and sophistication on the Toronto facility compare to Rochester past and present?

Tom.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Tom;

Toronto was smaller IIRC. Rochester had (has) a lot more capacity and area.

PE

 

[Tom Kershaw]

PE,

Have you been to any other non-Kodak emulsion making / coating plants?

Tom.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Kodak Rochester, Chalon and Harrow. All visits were to Research facilities, but I met with production people. My host at Chalon was in production. I only toured the production facilities or worked in the Rochester facility.

PE

 

[AgX]

Marco, many of those photos of the Toronto plant were taken in full winter. The plant was still in use for a small part. Electricity (and seemingly water supply) was not shut down. A pipe of an eye-wash-station (flushing eyeballs with water in case of chemical spill) has broken and water frozen on the ground.

 

[cmacd123]

Toronto was smaller IIRC. Rochester had (has) a lot more capacity and area.

Back in th ehayday - before NAFTA - the Egglington (Toronto) plant made almost all of the "standard" Kodak film used in Canada. Back then the imposrt duties made it worth while to have a "Branch Plant" whould could supply just the Canadian Market.

After NAFTA they seemed to be unsure what to do with that plant. At various times I saw things in the business papers where it was being used to make 1) Motion Picture Negative for North America, 2) Paper for Canada and other places, 3) older Film sizes...

I do have a package of Kodak RC B&W Paper that was made for the US market,(bought from Freestyle) that says "Made in Canada by Kodak Canada for Eastman Kodak Co.

When the plant closed, I noticed an Industrial Auction ad in the Globe where they were selling off Equipment - I would not be surprised if the stuff in the pictures just did not attract bids. I remember that the auction was big, offering somthing like 100 Forklifts. And also some of the equipment that was being sold was actually located in Rochester - perhaps this was just surplus to Kodak Park, but the Ad implied that it was used there to suport the operation of the 3500 Egglington Avenue Plant.

 

[tim_bessell]

Tom;

Toronto was smaller IIRC. Rochester had (has) a lot more capacity and area.

PE

... Rochester, getting smaller all the time.

Are they making parks in the areas of Kodak that have been demoed in Rochester PE?

 

[Morry Katz]

Fprgive me if I pick a nit. The street name is Eglinton Avenue. Not Egglington. I used to live in Toronto.

Morry Katz
Lethbrige

 

[MattKing]

And the area was known as "Camera Heights"

Matt

 

[Terrence Brennan]

I do have a package of Kodak RC B&W Paper that was made for the US market,(bought from Freestyle) that says "Made in Canada by Kodak Canada for Eastman Kodak Co.

The very LAST 100-sheet box of Kodak paper I had, which I used up about two years ago, was exactly the same. Until I saw that, I wasn't even sure if Kodak was coating in the Toronto facility.

 

[fhovie]

Interesting collection of photos - I wonder if the photos in that collection were made by the very technology that killed the plant?

 

[Rihcelle]

Marco B: "Burst eye wash pipe" is a photo of an Eyewash Station pipe that burst and the water eventually froze in a wave form, but not before totally flooding the basement and rendering the elevator useless! It was pretty wild, 'they' left the electricity on but turned the heat off, so the water in the pipes froze and needless to say there were bursts all over property.

fhovie: The images I shot of the Kodak Plant we mostly shot on 35mm film. However, I did use a p&s digital camera for snaps in dark rooms and my Autocord when I revisited Building 9 (the only building left of the site) last year.

Thanks for looking at my photos!

 

[cmacd123]

The very LAST 100-sheet box of Kodak paper I had, which I used up about two years ago, was exactly the same. Until I saw that, I wasn't even sure if Kodak was coating in the Toronto facility.

The SA'FETY FILM marks were very common in the distant past, although when I got 100 ft rolls of Bulk film, the US code was shown even though the box said Kodak Canada. My undrstanding is that back in the 50s and 60 ALL the Common types were made in Toronto for the canadian market. Mind you the marking would have applied to film that was converted in toronto from master rolls made elsewhere.
I beleive that Paper was the last product that they coated there.

 

[zsas]

While doing my daily Kodak news story search today I came across this image of the abandoned Toronto Kodak plant, figured I'd posted it in this old thread so as to keep the info/photos in one place...

http://www.blogto.com/photo_of_the_day/2012/03/kodak_plant_toronto/